What was Accomplished by Saturday's Protests?

Millions Stood Up April 5, A Day of Action

Here's a quote from the article I linked above, which is a narrative of the speech given at the "Hands Off!" rally in San Francisco on Saturday, April 5 by activist Rebecca Solnit.  The entire speech can be found in the link above.

"I am not saying we will do this.  For that, we'd have to be patiently passionate and passionately patient.  We'd have to stick to our principles, keep showing up and keep standing up even when it looks bleak.  We have to do the right things even when the consequences of our actions might not be immediately obvious.  We have to persevere even if it is scary, and by that we, I mean those of us least at risk on behalf of those of us most at risk.  We can do this.  

Will we do it?  Are you in? For the long haul?" 

In It For the Long Haul 

The turnout for Saturday's "Hands Off!" rallies and marches around the country clearly exceeded the expectations of the organizers.  This was a kind of testing of the waters, a check on the political temper of the United States after just 76 days of the second Trump Presidency.  I've been reading the media pundit reactions, the politician reactions, the statements from organizers, and the public reaction that we are getting from the media is predictable.  I'm going to ignore a lot of the predictability in evaluating the effect of what transpired.  

And I have to say this here before I go on.  Colleges and universities who operate programs that train journalists, particularly the news writers, copy editors, and the editorial commentators, are absolutely embarrassing themselves with the product they are graduating, and with the poor quality of the work being done by those to whom they are handing degrees.  That should be an item in the top five of any list of things that have gone wrong in this country and are responsible for this political disaster we are now facing.  The lack of discernment, of content knowledge of the American Constitution and the government which operates under its principles and rules, the ability to discern truth from a lie, and the lack of conviction evident in repeated failure to call out lies, especially among younger journalists, is appalling. 

It'll be a while before the full impact of Saturday's events will be felt.  The horror of seeing crowds ten times larger than even the most optimistic predictions in deep red states like Utah, Montana, Idaho, West Virginia, and Texas has Republicans in a real panic.  Even what we've seen in some of the understated and carefully guarded words, mostly pre-fab stuff, over the weekend, that is one of the more visible reactions.  From that side of the aisle, I don't expect a lot of words to be said.  What I expect is a change of plans that will be noticeable soon enough.  

But even in the big, deep blue cities, the turnout exceeded expectations.  Some of the venues, like Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago, just weren't big enough to hold the turnout, so it spilled over into the surrounding streets.  

And here's an obvious fact.  If a Presidential administration has motivated protests of this size and scope, in virtually every nook and cranny of this country in just 76 days in office, it is in an unmeasurable and disastrous world of trouble, and it does not have a future.  

It will take a while for this to sink in.  The GOP is being held together by fear of retribution, not exactly a value of American politics that has ever had much success in the past.  The margins are showing up in polling data that has become even more dismal for Trump than it was in his first term.  Already.  Saturday's rallies affirmed the feelings that are showing up in those polls, as did the special election results last week, so now, the party operating out of a fear of opposition and defeat that is manifesting itself in a deathly fear of holding public, town hall meetings, is scared spitless. That, more than any words of a Fox News commentator, says just how scared Republicans are about their future with Trump in the White House.  

So being committed to being in for the long haul is a strategy that will work.  

The Opposition Has Come Together, and is Inviting Democrats to Get On Board

We have come from a point of uncertainty, confusion and paralysis following the 2020 election, that continued all through the last days of the Biden Presidency, up to and since the inauguration, to a point where the realization of the true consequences of electing this incompetent, demented, emotionally and intellectually crippled, dysfunctional demagogue are setting in quickly.   For decades in this country, we have fought apathy among various groups of people in our country who somehow got disconnected from their responsibility and role as "we, the people," and buried themselves in something else, refusing to participate in the very activities that were meant for their own benefit, even during those times when their own perspective didn't prevail.  

It was even worse, during this last election cycle, as truthful information got buried in sensationalism, competition for ratings that equal profits for media company owners, ignorance and lack of discernment resulted in the media becoming a propaganda outlet for Trump.  We had four years of the guy in the White House, and there isn't any way to be honest, and evaluate that Presidency as anything more than one of the worst failed Presidencies in our almost 250 years of Constitutional history.  And we've had some real bad, totally incompetent, inept failures who led the country into disasters we didn't have to experience, like the Civil War.  

This President is worse than any of those, and the fact that in an age of electronic media, and instant communication, that fact can be distorted, manipulated, and made to convince seemingly educated and intelligent people otherwise is a huge problem that must be corrected at every level where it exists, from television news to church pulpits, everywhere the lies are promoted.  The truth is getting out there and Saturday's turnout is evidence of that.  

