Trump stronghold holds largest ever ‘No Kings’ protest

My gen x, white Midwestern mom had said things hanging out with her girlfriends that would probably get me dragged into an unmarked van for repeating online. And her friends were all about it. People are pissed. The only question remains is whether or not it'll be enough.

He sounds rad.

Ok, so now I really want to see a bunch of angry political posts that all include fish pictures.

Angrily yes but which direction? Maga has had the "angry idiot" bloc on lock for a bit.

The "silent" Republicans everyone has been talking about exist-- they're just conservative, not regressive. Conservatives are fine with slow progression. It gives us time to adjust as humans to crazy shifts in rhetoric that's substantiated by evidence. A single human brain can be quick, but *society* aka the "human ant hill" can not. Especially given the scale being worldwide. It's easier to influence a region than a state, a state is easier than a country, a country is easier than the world. Republican policies and politics in America are at this point quite regressive-- at this point in time, true conservatives don't really have issues with gay men (speaking from experience, they have an issue with "gay culture" because it's so sex-forward, and America understands violence but not sex), they don't *really* have issues with ethnic minorities (though a bunch do get swayed by "They took our jobs!"ism, despite being willing to work as hard for their employment as any immigrant), aside from the standard rural-urban divide. Regressives are the problem. Conservatives are generally your "I don't like politics" people, and they *do* tend to show up to fight facism eventually. MAGAs are regressives. I do believe still that *most* Americans are not.

Yes and no- I think older Americans are starting to realize no one was yanking their chains when we said they were coming for Medicare and social security. They're seeing services cut that are lifelines for them. It's becoming survival mode. The older Americans, however, were always the core organizers. A lot did this back on the Vietnam days, too. They just know the drill. Ive been to several in smaller cities than Boston that definitely trend younger than the larger one. Some is very much an access thing- work and travel were difficult logistics. More people are coming into cities from suburbs, though, and a sentiment is they need to go where people are having the most issues and need support vs staying home. I did, however, notice that one very big group of my friends were among those not protesting, though otherwise very politically outspoken- the majority of my lgbtq+ friends and acquaintances not only did not protest, a chunk did not know they were happening. A lot appear to be avoiding news in general. I can understand that to an extent, but the level of uninformed Im starting to see is just scary. Like still not knowing there was a government shutdown as of yesterday and needing to be informed they need to get to the airport way early scary. There's gotta be a middle ground to protecting your space and staying up to date there. Some of the conversations Im starting to have are kinda wild because it's just playing catch up to everything they don't know. This is probably not universal, but definitely happening in the northeast. It's like a false sense of security they'll always be insulated here so they don't need to pay attention

> older folks are turning out and young people are not This is what happens when it comes time to vote also and predominantly why we're in this mess now.

Tbf, most younger people have to work their asses off to scrape by. Source: am 34 and have a “good” job that I actually like, still can’t afford to take too much time off even though my boss would totally let me. Ima save my vacation days for an actual vacation.

The only time young folks have been politically involved is when there was a military draft & they were in direct danger, the Vietnam protests fell off quickly when the draft was abolished. It was mostly old people protesting GWB's Middle East wars, it was depressing then.

I think your own statements indicate that it might not be as bad as you make it sound. You said the median age in your area is 40s and the majority protestors are older, so already your area isn’t overflowing with youth. Doesn’t sound like you’re in a college town or similar. You also acknowledged that young people have less time and money to protest which is true, so combine that with your local demographics and you get what you got. And as others have pointed out - having a large swath of older people getting engaged certainly isn’t a bad thing. They vote more than younger populations and they tend to lean conservative so leaning away is a big deal. It’s not all doom and gloom! 

True. But it is a powerful thing to witness from afar. There are people who only care about the perception.

My elderly parents participated in a few No Kings protests. When I showed photos of them with their signs to my MAGA in-laws, I was asked, in all seriousness, how much they were paid and by whom. A few of them couldn’t believe that my parents were not, in fact, paid anything by anyone. They are still talking about how it doesn’t make sense because that’s what Trump has been telling them. (They all talk about Trump as if they have a personal relationship with him, it’s wild.)

I was there, I didn’t get paid or expect to be paid. I was there to show support for my country and its constitution.

I’m saying he got 75% in the county I live in.

But the numbers can be specific to counties, and there are counties where one candidate does win by a higher percentage than on the national stage.

I protested for my 5 grandkids, and they would have loved joining in..

basically its an elective kingship. im not talking about a straight up monarchy ya goofballs.