Actions taken by Donald Trump’s administration in the first month have had an immense ripple impact on daily life throughout the nation.
The damage goes further than just the executive orders, although Trump’s daily scribbled commands, and Musk’s additional efforts to enforce his own agenda have caused increasing anxiety.
Almost all of the intended effects have had particular targets, namely the minority groups throughout the nation and anyone that doesn’t fit the image of white, cis and male identifying.
Here’s a look where we are at the end of February: DEI programs are being dismantled throughout the United States, as directed through enforcement of the “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” order. Not only does it affect the LGBTQ+ community, but also women, people of color, the disabled, veterans and anyone that doesn’t look like the men in power. From Trump’s prior term in 2017, the block on federal funding for abortion care, making the assets for life-planning less accessible and possible solutions less safe; The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, which is nothing short of a plan to upend many of the methods we use to vote in our elections today for those who don’t have citizenship paperwork at the ready.
It is these setbacks, rights we have previously known and and felt comfortable with, and watching them slowly erode bit by bit, that are truly frightening. In these moments, the grassroots group NOW, (National Organization for Women), offers ways we can reverse the chaotic direction the United States is taking, and band together for positive progress.
NOW, over the course of nearly 60-years since it was originally founded in 1966, has been a bastion of action for women and girls, but also those disaffected in the queer community. In 2025, the organization has spread across all 50 states from its base in Washington D.C, founding hundreds of chapters all over the nation, including one here in Charlotte.
As described on NOW’s main website, the leadership’s motivations and purposes for charting forward are to “promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political and economic life.”
From their long history working with both traditional and non-traditional forms of activism, from the organizations most iconic demonstrations and marches throughout its lifetime, what can we as a community take from their actions in the modern era?
A look at their social media offers enough evidence to suggest the organization is active and prepared to take on the current administration. While they have stepped back from X/Twitter, the organization’s Facebook and Instagram pages are updated daily. As with many civil rights and political action organizations, NOW has remained on top of developments with the current administration and keeping its nearly quarter-million followers up to date.
Even before Trump’s second inauguration, NOW’s President Christian Nunes has made sure her voice and words were heard on the organization’s platforms. It comes as no surprise that, after Jan. 20, there has been an uptick on how often Nunes has engaged with political and national events taking place, all in response to the Trump administration’s “flood the zone” tactics.
On the same day as Trump’s inauguration, Nunes spoke out on what’s at stake for our nation and how NOW will serve in the years going forward.
“Today, we are inaugurating a new president, after much heated politics. NOW members remain committed to the issues that matter to our health, our economic security and our safety. We can’t go back, we won’t go back. No matter what policies are put forward that threaten our safety, security and our future, NOW will be on the front lines to push back.
“Since NOW’s founding almost 60 years ago, our members have stayed on the front lines of the multi-issue fight for women’s rights. Today, that means resistance to a culture of misogyny and toxic masculinity, and a permission structure for hate speech and discrimination. We will resist policies that further restrict women’s right to a full range of health care, including reproductive care and access to abortion; to an economy that doesn’t leave them behind; and to protection from gender-based violence, including cyber bullying and online deepfakes.”
In one of their latest press releases NOW responded across the aisle to South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace, who recently took to the house floor to talk about physical abuse and predatory sexual behavior from an ex-fiance and three other unnamed men. Mace defined examples of the abuse that women endure on a regular basis, and demonstrated that any woman can be subject to violence and persecution.
“NOW is grateful that Rep. Mace found a safe place to talk about these assaults on the floor of the U.S. Congress,” Nunes wrote in her reflection of the speech. “But for many women, that safe place is hard, if not impossible, to find.
“Rep. Mace’s political views have nothing to do with her truth, and as a non-partisan advocacy organization working to advance women’s rights and protect women’s lives, NOW supports Rep. Mace’s truth and salutes her courage.”
In a collective piece named “Feminist Leaders Speak Out on How to Protect Our Rights,” published by WomensMediaCenter.com, author Marianne Schnall spoke with Nunes and other feminist activist leaders about methods to move forward in this troublesome new era.
In response to the question, Nunes offers battle-hardened words meant to fire up Schnall’s readership, as well as her own base.
“We must keep fighting,” Nunes charges. “After all, our foremothers didn’t stop fighting when they were tired and worn out, thought they would fail, and wanted to give up. We must remember what they were willing to sacrifice for the movement, the fight and the rights we have now. We can find strength in that.”“I do know that NOW and our members won’t sit still. We have seen a lot of change since NOW was founded almost 60 years ago, but we still have much work to do.”
To have been at the forefront of many historical turns in U.S. history, having organized women’s rights marches through the 1960s into present day (at one point gathering over a million protesters for an event), it is inarguable that members and staff of NOW still feel passionate about what they do.
The fact that we can find such organizations who see the bigger vision is vital, as the mission for a better nation never ceases. For the foreseeable future, we must continuously find ways to fight back against repressive leaders in our government, and that notion is why organizations like NOW exist, to inspire into action those of us daring enough to advocate for that better tomorrow.