Progressive Politics

If everyone at the protests went to Washington and ripped this fascist out of the White House we would be done with this mess.

I keep seeing this take from Lemmy keyboard warriors, and honestly it's kind of frustrating. It's like saying: If all the soccer moms and college students and retirees and other everyday people who spent their entire lives blissfully living in an ostensible democracy just skipped all the boring organizing and community building and radicalization and Overton window shifting.. and just went straight to the violent revolution part, this would be all fixed right away.

Well, DUH. But that's not how any of this works in the real world. Movements take time to build, and you're doing a disservice to that movement building by trying to minimize these initial protest efforts.

Not davel, but what's this racism? You talk about China and Russia the same way Nazis talked about Judeo-Bolshevism

There were 100k+ in DC alone.

There are thousands of protests though, with thousands of people each.

God, I'm sick of these concern trolls trying to dissuade the people from taking action in Every. Single. Thread about protests. You're wrong, go away if you have nothing positive to contribute. We're just getting started.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

More people showed up in DC yesterday (100k ) than at Jan 6th (80k high estimate - snopes.com ).

This is the beginning, not the end result. Protest activity is off the charts and rising steadily:

Link to full article from WagingNonViolence.org

These movements take time to build, but this one is building much faster than previous efforts. I've been on the front lines since the 2nd Iraq War protests (which were huge) and this movement is already larger, smarter, and more organized.

It is making a difference - don't allow yourself to believe otherwise. You can see the cracks starting already with the infighting at the top of Trump's team and the defection of key republicans.

They're just as scared of our mob as they are of theirs.

Because we're stronger than they are - there are a lot more of us - and we have REAL cause to be angry now.

This wasn't the first nationwide protest of his second term nor will it be the last. This was the 4th nationwide 50501 protest. Plus other movement like Tesla Takedown had large nationwide protests prior too. It's just that now it's gotten large enough that the media can no longer ignore it. It took time to get here. Each protest keeps getting larger than the last

Millions of people have just been put in touch with the various local groups organizing these protests. Usually at these protests they'll be people going around giving info, sigining people up for mailing lists, etc. That's a good part of how each protest gets bigger

Besides just protests, that will enable much more action and more rapid action in the future. For instance Indivisible does tons of work on directed pressure of congress and local leaders. 50501 organized smaller boycotts in the past when the crowds were smaller. Now they can organize boycotts more with more effect

One thing unique about Trump/Musk is they really do live in a Kool-Aid filled bubble.

Hitler, Stalin, especially "modern" dictators like Putin and Kim seem well-informed. Surrounded by yes-men, sure, but they have a good information apparatus, some intelligence, and a much "higher" view than their general population. They know some lies they tell, they know what they're doing.

Trump? Musk? They are utterly coddled by algorithmic, warped, narcissistic information environments. Everything post they see, everything people tell them, every waking moment strokes titanic egos. They live in a disinformation bubble, which is both a weakness (it leads to objectively self-harming decisions traditional dictators wouldn't make) and a danger (they are extremely insulated from protests. They truly think they're Chosen Ones in the eyes of "good" Americans).

Hence, I think they are going to ignore large protests because they earnestly think it isn't a big deal. Which is good, as it might allow the protests to get extremely large and gravity to take effect.

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/why-civil-resistance-works/9780231156820/

Here’s a study on how many people you need to effectively start a movement. You’ll be pleased to hears it’s not many. If ever person that went out yesterday brings 4 friends were basically there.

We really need leadership and organization, here, strong messaging, and gathering of people to support popular change. Before we get steamrolled by a dictator. Do not let apathy destroy the world this year.

We’re trying to scare the Republicans in Congress into growing a spine. If they feel that their seats are threatened, they may actually begin to dissent.

The effects of Trumps tariffs and Musk's meddling are barely being felt yet though. We're on the precipice of economic disaster but most Americans aren't feeling it personally yet. Once they do and the leopards are out eating faces in earnest the protest numbers will go way up. Unlike usual recessions which most lay people don't really understand this has a clear origin point: Trumps idiotic tariffs. There's no spinning that.

Yesterday's protests were organized through many groups working together. 50501 was one of them, as were MoveOn, labor unions like SEIU, Sunrise, DSA, OurRevolution, the Women's March, and many others.

"Hand's Off" was the branding chosen for the day of protest by Indivisible, another large activist group. https://handsoff2025.com/about-1