How Robert Reich plans to turn liberal rage into a ‘resistance army’ to contain Trump’s ‘poison’

In a post-election interview with Democracy for America, Congresswoman-elect Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) discussed the victory of former reality TV star Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Reich said that anger is going to be a valuable tool for people opposed to President-elect Trump.

"I would not be sincere if I did not talk about the despair and the fear I certainly felt Tuesday," Reich said. But now that fear and sadness has turned to anger.

"Anger is not bad," he said. "The angrier we are and the more activated and directional -- the more we can channel that anger into real constructive change and blocking things that are bad, so much the better."

"We do have to fight bigotry in all its forms," Reich said. "Any kind of bigotry that has been unleashed by this campaign, by Donald Trump, giving permission to that kind of bigotry is something we've got to be alert to and we've got to fight."

We have to make sure, he said, "that kind of poison is limited and contained."

Later in the interview, Reich cautioned that progressives may not grasp yet the magnitude "of what we are up against."

"I think that Donald Trump and the Trump administration are going to be changing the rules," he said, with regards to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Defense and more.

Reich called for a "resistance army" all across the country to pressure politicians not to roll back the rules and regulations that hold our system of checks and balances in place.

"He is going to have the reins of the entire federal government," Reich warned. "We need a Democratic Party that is going to alert people and mobilize people continuously."

"We have not seen this degree of potential harm," he said of the Trump presidency.

Listen to the interview, embedded below: