More ‘No Kings’ protests targeting Trump are planned nationwide this weekend

We've been there for upwards of 10 years now.

I can't blame someone for not wanting to leave their children homeless and starving after they're shot to death for protesting, or lose their job because they were attacked by the police and ended up disabled. Or fired for just going at all when they had a scheduled shift.

Trump: “they stole the election “

Let’s assume that is true. Did anyone do anything about it? Nope. So does it matter if it is true or not? Nope.

This! They stole the election, dems just didn’t want to sound like the orange shithead so they didn’t challenge anything

> Also, Dropkick Murphys are playing at the Boston No Kings protest tomorrow. I love how Facebook conservatives call the Dropkick Murphys a one song band and then they love Kid Rock lol.

Sort of. It's not a day of single action, it's a systematic pattern of resistance by a meaningful portion of the population, with more participation leading to higher odds of success. The 3.5 percent is a semi arbitrary cutoff. But simultaneously, not everyone needs to specifically be there that day. They could protest/resist in other ways on other days, for example, and not everyone out on the street is necessarily part of a pattern of resistance although of course it's a good sign and strong start.

The last No Kings nation-wide protest day draw \~5-7 million participants (depending on who is estimating), making it one of the largest mass protest on record. With a US population of \~348 million, that's about 2%. It's not unthinkable, given how quickly things are getting worse, that 1.5x as many people show up this weekend, or to the next one. 3.5% is a lot closer than a lot of people realize.

> Every time one of these protests hit my local subs, somebody shows up reeeeeing about how they're a waste of time My favorite comment is when they tell everyone how little they care about the protests while commenting on every post about the protests lol.

The examples listed in that study only apply to autocratic nations. Not to mention they cherry picked a few movements throughout history and conveniently ignored all the ones that failed.

This misrepresents the data, though. 3.5 % of the people engaged in consistent protest and resistance can make change. 3.5% of the people standing around, out of the way, for a few hours on a Saturday and then going home at a set time does not.

No one will listen to that 3.5% until there is something like 25% unemployment like during the depression. The average American yuppie thats the last bastion of actual middle class wealth left whom the entire liberal political machine caters exclusively to, still lives too comfortably. Tho whose retirement savings is still intact and growing (thanks to the likes raytheon and Lockheed, and exxon and the fund managers investing people's savings on their behalf).  You'd need a complete market collapse and sweeping white collar unemployment before people like that wake up. I'm in that cohort and the number of my colleagues completely oblivious and unbothered by this tyrant because they still have a high paying cushy office job and a well funded 401k, insulating them from the worst of the down stream market forces from Trump's  horrendous unilateral economic policy is mind boggling.  My parents took part in protests before being truly cracked down by the army and secret police in their home country before eventually being forced to flee, and trust me when I say the average American is spoiled in comparison to the stories they've told me about fighting despotism. Even the ones who are "protesting" are barely trying at this point precisely because they still have too much too lose and are living too comfortably in comparison to other despotic regimes that study cites. These are barely protests they are glorified sanctioned parades. Things need to get a waay worse before real change happens.  There's barely any true civil disobedience happening in modern American protests, marching in a parade is not the same as blocking points of trades, mass labour strikes, tax revolts, sabotaging capital, and blocking the oligarchs and wealthy the means to engage in commerce. 

Well yes, but also no. For one thing, that "rule" (more of an observation) comes from a single Harvard study, which later had a followup where they did find examples where the rule didn't hold, such as against the King of Bahrain during the Arab Spring. I highly encourage you to read the authors folloup publication here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2024-05/Erica%2520Chenoweth_2020-005.pdf But more importantly, it was only for movements that have the explicit goal of toppling the government. In the case of Trump, that would look like at least removing Trump and then passing a constitutional amendment to allow for an emergency election to replace him, and possibly as much as a full rewrite of the entire US constitution. If 3.5% supported that, then many more people would likely support a slightly less maximalist position, like remove Trump from office and have Vance replace him, with no fundamental change to the US government. No Kings is simply not a movement that aims to topple the US government. They're not even explicitly calling for anyone to be removed from office. Under the standards of the study, the No Kings marches wouldn't have even been included since it is a reformist movement, and reformist movements aren't what the study discusses.

