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Opponents of Donald J. Trump are drafting potential lawsuits in case he is elected in November and carries out mass deportations, as he has vowed. One group has hired a new auditor to withstand any attempt by a second Trump administration to unleash the Internal Revenue Service against them. Democratic-run state governments are even stockpiling abortion medication.

A sprawling network of Democratic officials, progressive activists, watchdog groups and ex-Republicans has been taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency, drawn together by the fear that Mr. Trumps return to power would pose a grave threat not just to their agenda but to American democracy itself.

Trump has made clear that hell disregard the law and test the limits of our system, said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan democracy watchdog organization that works with state officials in both parties. What were staring down is extremely dark.

While the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt to nullify federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, liberals fear a new Trump administration could rescind the approval or use a 19th-century morality law to criminalize sending it across state lines.

The Democratic governor of Washington State, Jay Inslee, said he had secured a large enough supply of mifepristone pills to preserve access for women in his state through a second Trump administration. The supply is locked away at a state warehouse.

We have it physically in the state of Washington, which could stop him and his anti-choice forces from prohibiting its distribution, Mr. Inslee said in an interview. It has a life span of five or six years. If there was another Trump administration, itll get us through.

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The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started - The New York Times

People arrive before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the "People's Convention" of Turning Point Action Saturday in Detroit. Carlos Osorio/AP hide caption

Sporting a "Pretty Girls Vote Republican" baseball cap and several buttons, including one reading "Gun Rights are Women's Rights," Lauren Kerby was surprised to be asked who she plans to vote for in the fall.

"Obviously Trump," the 21-year-old from Berkeley, Mich., said with a laugh. "I came here for a reason."

Here is the 'Peoples Convention,' run by Turning Point Action, the advocacy wing of Turning Point USA, one of the largest national organizations focused on engaging students on conservative issues.

Turning Point - which rose out of concerns about free speech on college campuses, has grown into an unapologetically pro-Trump machine, focused on organizing for the former president ahead of the 2024 election.

It hosts events like these, attracting voters like Kerby and hundreds of others like her who want to party, young conservative style.

And this is certainly a Trump show. At the Huntington Place Convention Center in downtown Detroit, a bejeweled presidential seal with Trumps face in the center rests on the hood of a gold-painted Mercedes-Benz. At a nearby booth among dozens, vendors are selling "America First" cowboy hats and shirts reading, "Voting Convicted Felon, 2024."

The festivities this year come as Turning Point Action works to significantly expand its organizing presence in key swing states ahead of the general election, including Michigan, home to this years conference.

Just five months out, enthusiasm for Trump is high among younger attendees. NPR spoke with more than a dozen voters under 30 who remain committed to Trump, motivated to vote for him largely because of his isolationist ideas and focus on the economy and immigration.

Supporters cheer as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the People's Convention of Turning Point Action Saturday, June 15, 2024 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Carlos Osorio/AP hide caption

Their unwavering support stands in contrast to the sentiment of many younger Democratic voters, who remain unsure or unenthused about backing President Biden again.

Trump took the stage Saturday night as the event headliner. He ticked through his proposed second-term agenda and criticized Bidens record, making little mention of the youth-focused nature of the event, outside of publicly thanking Turning Point founder and longtime supporter, Charlie Kirk, who is a millennial.

[Kirks] got his army of young people, Trump said to a crowd of over 8,000, according to Kirk. Though Turning Point staff told NPR that around 3,000 of the attendees were students.

These are young patriots. They dont want to see what's been happening in our country," Trump added.

The former presidents remarks came after two days of speeches from conservative firebrands and high-profile Trump allies, including Republican National Committee co-chair and Trumps daughter-in-law Lara Trump, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

This years conference also comes just over two weeks after a New York jury found Trump guilty of criminal charges, a decision that could negatively impact his chances with younger voters. The latest Harvard youth poll, published in March, found a potential guilty verdict increased Bidens lead by 10 percentage points among young Americans overall.

