“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. The mighty
oak is but an acorn that stood its ground”
—Rosa Parks
For our purposes, a “capitulator” is a business or institution that, when faced with unreasonable or even unlawful demands from the Trump Administration, chooses to accede to the demands rather than stand on principle and fight for what is right. Why do these entities capitulate? Invariably the leaders of these businesses and institutions explain that the Trump demands constitute an “existential threat” and that the risk presented by resisting is simply too great and far outweighs any reputational harm or other cost of simply “rolling over.” We don’t envy the dilemma facing these leaders – Trump has placed them in a very difficult position. Our goal, however, is to make them see that there will also be a cost if they capitulate.
The “hold your ground” group communicates with businesses, institutions and other public facing entities targeted by Trump to encourage them to hold their ground and to discourage capitulation and compromise. We will continue to build resources available on our website, including names and contact information of capitulators (and potential capitulators), and a portfolio of model letters that can be used for every scenario, including entities that have capitulated, those that have thus far held their ground, for companies that rely on legal services from capitulating law firms, for State Bar organizations overseeing law firms that have capitulated, etc.
Actions
Please see Hold Your Ground page with more details of current Actions