I’ve only been able to drag myself to one protest so far. I am absolutely terrified of large crowds. The one I went to was fairly small so I was able to work through the anxiety. After a couple hours, I was screaming with everyone else. It was freeing being able to release all the rage. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people in that very very red district were anti ICE. Afterwards, I felt more at peace than I ever have in my life.  So even if you’re anxious, push through it and go anyway. You can always leave if it’s too much. 

Indeed. I have never in my almost 30 years of life seen a political protest against government result in anything other than empty promises that get reversed the second people stop caring. For example the Black lives matter protests. Most major cities and democrats claimed to care about police reform. Then the moment we stopped marching they reversed the order to use police funding for something else and even voted to provide more funding to police. Now when we hear about police murdering, unjust killing of an unarmed black man and I rarely hear about widespread protests. Demand for changes etc. I dont even really hear them mentioning abortion rights anymore, they were loud about it after the overturning of Roe V wade. I haven't seen or heard of a hands off our uterus march since.

Still value in local networking

I don't think a lot of people overseas realize just how huge the US is and how we can't just do a major nationwide protest. Many of them also have nationalized healthcare, so they don't understand why people don't want to lose their jobs because of their health insurance.

That all assumes that the media airs anything about them. They've been increasingly ignoring them and skipping even mentioning these protests more and more.

this is why we need to gather and form communities, as in physical, we-live-near-to-each other communities as well as the internet geographically dispersed ones. A disconnected group won't commit to something like this; but a large community with lots of different organizations, actions, and groups addressing lots of different concerns, well, those are the people who know and trust each other and can put together things like rent funds and strike funds, to address food insecurity, other basic needs... The big protests are a way to go and physically meet the people around you who feel the same to start getting involved and organized.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid we're going to have to do more than a general strike at this point.

Just look at how the TSA debacle just got the senate to unanimously fund the TSA - and NOT ICE or CBP

Exactly, i\`ve been advocating that for a while but a lot of the Americans i was talking to considered both me & striking as Communist! .. Will America *ever* learn? Even a tiny wee bit ..

We need leaders to be organizing and preparing for every option. The Conservatives are planning for every option, so should we. 

Link the Marches up & march on Washington. That will quickly matter.. A lot!

So many people in January-March of 2025 were saying "How come nobody is protesting???" like it's 40 degrees here and drizzling and we get 10 hours of light. Look at most of the big protests in US history and you find they regularly happen in the summer.

Thank youuuu. Tis fixed

I’m f****** sick of the democrats self-scrutinizing our messaging. Independent voters don’t need to be coddled, if they don’t know by now what’s at stake then messaging isn’t going to suddenly cure their blindness. Pain is one of the strongest signals that can be understood. America made its choice, and until the consequences of that choice set in for people one by one, I expect nothing different at the voting booth.

even small towns have been showing up. they may not have the most impressive numbers, but some around me had like 100 people turn out in towns of 2-3k, mostly MAGAfied, and it easily blew out previous protests for hyper-local issues that supposedly more people cared about in general. Even my hometown, deep ruby red country, had a notable showing at the last one. People are pissed and feel helpless.

I guarantee you Rachel Maddow will cover this.

They have what are basically mobile cell phone towers that get your phones ID number and can then track you from it. And with this administration using admin warrents they would like have your cell company dump the last 30 days of your history. Texts, calls, and what you looked at what you clicked on. They build a profile and you go on the "naughty"  list and if you get in trouble ever they bring the hammer and throw the book at you. They been doing a version of this since 60s mind you. Technology just made it easier.