Much like their unwavering support in the election, though, voters at the event are unphased by his conviction. His mugshot is displayed on the posters and t-shirts of attendees.

To 20-year-old activist James Hart of Tallahassee, Fla., the verdict has little effect.

I dont really think, at this point, anyones feelings changed. I think everyone knows who theyre going to vote for. We know Trump. Trust me we know Joe Biden, said Hart. We know their policy. We know how they're going to act. And I trust Trump.

I think most young people are going after Trump-like candidates. We want the fire. We want the passion. We're tired of the same old, same old. We want bold policy that actually is going to lead with results.

James Hart, Florida Voter

June 15, 2024

For Kerby from Berkeley, Mich., supporting Trump partially stems from his push for isolationism, including limiting U.S. aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Hes focused on whats happening here, she said, pointing instead to Trumps focus on reducing illegal immigration.

Not saying that other places don't matter, but we should matter first, Kerbys friend, Elaina Luca, 21, added. When you're in a family, you make sure that your family is okay first.

Luca is also backing Trump. As a mom with two young kids, shes most concerned about rising prices.

When I drive around and see a nice house, I like to look up how much it's sold for, she explained. In today's economy, it's like, Oh, wow, how did these people even afford that? And it's like, Oh no, they bought it in 2012 for like $150,000 and now it's worth like $1 million.

How am I supposed to get a house to raise my children to live in? she wondered aloud, I don't want to pay for a house for the rest of my life.

Former President Donald Trump walks on to the stage to give the keynote address at Turning Point Action's "The People's Convention" on Saturday in Detroit, Michigan. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images hide caption

While Turning Points non-profit side has held student conferences for nearly a decade, also sprinkled with appearances from Republican politicians and conservative media figures, this conference marks just the second for Turning Point Action.

The activist network has morphed into a more pronounced political force, planning to ramp up its organizing ground game ahead of the election.

It's night and day, said Turning Point Action spokesman Andrew Kolvet. Any activities we did, in 2022 for example, in the midterms, was like the Stone Age compared to the level of sophistication and just the resources that weve poured into this project to develop it.

Kolvet is talking about the groups Chase the Vote initiative, a get-out-to-vote campaign focused on reaching low-propensity voters in swing states that launched earlier this spring. Trump recently endorsed the program during a separate Turning Point event in Arizona, another pivotal state in 2024.

Turning Point hopes to raise $100 million to build up on the ground organizing staff and plans to work with the Trump campaign on canvassing a notable change from past election cycles following new guidance from the Federal Election Commission.

Despite the roots of Turning Point, the program is not solely focused on young voters, though Kolvet said that will always be tied to Turning Points work.

Despite enthusiasm for Trump at Turning Point, Republicans face a steep challenge to bringing in more young voters. Voters under 30 have traditionally voted for Democrats, and in 2020, Biden won the age group by a 24-point margin.

Plus young voters tend to be aligned with Democrats on their key issues notably on abortion access, addressing climate and curbing gun violence. And despite struggling in polling, Biden still maintains a lead with young voters overall in multiple youth polls.

But among some young conservatives, albeit a proportionally smaller group, Trumps style of Republican politics once fringe and now mainstream is overwhelmingly what they want for their political future.

An attendee wears a "Team Trump" cowboy hat as people watch speakers during Turning Point's "Peoples Convention" on Saturday in Detroit. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

The pro-Trump, MAGA element definitely appeals more towards young conservatives and young Americans in general, said 19-year-old Ohio student, Gabe Guidarini, a member of the College Republicans of America. It actually addresses the problems that they face.

He argued young people have trouble connecting to old school Republican rhetoric focused on cutting taxes and government spending, because they are not able to progress financially. And given the time period Gen Z has grown up during, Trumps deviation from political norms is appealing, he explained.

