At least Trump has Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, in his corner. She jumped to his defense on her blog last week, stating of all the celebrity rejections, "Isn't it amazing how 'not cool' it is to be conservative in the public eye? Either Hollywood is that far off — or we have so many sissies in the spotlight too scared to stand for what they believe in!" Bristol, you're right about one thing: it is decidedly "not cool" to be aligned with someone who ran for office on a wave of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia. But the "either/or" you present is fallacious: Hollywood isn't "far off." Unless "far off" means progress over regress. Consider this: the entertainers who won't perform for Trump aren't scared to say they're with him, rather they're scared the world we live in may cease to be under his presidency due to climate change, nuclear proliferation, Russia, China, ISIS, hate crimes, gender inequality, anti-LGBT legislation, you name it.

Since leaving the law, I work as a talent manager at a company that encourages our clients to leverage their visibility on behalf of the social and political causes they believe in, in order to make a positive impact on the planet. 2016's company holiday card listed a number of organizations — the ACLU, the Human Rights Campaign, National Immigration Law Center, and Southern Poverty Law Center, to name a few — to which donations were made "to safeguard the planet and the rights of some of its most vulnerable inhabitants." These are the groups on the legislative and judicial frontlines against Trump.

Our clients are on the frontlines of the cultural battleground. In the run up to Election Day, one of my youngest clients, Nik Dodani, produced and hosted a multi-city variety show called Laughter Trumps Hate, aimed at millennials, featuring dozens of up-and-coming comedians taking on Trump and his politics of hate. Trump might have won the electoral college, but he lost the popular vote by 2 percent overall and by a landslide in the demographic my client targeted. Laughter Trumps Hate, indeed. I am so profoundly moved and inspired to work with someone so young with such clarity of purpose.

There will be no deus ex machina for Trump in this New Year, or the ensuing years of his presidency. In typical Trump fashion, the brute fired off a divisive tweet last weekend: "Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly that they don’t know what to do. Love!" We know what to do, Donald. We must be the machine against your war of regression. It seems your fist is always raised. We must raise ours, and our individual and collective voices, and continue to fight.