This is a true grassroots movement, in the real political sense of that term.  While its organizers are, for the most part, members of the Democratic party, the party and its leadership is pretty much along for the ride.  Other than Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, there hasn't really been anyone who has done anything meaningful or effective as far as opposition to this administration's incompetence is concerned, except make a few angry speeches and used it to help set up fundraising operations for their own upcoming re-election campaigns.  We picked up Cory Booker last week, after his remarkable speech acknowledged mistakes Democrats have made in the past, and realistically assessed the future.  

I'd be in favor of Schumer stepping down, and handing the mantle of Senate leadership to Senator Booker.  Tomorrow couldn't be soon enough.  If Schumer wants to retire and get out of the way, I'd be OK with that too.  Democrats are the natural choice to lead this movement, and the fact that the momentum appears to be well past where most of them are still hanging out is a sign that we need a change in leadership.  That may well be something that results from the effects of yesterday's rallies and marches. 

It will be a long haul.  As Booker alluded to in his speech, the Democrats have made mistakes and squandered chances to prevent what's happening now from materializing.  But there's too much self-focused, self-protection going on that prevented the kind of bold risk-taking that would have produced what the justice system in this country was designed to produce, and that is an honest government held accountable to the people.  There is no excuse for Trump not being brought to trial for his crimes long before any thought of the 2024 election rolled around, and there is no excuse for action not being taken, when it seemed that the blockades, especially from the Supreme Court, were going to prevent it.  

Democrats had the power for two years during the Biden Administration, and could have used it if not for the restraints they put on themselves by sticking to their political traditions, not realizing their opponents had abandoned those rules and there was no way to win by following them anymore.  It doesn't seem like that lesson has sunk in yet, and that's why this movement is ahead of the party leadership, not really following it. It seems to be choosing its own leaders. 

What I Would Like to Happen vs What Needs to Happen

Public pressure can do a lot of things, including causing a failing, corrupt, ineffective demagogue to resign the Presidency.  We saw this happen in 1974, when public pressure from revelations coming out of the Watergate scandal pushed enough members of the Republican membership of Congress to commit to impeachment and removal of Richard Nixon, letting him know before a trial actually started that his Presidency wouldn't survive the outcome.  

The result of a Presidential resignation now would be to put an even more incompetent, and far worse individual in the White House.  And even if they both stepped down, we'd get Mike Johnson, a sniveling, spineless coward with no moral or ethical convictions.  The question is how much influence the Heritage Foundation has over those in line for the Presidency, and how much support would be left among Republicans in Congress to keep pushing that agenda in the face of public pressure.  But clearly, while the options are the lesser of two evils, getting Trump out of the White House is the best option.

Musk, very likely, is gone.  That word came down after Tuesday, when he more or less took a major beating in Wisconsin, an election won by a Democrat who very likely benefitted from people who turned out because he got involved.  I don't think Trump has the mental capacity, or the emotional ability or ego strength to push him out the door and shut down DOGE, but I think those who are his handlers realize what might happen if that doesn't happen.  Something has to give in the Signal scandal, too, and it can't be a low level sacrifice.  It must be either Waltz or Hegseth.  My guess is the latter, since having an incompetent in the Pentagon is a worry for some GOP Senators, too.    

As I watched video of the crowd that materialized in Washington, DC on Saturday, probably ten times larger, or more, than the January 6th mob of traitors and insurrectionists, I thought, "what a contrast."  A peaceful demonstration, showing respect for the democracy that gives it the freedom to march and to protest, as opposed to the violent attempted overthrow of a legitimate election.  These were true American patriots, exercising their rights and sending a clear message of opposition to a President who is failing to do his job.  

We Have a Movement

So it will be a long haul, but we have a movement.  The size and scope of this particular protest was impressive, but beyond that, it is a sign that the message is getting out, and awareness of the truth, and let me underline that, the truth, is getting out.  I don't think we have a figure of just how many people turned out on Saturday, but what we do have is evidence that change is being demanded, and is coming.  Combined with Tuesday's shocking special election results, even in Florida, where anti-Trump voters boosted turnout and doubled the election percentages of Democratic candidates in just five short months of discontent, there's been a political earthquake. 

A lot of damage has been done, and will continue to be done as long as Trump is in the White House.  But what we know about him is that his ego can't persist against opposition.  I expect that this was not a weekend very many people on the White House staff or in his secret service detail wanted to spend in his presence.  But the pressure needs to keep coming.  We will do well to focus our political contributions on the places where it does the most good, on Senator Sanders' and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez' movement and organization, and on the organizations which have formed, and are putting this together, like Indivisible,  which was responsible for a lot of Saturday's turnout.  

"Will we do it?"  Yes, we will. "Are you in?"  Yes, I am.  I have problems standing for a long time, can't walk for long distances because of diabetic foot problems but you'll see me with my lawn chair at rallies and gatherings.  "For the long haul?"  Yes, for as long as it takes.