James Hart agrees. Though the 20-year-old now lives in Tallahassee, he grew up in Detroit. I was raised Democrat, he said.

That is, until 2016, when his family flipped for Trump.

His personality is what got my family to say. Hey, you know, maybe the Democrats aren't the greatest, he said. Honesty is the best policy. And up here in the Midwest, we're honest. We say it like it is. And Trump did that.

Now, as Hart gets ready to vote for the first time, his mind is made up.

I think most young people are going after Trump-like candidates, he said. We want the fire. We want the passion. We're tired of the same old, same old. We want bold policy that actually is going to lead with results.

Read more:
Young conservatives think enthusiasm is on their side in 2024 election - NPR

In the center of the country, theres a place thats home to what is likely the worlds only President Donald J. Trump Highway. But dont go looking for Trump flags there, because youll have a hard time finding any.

Between now and November, the future of our nation will probably be determined by a thin sliver of undecided voters. But this is a big country, where there is considerable nuance to how voters choose which candidates to support. As a historian who believes that this summer will be a pivotal one in the future of American life, Im interested in how communities that are rarely in the media spotlight are thinking about that future. Two weeks ago, I traveled to one such place.

By almost any measure, Cimarron County is out there. Situated at the very tip of the Oklahoma Panhandle, and sharing borders with Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, it is both rural and remote. Here, fields of winter wheat and milo ripen beneath an impossibly vast, Dutch blue sky. Outside of Boise City, the county seat, the only substantial trees are those that surround isolated farmhouses, dark green islands floating on a golden ocean. Wind and sun are near constant.

So is religion. Are you a Christian? I was asked at the start of one interview. In Boise City, pop. 1,166, there are nine churches and one bar, while a hand-colored poster of a cross, labeled You said give you a sign, so I gave you a sign God, adorns the hallway of the high school. Cimarron County does not live in some 1950s time warp. The local Girl Scout troop just built a pickleball court, I saw Thai spices at Moores Food Pride, The Boise City News is on Facebook and fentanyl has made an unwelcome appearance.

Still, Cimarron County is singular for other reasons. Oklahoma is the reddest of the red states. It is the only state where Barack Obama did not carry a single county in either of his presidential races, while Donald Trump carried every county in both of his. In 2020, Mr. Trump won Oklahoma by a whopping 33 points. That accomplishment paled, however, compared to his electoral prowess in Cimarron County, where he won 92 percent of the vote. Out of 1,054 votes cast in the last presidential election, Joe Biden won 70.

I dont watch Fox News I thought they went way too liberal during the last election. The speaker was Clint Twombly, a former Border Patrol agent who is running for sheriff. Standing inside the cinder-block building where the Boise City Rotary Club meets every Wednesday at noon, Mr. Twombly delivered his first ever campaign speech.

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Opinion | Why Trump Will Win This Oklahoma County - The New York Times

No person with a loved one who has suffered through addiction could feel anything but empathy for Hunter Biden and his family. There are a lot of Hunter Bidens in this world, people who fell in way over their heads, who long for someone to believe they can recover and construct their lives differently, Patti Davis, a recovered addict and the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, wrote last week in the New York Times. You just dont hear about them on the evening news.

The tragedy, pain and trauma of drug addiction is not lost on millions of Americans. And as Davis noted, Some observers argue that if Hunter Biden were not the presidents son, he wouldnt be on trial for buying a gun while being addicted to drugs, since he had the gun for only 11 days and it wasnt used in any crime.

That a prosecutor appointed by felon and former president Donald Trump should bring a case of the type so rarely charged only heightened the queasy feeling that Hunter Biden was forced to bear the burden of being a presidents son. As former president Donald Trump complains that he is a victim of selective prosecution for his brazen attempts to defy a federal subpoena, Hunter Biden may actually be experiencing it, David Graham wrote for the Atlantic. Even a juror said the prosecution was a waste of tax dollars.

