The Wall Is Cracking
What Saul Alinsky Knew About Power—and What MAGA Doesn’t Want You to See
They want you afraid.
Every military parade, every threat of “heavy force” against protesters, every deployment of National Guard troops to American cities is designed to project overwhelming, unstoppable power. To make resistance feel futile. To freeze you in place.
But here’s the thing: people who actually have power don’t need to perform it so desperately.
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Saul Alinsky understood this. The legendary Chicago community organizer who got his start as a child living in the Depression-Era slums of Chicago with his Lithuanian refugee family. He spent decades teaching the “Have-Nots” how to fight back, using his “Rules for Radicals. His first rule: “Power is not only what you have, but what your opponent thinks you have.”
Read that again. Power isn’t just about what you actually possess—it’s about perception. And perception can be manipulated. It can be exposed. It can be shattered.
For years, MAGA has wielded this rule like a weapon against us. The rallies. The flags. The rhetoric of an inevitable movement sweeping all before it. They built an image of invincibility, and too many of us bought it.
We live in a world of instant communication and massive amounts of data that make hiding the truth next to impossible. We also live in a world where people get rich by spreading lies and false information to a public desperate for the truth. But even in such a toxic information environment, the truth is always out there. Uncovering it means investigating past the headlines, and exposing the truth cracks the wall of lies.
And the wall is cracking. If you look closely, you can see the weakness underneath.
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The Numbers They Don’t Want You to See
Trump’s approval rating has cratered to its lowest point of his second term. Just 41% approve; 54% disapprove. Among Americans under 30, his approval has collapsed to 20%—down 30 points since February.
The intensity gap is devastating for them: the number of voters who strongly disapprove of this presidency is double those who strongly approve.
Meanwhile, we’ve taken to the streets in numbers that would have seemed impossible a year ago. The April 5 “Hands Off” protests became the largest single-day rally of the resistance—over 1,300 events in all 50 states. The June “No Kings” protests drew an estimated 4 to 6 million people. Half of Americans approve of these protests. Two-thirds see them as peaceful.
This is not a movement in retreat. This is a movement rising.
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The Cracks in Their Coalition
Look behind the bluster and you’ll see a movement tearing itself apart.
The MAGA coalition is fracturing over H-1B visas, with the “America First” base raging against Elon Musk and Silicon Valley. They’re at each other’s throats over the Epstein files—the conspiracy theories they fed their followers for years now blowing back in their faces as the administration tries desperately to bury the story. Tucker Carlson has broken publicly with Trump over strikes on Iran. Marjorie Taylor Greene has distanced herself from MAGA entirely, now calling herself “America First” instead.
Fewer Republicans even identify as MAGA supporters compared to earlier this year. The coalition that seemed unstoppable is splintering.
And they know it. That’s why the threats are getting louder. That’s why the performances of strength are getting more desperate.
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The Dictator’s Stage Set
Watch what they’re doing with buildings.
The Kennedy Center—rededicated, now closed for “extensive remodeling” according to Trump’s wishes. The White House East Wing—demolished to build a $300 million ballroom. And now plans for his own Arc de Triomphe in Arlington, a monument to himself on sacred ground near the graves of those who actually served.
These aren’t policy. They’re theater. The gestures of a wannabe dictator trying to carve his name into stone before anyone can stop him.
And that’s exactly the point. They want you to see these projects and conclude: It’s already over. He’s remaking the capital in his image. Resistance is futile.
But think about what this performance actually reveals. A leader secure in legitimate power doesn’t need to furiously rebrand buildings and erect monuments to himself. That’s what insecure authoritarians do—projecting permanence precisely because they fear their grip is slipping.
Sixty-one percent of Americans disapprove of demolishing the East Wing. These projects aren’t signs of strength. They’re desperate attempts to manufacture the appearance of a fait accompli—and we don’t have to buy it.
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Seeing Through the Illusion
Alinsky’s first rule cuts both ways.
Yes, they’ve used it to intimidate us. But now it’s our turn to use it against them.
Their power depends on our belief in it. Much of what this administration has accomplished relies on what scholars call “obedience in advance”—institutions and citizens preemptively surrendering rather than testing whether the threats have teeth.
But when people push back, the facade crumbles:
Governor Pritzker stood firm in Illinois, and Trump partially backed down.
Harvard refused to kneel, and emerged stronger.
Federal courts continue to block overreach.
Blue state coalitions are winning lawsuits and building mutual aid networks.
The wall isn’t as solid as it looks. It’s riddled with weakness, corruption, and the fundamental fragility of power built on fear rather than legitimacy.
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Rising Up
Here’s what Alinsky knew that we need to remember: the Have-Nots build power from flesh and blood. From numbers. From showing up.
Every time millions take to the streets, we’re not just expressing our views. We’re demonstrating to them that their power is not what they claimed. We’re demonstrating to the fence-sitters that resistance is real and growing. And we’re demonstrating to each other that we are not alone.
The No Kings organizers got it right: “Real power isn’t staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else.”
It’s rising now. Through the cracks. Into the light.
They want you afraid. They need you afraid—because without your fear, they have far less than they pretend.
Don’t give it to them.
The wall is cracking. Keep pushing.
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This is the first in a series exploring Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals for our current moment. Next: Rule Two—”Never go outside the expertise of your people”—and what it means for building sustainable resistance.