The Resistance Must Be Loud and Clear

The "Hands Off!" protests on Saturday demonstrated the potential of collective action

(All photos here from Chicago by Steven Beschloss on Saturday April 5)

On Saturday, millions of Americans—including many of you—proved we are not about to let a despotic minority of self-serving oligarchs and kleptocrats, miscreants and sycophants determine our future without a fight. The “Hands Off!” protests in every state and hundreds of cities and towns across America were both an opportunity to express our anger and demonstrate the beauty of coming together to stand up and speak out.

The hand-made signs that I saw among thousands of motivated Chicagoans (I happened to be there over the weekend) stated it plainly: “We The People Will Not Be Silenced” and “In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America!” and “Make America Generous Again” and “Hands Off Our Jobs” and “Save Democracy, Stand Up to Trump!” and “Due Process Is Our Process” and “My Dad Fought Nazis in Europe. It Sucks that I Have to Fight Them in America” and simply “Resist.” The chants included “We will not be silenced!” and “Rise up!” and “Fight back!”

I spoke to a bearded University of Chicago professor who was carrying a “Hands Off My Students” sign. “It’s important to show up,” he said, noting that he had already seen 20 or 30 of his friends at this demonstration in Chicago’s Daley Plaza. Another fifty-something man said that it’s important to “show them we’re watching, that we’re engaged—and that we all can feel a little less lonely.”

This was about joining forces, taking strength from a lively community, exchanging ideas and interests, expressing fears, frustrations, hopes and demands out loud—and yes, after several hateful, divisive and stark raving mad months of destruction, a chance to feel less alone. It was simply a beginning, among large cities and small towns, among younger and older protestors, that we Americans could begin to see anew our collective power to make our voices heard. This was a pick-me-up and a vivid reminder that we cannot give up.

Of course, we knew the nation’s top vandal was not listening. He was fiddling around on his Florida golf course, amusing himself with Saudi financiers and other golfers, and pocketing millions at Mar-a-Lago fundraisers. A White House announcement on Saturday underscored the depth of his indifference to the tariff-induced evaporation of trillions in the stock market or the mass protests against his fascist regime focused on dismantling our government and consolidating his power and wealth. “The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow,” the statement said.

None of that is surprising, but it’s no reason to indulge in despair or be overwhelmed by anger. Saturday’s demonstration tells us that the pent-up feelings can be organized. The next step is to expand the resistance and target our efforts to force the regime to respond. That will take millions more Americans joining the fight, sustaining their commitment for the long haul and helping the movement formulate concrete and achievable demands and goals.

Consider the targeted campaign against Elon Musk, which has already proven effective by focusing on protests at Tesla cars and showrooms. That concentrated anger, which has included graffiti and acts of violence, has intensified the pressure on unelected Musk to get out of our government and helped drive down both Tesla vehicle sales and the company’s stock price.

Given the extreme pace and the breadth of destruction since Trump was inaugurated, it surely made sense to organize protests that were maximally inclusive. Yet as uplifting and useful as this weekend’s demonstrations were, they were diffuse in their messaging and demands, making it easier for Trump and his henchmen to ignore the people.

But the coming phases of mass protest will require being more precise. Elon Musk must be removed, for example. We will not permit the demolition of Social Security and Medicare, for another example, a demand that will likely crystalize if the current efforts to break the system lead to millions of recipients failing to receive their payments.

So many of Trump’s illegal actions are attempts to deny free speech. If the regime begins kidnapping and removing American citizens or if Trump calls in the National Guard against peaceful public protests, our First Amendment rights should also become a central purpose of protest. They can’t arrest 12 million Americans expressing their right to peacefully assemble, demanding due process for migrants and the right of non-citizens to speak out, or speaking in one voice against a regime rejecting the constitutionally protected right of free speech.

As I’ve previously noted, that 12 million figure represents 3.5 percent of the nation’s population, the number that Harvard public policy researcher Erica Chenoweth has found is required for nonviolent public protests to have the collective power to demand redress and drive governments to accommodate a movement’s demands or even face dissolution.

We are obviously not there yet. But we can begin to see the potential of public resistance that goes beyond relying on our elected officials to do their part in opposing Trump and his willful rejection of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the powers given to Congress and the courts. Our collective power can grow as long as we are willing to be fearless and strong in our dissent and loud and clear in expressing it.

Yes, these are tough, terrible times. But they also offer an opportunity to prove our commitment to democracy, our love for our country and the depth of our patriotism.

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