CUNY teachers union pres tells members to 'organize' against 'fascist dictator' Trump after election win

James Davis, president of PSC-CUNY, the largest teachers union at the City University of New York, representing over 30,000 faculty and staff members, sent an email to members on Wednesday in response to former President Donald Trump's presidential election victory, calling the result "devastating and dangerous." 

Davis, who represents teachers and staff who took part in anti-Israel protests at the university in the spring, said that Donald Trump was a "fascist" and instructed union members to "organize" in the following days to retake control of the presidency for the Democrat Party come 2028.

"Trump's election is a threat to democracy. Republicans won a majority in the Senate and are threatening to win a majority in the House. Please check on your loved ones and take a deep breath. Show solidarity to the people in your life who are more at risk today than yesterday, and try to be present for your students and colleagues. Then prepare for the struggles ahead," Davis wrote in the letter sent to union members. "We should be clear: Trump's election is a victory for fascism in the United States. His anti-worker, misogynist, racist, xenophobic agenda will make many lives more miserable and painful here and around the world if left unchecked."

"That is where we come in," he continued. "The Trump movement has us in their crosshairs as educators and unionists... Unionists understand the power of solidarity and will need to exercise collective action."

"It is hard to say what is most broken when a convicted felon, someone who announced in advance his intention to rule like a dictator, is elected US President," he said, repeating the "dictator on day one" hoax. "But what's troubled me the most is the right-wing assault on truth and the very idea of verifiability. That assault has been swift and effective," Davis told his union members. "We in the labor movement and in higher education must rise collectively to this moment to contain and defeat autocracy. We can mourn what this election reveals about our country, and today we should take a moment to breathe, but then we must organize."

The call to organize against the former President comes after Trump's colossal victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day, in which he won both the electoral and popular votes he needed in order to take back the White House that he had left in 2021. Kamala Harris conceded on Wednesday during a speech at Howard University, where she told her supporters: "Do not despair."