Tonic immobility (and its remedy)
- Bruce Botelho
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
By Bruce Botelho
Scientists use the seemingly benign term “tonic immobility” to describe the temporary paralysis that various species of animals experience when they spy a predator. This fear-based response is a survival instinct intended to last until the predator loses interest.
As the Trump administration floods the zone with daily policy initiatives, media attacks and the like, the chaos and confusion that result make it impossible to focus on any one crisis or fully absorb its consequences, leading to our own inability to move in opposition. For many the default position is to remain silent, hidden and to pray that the threat moves to another target.
In the November 2025 Atlantic magazine edition, New York Times columnist David Brooks poses the question: “Why hasn’t a resistance movement materialized here?” He goes on to note: “The second Trump administration has flouted court decisions in a third of all rulings against it…It operates as a national extortion racket, using federal power to control the inner workings of universities, law firms, and corporations. It has thoroughly politicized the Justice Department, launching a series of partisan investigations against its political foes. It has turned ICE into a massive paramilitary organization with apparently unconstrained powers. It has treated the Constitution with disdain, assaulted democratic norms and diminished democratic freedoms, and put military vehicles and soldiers on the streets of the capital. It embraces the optics of fascism, and flaunts its autocratic aspirations.”
Brooks asks why the resistance movement is not materializing. It is, but it is messy, somewhat disorganized and, in the moment, seems to be taking too long aborning. But our Founders began with a rallying cry similar to today’s “No Kings.” It took time and sacrifice. Their “more perfect union” is still evolving. I take heart that individuals and organizations are rising in defense of our democratic institutions around the nation. And, whatever else we do, we need to celebrate these heroes at every opportunity. They must know that they do not stand alone. As I reflect on the news of the last two weeks, let me pay tribute to four groups who come to mind:
The Pentagon Press Corps. Nearly all news services and reporters covering the Pentagon rejected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s rules limiting reporting on information, whether classified or not, that his office has not approved for release. This prior constraint on reporting could have subjected reporters to criminal prosecution. Most walked out at deadline, leaving their Pentagon passes behind.
The lower federal courts. Federal judges in Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago have rejected the Trump Administration’s plan to use the military to undertake law enforcement efforts in those cities. They all concluded that there were no signs of “rebellion” justifying the deployment of federal troops for those purposes. Judge Karen Immergut, a Trump appointee, noted in her decision (10/4/25) that the President’s alleged basis for nationalizing the guard “was simply untethered to the facts.” (P. 23).
Governors of several states. The actions taken by the lower federal courts were precipitated by governors in California, Illinois and Oregon who collectively have imbued the Tenth Amendment with new life.
Certain leading universities. After Trump’s initial crack-down on several Ivy-League institutions over anti-semitism and DEI policies, it took a different tack, offering favored federal funding to nine leading schools if they would agree to tuition freezes, limitation on the number of foreign students, and ‘neutrality” on issues of public importance. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have all rejected the offer.
I look forward to others adding to this ever-growing pantheon of heroes over the coming days, weeks, months and years.
• Bruce Botelho is a former Juneau mayor and Alaska attorney general, and president of the Juneau Independent’s board of directors.
