Hanoi Jane is riding her tank into battle for one last confrontation with authority. The film star Jane Fonda got her nickname opposing the Vietnam War, but she has reached further back into history for the rebirth of the Committee for the First Amendment.
The free speech organisation was founded by her father, Henry Fonda, and other actors in 1947 when Senator Joseph McCarthy began rooting out alleged Communists and “cancelling” them, today’s word for an old idea. Thousands of people in the film industry, the federal government and other sectors were purged.
The reds under the beds of that era have become “the enemy within” in Donald Trump’s America. Republicans are salivating at the prospect of carrying out mass firings and agency closures while the federal government is shut down after Congress failed to approve a deal on funding. Trump has posted an AI meme with the warning: “Here comes the reaper”.
Fonda, 87, has enlisted the backing of 550 celebrities for her new committee including Billie Eilish, John Legend, Barbra Streisand and our own Helen Mirren. Don’t all laugh at once. That film and music stars are out of touch elitists who should “shut up and sing” instead of telling the rest of America how to behave is a familiar trope in politics.
But at some point, opponents of Trump will have to stop wringing their hands and wailing that nothing can be done. They might as well stop obeying in advance and launch the resistance now.
square WORLD AnalysisTrump’s threats are unprecedented – America’s laws are being shredded
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A few weeks ago, many of the same Hollywood names, such as Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston, signed an open letter condemning the suspension of late night television host Jimmy Kimmel after his controversial riff on the assassination of the Maga youth leader, Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel was back on air within a week after protests mounted and Disney, the parent company of ABC television, panicked about losing customers and subscribers. His return performance on September 23 drew record TV ratings of 8.6 million and 25 million social media views.
Two major station owners who refused to screen his return, Sinclair and Nexstar, quickly caved, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! is now back on air with bigger-than-usual viewing figures.
Cable television is a shrinking sector, so victory here hardly translates to a win at the polls. What it does show, though, is that Trump isn’t all-powerful.
The US President fumed, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” and derided her as “NO LONGER HOT” on Truth Social during the 2024 election, but the singer is back with an acclaimed new album, The Life of a Showgirl, and a handsome football hero as her fiancé.
Hell, even Kamala Harris is racking up sales of her presidential campaign memoir, 107 Days. According to publisher Simon and Schuster, it sold 350,000 copies in its first week, a record surpassed since 2023 only by Britney Spears, Swift and, yes, Prince Harry.
For Trump, the problem with making all the weather is that you get all the blame when it rains. At the moment, vice-president JD Vance and White House aides are fanning across the airwaves attempting to pin responsibility for the government shutdown on the Democrats. The pain has yet to begin in earnest, but soon the suspension of government services and paychecks will start to bite.
The Republicans are blaming Democrats in Congress for allegedly wanting to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants. The Democrats are blaming Republicans for clawing back Obamacare, leading to likely health insurance price hikes for millions of people in 2026. Neither issue is directly related to the shutdown but is all about the spin.
Under pressure from activists, the Democrats don’t dare to compromise, at least not yet. Trump is trying to bully them into a deal by threatening mass sackings and the permanent loss of government services.
The US President has unleashed his own version of the Kraken, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget – and the mastermind behind Project 2025, a detailed plan to dismantle big government in Trump’s second term.
The Director of the US Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House (Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)On the campaign trail, Trump insisted he knew “nothing” about Project 2025, which the Democrats attempted to make a big issue. But he is now boasting on social media about having enlisted Vought – “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame” – to cut so-called “Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM.”
According to the long-established Pottery Barn rule of “you break it, you own it”, Trump has just declared he owns the chaos.
There are risks for the Democrats in opposing the US President’s will. McCarthyism took years to burn out in the 50s, but those who had the courage to oppose the purges are remembered as the good guys.
Fonda is old enough to know that resistance may be futile in the short-term, but it is not pointless.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
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