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You might be angry and fearful of another four years of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> being president. That’s how I feel. I want to encourage you to channel some of that frustration into these five actions:

1. Join the union at your workplace

Unions tend to support Democratic candidates and liberal causes, at both the local and national levels. In Kentucky, where I live, teachers unions have been one of the most important checks on our ultraconservative state legislature. As super-wealthy individuals such as Elon Musk spend tens of millions of dollars to back Republican candidates, labor unions are an important counterbalance for Democrats.

But the more important reason to join a union is the <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/after-election-day" target=_blank>opportunity to directly affect some policies — the ones at your workplace</a>. The issues being debated in national politics, such as income inequality and transgender rights, are almost certainly being contested where you work, too. And you and your fellow workers have a much better chance of influencing a company of a few hundred employees than a country of <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/" target=_blank>335 million</a>. And if you’re already a member, consider getting more involved in the union at your office. (I understand that many workplaces don’t have unions and some labor-friendly employees are in management or otherwise aren’t eligible.)

2. Join a Unitarian Universalist congregation

If you’re part of a Christian, Muslim, Jewish or other religious group that meets regularly and engages politically, skip this. But there is a growing number of Americans, particularly on the left, who are religiously unaffiliated and not regularly congregating with people who share their values.

They should consider t<a href="https://www.uua.org/find" target=_blank>he Unitarian Universalists</a>. I recently started regularly attending a UU service in Louisville. It’s much more political than the Christian churches I have previously been a member of. That turned me off at first. Since politics is essentially my job, I try (usually unsuccessfully) to avoid discussions of elections and government in my off-hours. And I was leery of a church whose openly liberal values would clearly turn off Trump supporters and therefore ensure a congregation that didn’t include many Republicans.

But before the election, church members engaged in politics in a practical way, encouraging congregants to go canvassing in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment here to create a school vouchers program. (It failed.) So at least on Sundays, I was in a community of people working on a concrete, discrete local issue, as opposed to nervously speculating about Vice President Kamala Harris’s poll numbers.

Post-election, I was relieved to be in a space where we openly discussed shared values and ideals we felt had been rejected by America in electing Trump, such as support of immigrants and LGBTQ+ people.

3. Sign up for emails from Indivisible

<a href="https://indivisible.org/" target=_blank>Indivisible</a> is the left-leaning group that helped organize the protests against Trump throughout his first term, perhaps most importantly getting people in districts with Republican members of Congress to attend town halls and attack Republicans for proposing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In the three weeks since the election, Indivisible has already put out a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o1gSdFWIUpw41O5zbaxedVsr6Xik5XpPd9FwqvXYu40/edit?tab=t.0" target=_blank>27-page guide</a> obstructing Trump’s second term and organized thousands of people to call their U.S. House members and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/13/trump-tax-nonprofit-irs-terrorism" target=_blank>oppose a controversial bill</a> that could have made it easier for the incoming president to crack down on nonprofit groups that oppose his policies.

There are in-person Indivisible chapters you can join in some areas. But anyone can get on its email list. Indivisible is run by ex-congressional staffers who carefully study what actions by average citizens influence members of Congress. (In-person actions are better than social media messages, particularly from people who don’t live in a member’s district.) So Indivisible tells you exactly what to do and makes you part of a broader group fighting Trump and Republicans.

4. Join the Democratic Socialists of America and/or the Working Families Party

In local and state elections, particularly in left-leaning areas, DSA and WFP endorse candidates who are more committed to taking on big corporations and helping the poor than traditional Democrats. So by joining those groups, you’ll end up campaigning for politicians who could push the Democratic Party in a better direction, more conscious of the economic struggles that many Americans face.

Nationally, DSA and WFP are exploring ways to win beyond the conventional Democratic Party approach, which is essentially, “Be centrist and use terms that poll well.” I’m not confident that DSA or WFP have the right formula, but it’s worth supporting them in part to introduce more competition and alternative theories on the Democratic side in terms of electoral strategy.

The <a href="https://debtcollective.org/" target=_blank>Debt Collective</a> pushes cancellation of medical and student debt. The Sunrise Movement is <a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/hubs/" target=_blank>trying to get a national Green New Deal</a>. Here in Louisville, the Save Bernheim Now Coalition is opposing a gas pipeline. Whatever your policy interest, there is almost certainly a group working on it right now.

I’m sure there are dozens of other things I could recommend. (Political organizer <a href="https://mariamekaba.com/" target=_blank>Mariame Kaba</a> has been sharing a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OSWxykA1WHOi0vTPLAJDaCeVhR3uSfh7PhlCj4t4yT0/edit?tab=t.0" target=_blank>long list of actions</a> beyond protesting or voting on her Bluesky account.) And I have no doubt there are serious shortcomings of unions, UU churches and other organizations I have named.

But I’m driving at two core ideas. First, while elections and politicians are important, they’re not the only ways to advance progressive policies. Getting involved with organizations that do more than focus on elections will help you see that other political activities really matter, too.

Second, these actions will help make a positive difference, even if they don’t help the Democrats win a national election. It’s possible that we have entered a time when the country leans right and the Republicans are the dominant party. So it’s vital that liberals aren’t spending <a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/hubs/" target=_blank>all of their political energy canvassing</a> and otherwise supporting candidates in state and federal races that just aren’t winnable.

I can’t guarantee that the Democrats will win in 2026 or 2028. I can guarantee that workers somewhere in America will get a raise and better benefits over the next year because they organized an effective union.

That leads to me to the two things that I would discourage:

1. Constantly consuming political news

It’s important, if you are going to be active in politics, to have at least one regular source of both local and national news. (I recommend The Washington Post as the national source!) But beyond that, shift your time and energy to political participation.

Doomscrolling on X or Bluesky or obsessively listening to podcasts or watching MSNBC isn’t driving down Trump’s poll numbers or stopping bad legislation from passing.

2. Turning into an amateur political strategist

I’m already tired of discussing Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s 2028 presidential prospects. Heavy political news consumption pushes people into thinking like political consultants.

But most people’s assessments (mine included) of which potential Democratic candidate will best appeal to swing voters in Wisconsin in 2028 probably aren’t correct and certainly won’t have any impact anyway.

It’s not that we should defer to the current Democratic strategists. They’ve lost to Trump twice! But it’s worth joining organizations such WFP and DSA in part because they are large organizations pushing alternative electoral strategies, as opposed to you trying to get your brilliant ideas for the Democrats implemented by posting on X every hour and hoping some of those messages reach the new Democratic National Committee chair.

I’m professionally required to read lots of news outlets and speculate about upcoming elections, and I’m not allowed to take certain kinds of political actions. So I’m giving advice that I’m not fully following myself. But I am okay with being a bit of a hypocrite if I can play even a small part in creating a culture of political participation on the left and weakening our current culture of excessive political news consumption.

Perry Bacon Jr. is a Washington Post columnist. Before joining The Post, Perry had stints as a government and elections writer for Time magazine, The Post's national desk, theGrio and FiveThirtyEight. He has also been an on-air analyst at MSNBC and a fellow at New America. He grew up in Louisville and lives there now. perry.bacon@washpost.com

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Opinion Don’t doomscroll about Trump. Do these five things instead.