Meeting “Flood the Zone” with “Rule-of-Law Shock and Awe”

Since January, the Trump administration has governed with a “flood-the-zone” approach, using chaos as a tool to overwhelm opponents and bury truth. The president and his political appointees have issued a dizzying barrage of executive orders, funding cuts, regulations, and legal distortions aimed at eroding not just resistance, but the foundations of civil society itself.

At the forefront of the effort to resist and reverse these attacks are organizations that have responded with their own form of “rule-of-law shock and awe,” a strategy to aggressively sue the Trump administration at every turn and use the courts to expose abuses of power.

Lawyers Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward and Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund spoke at Crooked Con, a recent conference organized by the progressive, pro-Democrat media company Crooked Media. Perryman and Eisen—leaders of two nonprofits that have, with partners, sued the Trump administration hundreds of times, often successfully—described the game plan and infrastructure behind their relentless legal campaign.

“They know what to do with weakness—they don’t know what to do with strength.”

Perryman said the stakes go beyond courtroom victories. The real challenge is demonstrating that the public truly holds the power to counter and often stop the White House’s seemingly unstoppable march toward authoritarian rule.

“The real thing for us was, how are we going to show people that you actually still get to be in charge in your country—the people get to be in charge,” Perryman told moderator and host of the podcast Pod Save America, Jon Favreau.

The Trump administration thrives on division and appeasement, Perryman said, noting, “They know what to do with weakness—they don’t know what to do with strength.”

Forging Alliances, Defending Democracy

Many of the legal efforts to counter authoritarianism are driven by what Eisen described as an “extraordinary coalition” that uses a model of coordination and collaboration. The coalition approach will be familiar to nonprofit leaders: By sharing resources, knowledge, and purpose, they are stronger under pressure.

The coalition didn’t appear overnight. Years before Trump’s second term, Democracy Forward was studying Project 2025, having identified it as a blueprint the administration would eventually use to dismantle democratic institutions and centralize power in the presidency. From that advance planning came Democracy 2025, a coalition of more than 650 organizations that now anticipates threats against democracy and strikes quickly with litigation and action.

Both Perryman and Eisen emphasized that this fight against authoritarianism is not confined to one side of the political spectrum. The defense of democratic norms has united partners across ideologies—progressives, liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike. What they have in common, Perryman said, is that they “all are committed to a country and government that needs to serve all of us.”

Winning Cases, Shifting Narrative

In this fight, law and narrative are inseparable weapons.

“You have someone that truly does think he is a king,” Perryman said, describing the mindset behind the Trump administration’s attacks on democratic norms. Against that drive to concentrate power, litigation becomes a tool to enforce the guardrails of democracy and expose corruption. Or as Eisen put it, each case is fought in two arenas: the court of law and the court of public opinion.

While they’ve won many cases, Perryman stressed that courts alone will not save the country. “We need to remember that all of the fights in this country—the fight for abolition, the fight for women’s rights, the fights for civil rights, the fight for LGBTQ rights—these wins were not handed down by the Supreme Court. They were hard-fought wins that went up and down the court system many times.”

Their strategy adds “mobilizing narrative building” into litigation, using the stories in their cases to inspire media coverage, break through the noise, and shape public understanding. In a case to block the mass firing of civil servants, they gathered thousands of individual accounts describing how people’s jobs, families, and futures would be harmed. In a challenge to Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, stories of people wrongfully detained or deported without due process brought the cruelty of government abuse into clear view.

“We won’t be saved without the litigation, but the litigation alone will not save us.”

These kinds of stories, Perryman said, “changed the ways that Americans, even folks like Joe Rogan and others, are seeing the world.”

And that shift matters. “This administration has actually been backing off many times when we go into court,” she noted, “because they don’t want the public pressure.”

Building Community, Growing Power

Perryman and Eisen offered reminders that courts can block unlawful actions, but the ultimate power to safeguard democracy comes from the people.

“The number one thing that an autocrat uses is not redistricting. It’s not a packed Supreme Court. It’s not any of those things. It’s people believing they have no power,” Perryman said.

To counter that illusion of powerlessness, Democracy Forward has woven community building into its work through programs like Dinners for Democracies and Coffees for Change. More than feel-good socializing, these gatherings connect people to learn from each other and turn concern into collective action. “When we’re in community with each other, when we defy isolation,” Perryman emphasized, “we can overcome.”

Eisen was blunt about the work ahead. “We won’t be saved without the litigation, but the litigation alone will not save us.”

Reflecting on the recent November election results, he said, “I am very hopeful because of the people power…growing and growing.” He made it clear what must come next: “Every one of you, all your friends and family, get them out there in the streets, peaceful protest, and vote, vote, vote!”