Millions Of Americans Rallied Against Trumpism Saturday— Landing Pad Or Launching Pad?

Even in Boise, Idaho

Yesterday, Politico did some reporting on Saturday’s nationwide Hands Off rallies. Organizers said more than 600,000 people RSVPed for the events; CNN pegged the number of attendees in the “millions” … 1,000 in Anchorage … 3,000 in Charlotte… 5,000 in Raleigh… 6,000 in Florida’s Palm Beach County… 7,000 in Des Moines… At least 7,000 in Seattle… 10,000 in Denver… 20,000 in Atlanta… 25,000 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul… 25,000 in Boston… 30,000 in Chicago… In New York, the protest stretched along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for “nearly 20 blocks”… In Washington, organizers estimated the crowd exceeded 100,000— roughly five times larger than they’d predicted. There were more than 1,300 locations in the U.S. alone. “[D]emonstrators gathered in a show of both force and breadth, wielding signs voicing their outrage over policies they alleged betrayed something fundamental about America. The president was a frequent object of their ire, of course. But so was Elon Musk. Homemade placards targeted tariffs and tyranny, deportations and DOGE. They defended vaccine science and abortion rights and Gaza and Ukraine... Now, Democrats and others who oppose Trump feel a bit more optimistic about the outlook for resistance than a week ago at this time. The Jan. 21, 2017, Women’s March fomented the ‘Resistance’ movement that propelled Democrats to a wave election in 2018. Could this week be the beginning of a similar turn of fortune for Dems?

John Pavlovitz warned his readers yesterday that “rallies and protests don't vote and they don’t save democracies. They can't craft legislation and they won't protect endangered people. Rallies alone won't jettison corrupt leaders from their well-fortified perches of power. They can't reach into the labyrinthine hallways and cloistered rooms where those charged with protecting us, decide our fates. Rallies can't tip the scales of our political process back toward balance. They will not reject would-be dictators.”

Still, he was inspired, even while confessing “to wondering if we as a nation have the attention spans and intestinal fortitude to do what it’s going to take to emancipate America from the clutches of the monsters now dragging us into the Dark Ages. I don’t know if we’re prepared to abandon the fantasy of exceptionalism and the sedation of perceived normalcy and get our hands dirty. The protests that took place this weekend were certainly inspiring, but they are the easiest possible ask of Americans. They also don’t matter a little bit to Trump and his gaggle of ghouls. Like so many times before, they simply allowed us to have an afternoon where we all felt a false sense of power and blew off steam and then largely returned to our lives currently in progress— while they continued to dismantle our Republic largely unabated. Rallies and polls are indeed powerful things but they can't hold a candle to votes. Rallies and polls can encourage imperiled people for a day. Votes can save them for a lifetime.”

Now “the real work begins. April 5th cannot be a landing pad, it must be a launching pad. We the People of every color and religious tradition, every political affiliation and gender identity, every nation of origin and sexual orientation need to enter into the fray now and we must not stop. We need to rally every Democracy-loving, humanity-defending American into the daily, mundane, and unspectacular work of fighting for change in the very neighborhoods and school board meetings and state houses and churches we walked past over the weekend. We need to remember that transformative activism is found in sustained movements, not in soothing moments, and we need to find our place in the messy and local battles throughout this nation until we actually strike fear into the oppressors and oligarchs, and upend the new order they are constructing where we are truly powerless. Then, we'll look back on these days not as isolated events that temporarily lifted but ultimately anesthetized us into inaction— but as the beginning of a new revolution that we set into motion. Hands-on, good people.”