The reaction of many MAGA types and their captive right-wing media seemingly disappointed that the allegedly rigged judicial system apparently wasnt so rigged after all was one sign of the moral chasm and twisted logic that has come to define MAGA-era politics.

On every score, the Biden family throughout the public ordeal exemplified dignity, decency and the sort of unconditional love that many endlessly needy narcissists and other damaged adults were denied as children. (One is reminded of Henry Kissingers dig at Richard M. Nixon: Can you imagine what this man would have been like if somebody had loved him?)

First lady Jill Biden regularly attended her sons trial; President Biden never impugned the judicial system. Biden promised not to pardon his son or commute his sentence, and embraced him after the trial. In a written statement, the president said: Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery. He added, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.

Trump, convicted of falsifying documents to cover up hush money paid to an adult-film actress in an effort to block the story from appearing before the 2016 election, alternately fumed and slept his way through his trial. His wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner never showed up to demonstrate support. Only his son Eric was in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

During and after Trumps trial, he and his MAGA minions attacked the judicial system, smeared the judge and jury, and then refused to accept the legitimacy of the verdict. Trumps bizarre call to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) demanding that we have to overturn this epitomized not just his constitutional ignorance but the MAGA movements determination to burn down a judicial system that could not be corrupted to do his bidding.

At its worst, cynical political coverage and punditry about the two criminal trials often regurgitated MAGA spin that Trumps conviction could help him. Hunter Bidens case was frequently portrayed as a potential election-year problem or trouble for the president. (While some polls show Biden has improved by a couple of points, Trump has not benefited from either trial.) The New York Times even appeared to question President Bidens judgment for inviting Hunter to the White House.

The Biden family in these past few weeks have demonstrated qualities such as respect, empathy and decency that have long defined public virtue. (Even the term seems quaint these days.) For a time, Republicans insisted that presidents needed to embody those characteristics. No more. Now the MAGA Republicans and their warped cult leader celebrate cruelty, vindictiveness and lust for power.

This gaping moral divide has been nowhere more evident than in the candidates (and their followers) conduct and rhetoric during these two trials. Now the question has been sharpened: Which candidate should we emulate and what sort of country do we want to live in?

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Opinion | The Hunter Biden and Trump trials were a litmus test. Only the Bidens passed. - The Washington Post

Donald hates his birthdays, Ivana Trump once said of her former husband.

He seemed to hate this one, on Friday, especially. He looked genuinely upset earlier this week when his supporters sang an early Happy Birthday to him at a rally in Las Vegas. You know, he told them, theres a certain point at which you dont want to hear Happy Birthday. You just want to pretend the day doesnt exist.

No doubt. Now 78, he is trying to convince the country to give him another four years in office, at the end of which he would be the oldest president in American history a mantle held by the current, 81-year-old occupant of the Oval Office.

On the campaign trail, both men try to downplay their age while making the other appear as creaky and cranky as possible.

The Trump team spent the week blasting out selectively edited videos of Mr. Biden toddling around Europe, looking like Corrado Soprano lost in Newark. We have a president who has no clue what the hell is going on, Mr. Trump said at a birthday celebration with supporters in Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday evening.

The Biden campaign hit back with an email on Mr. Trumps birthday, reminding voters that he had fallen asleep at his own trial, a case that resulted in felony convictions. He is unhinged, unable to focus and diminishing before our very eyes, James Singer, a Biden campaign spokesman, said of the former president.

Mr. Trump used to have fun on his birthdays. Donald was the child who would throw the cake at the birthday parties, his younger brother Robert once told the journalist Marie Brenner. After he became a mogul, Mr. Trump would throw swinging parties at his casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., like the one at Trumps Castle in 1988, for his 42nd birthday, when he played videos of Liza Minnelli and Billy Crystal wishing him a happy birthday. (President Ronald Reagan sent a telegram.)

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It's Donald Trump's 78th Birthday. He Isn't Happy About It. - The New York Times