If they can muster the political courage, Democrats can absolutely stop Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominees and every piece of legislation they don't want.
Let me repeat. Even though Republicans "control" both houses of Congress and The White House, THE most powerful person in the country is not a Republican.
He is a Democrat and his name is Chuck Schumer, the incoming Minority Leader of The United States Senate.
And we know this because the most powerful person in the country over the past 8 years (even when Democrats also "controlled" both houses of Congress and The White House under President Obama) was a Republican named Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader, and then Majority Leader of The United States Senate.
That is how important the Filibuster is.
The Filibuster was created to provided a powerful check and balance on a runaway train of majority control and to protect the interests of the minority in American politics.
Mitch McConnell, the brilliant political strategist that he is, fully understood this and Filibustered virtually every important thing that Barack Obama wanted from January, 2009 through today.
Chuck Schumer can do the same on any and every piece of legislation that Donald Trump (and Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell) want and on any anti-choice, anti-gay rights, anti-environmental regulation, pro-Citizens United, anti-immigrant, and/or anti-civil rights Supreme Court nominee that President Trump sends to The Senate.
Really.
Chuck Schumer is the most powerful man in Donald Trump's America . . . but only if he will - like McConnell - use that power.
The math is really simple.
Donald Trump wants to change immigration laws to require Muslims to register or give massive subsidies to oil and coal and eliminate all subsidies to renewable energy or cut the top tax rates for corporations and wealthy individuals in half or privatize Social Security or cut funding for Medicare, etc., etc.
He gets a sponsor for those bills and sends them to Congress.
218 or more Republicans vote "Yes" and the bill(s) pass The House. They then go to The Senate where 52 Republicans stand ready to also vote "Yes".
But if Chuck Schumer says, "NO" and Filibusters those bills and pulls together at least 41 of the 48 Democratic Senators, then Majority Leader McConnell and the other 51 Republican Senators will not be allowed to vote on that bill. They will not have the 60 votes necessary to close the Filibuster or, as they say, "Invoke Cloture".
And that's it. The bill dies in The Senate and Mr. Trump doesn't get what he wants.
The same is true for Supreme Court nominees. If 41 Democrats say "NO", Mr. Trump does not get his nominee.
The same used to also be true for other Federal Judges (District and Circuit Court) and Cabinet Secretary and other Executive appointments but the Democrats, while also understanding that the Filibuster is a double edged sword, chose to end it for those things so that President Obama could fill a number of judicial appointments that had been effectively blocked by The Republicans for a long time. That decision now cuts against Democrats but the all-important Filibuster still exists for Supreme Court nominations and legislation.
For now.
Should the Republicans decide to vote for "The Nuclear Option" and "nuke" the Filibuster entirely, the Democrats might as well stay home. Without a Filibuster, Donald Trump does not need even 1 Democratic vote and Republicans would have full dictatorial control over politics and policy and The Supreme Court.
As tempting as that might be for Republicans and Mitch McConnell, The Majority Leader understands the consequences and that if they are ever in The Minority again, (and they will be) that they and democracy would suffer massively for this short term move.
And, it should and would not be lost on Republican leaders that 53.9% of America did NOT vote for Mr. Trump and that these 53.9% will have an opportunity to put them back in The Minority in The United States Senate in just 23 short months from now!
Bottom line: If you want to "resist" Donald Trump, there IS a way to do it. All you have to do is make sure that if you live in New York, you let Chuck Schumer know that you want him to stand up to Donald Trump and if you live in ANY state with a Democratic Senator, that you do the same or you will "Primary" them and find a Democratic challenger that will!