Protesters are set to gather in Washington, D.C., on Saturday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, an event that highlights how the resistance has changed in the eight years since Trump first took office. I will do it.
Organizers of the People's March, which is organized by a coalition of various groups including the Women's March, expect about 50,000 participants Saturday, the largest number since 2017. This is in contrast to the 500,000 people who marched there.
Experts say the differences reflect changing strategies to counter Trump and fatigue among some of his supporters. But the numbers also show how things have changed at the grassroots level as Mr. Trump returns to the White House.
“A lot of things are different,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director of Women's March.
Middleton said reactions to Trump's second victory are different than in 2017, with emotions ranging from anger to sadness to isolation.
“Our job as an organization this time has not been to capture the energy of all the people who are being activated, but our job this time is actually to make sure that people don't demobilize and to keep people engaged. “It was about preserving and giving something to people,” she said.
Protesters are expected to gather at various kickoff locations in Washington, D.C., this weekend, eventually converging at the Lincoln Memorial.What the organizer explainedas a “day of joyful resistance, community building, and powerful action.” Other cities are planning similar demonstrations.
But Saturday's march is not expected to have the same frenzy as in 2017, when more than a million people took to the streets in Washington and elsewhere to energize the party in protest of its 2016 victory.
This election shocked many women, especially those who had hoped to elect the first female president. Women hated President Trump for his comments about groping women after the leaked “Access Hollywood” tape.
Democratic operatives and supporters alike attribute the disparity in numbers to a variety of factors, with organizers employing a variety of strategies to counter Trump, and protests being one of them. Some people point out that it is just a .
Keya Chatterjee, co-founder and executive director of a group called Free DC that was launched at the People's March, said her organization has been offering orientations since November and that “hundreds of people… I'm participating,” he said.
“You can actually see there’s more energy than I’ve ever seen before,” she said. “But what got us here is not just repeating the same thing. It's actually learning and doing better, and this time we know it's necessary. I think, you know, it's just, frankly, yeah… Yeah, sure we gather in protests sometimes, but it just makes more sense for us to do that, to build our community, to build our community. in a focused way.”
Chatterjee said organizing can take many forms, including having conversations with neighbors about political issues.
Kelly Dittmar, research director and scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, suggested that it is unlikely that unity around gender will reach the same level seen in 2017. Division between women.
“The idea that there is no single women's movement or set of agendas, but rather a set of priorities among all women, makes it difficult for all women to participate in collective action as an entity or identity. Dittmer said. “So I think you know that complexity is probably reflected in the People's March and the Women's March, and more generally in how women organize. ”
He also suggested that some supporters may have different views on the best way to counter Trump at this time, noting that “many supporters and activists are already exhausted.” did.
“I think there are activists and advocates who may be mobilized by the election of Donald Trump, but I don't think this march is the most effective way to encourage resistance,” she said. said.
Some experts also see this change in numbers as an indication of the fact that some people are waiting to see how President Trump's second term will play out.
But organizers were quick to dispute the idea that this weekend's drop in attendance signifies any setback for the broader resistance movement against Trump.
“Just because the number of participants was lower than the largest single-day protest in this country's history does not mean the movement is diminished or weakened,” one of the coalition's responses said. Questions on the FAQ pageAbout what the march accomplishes.
For the past eight years, while supporters have been dealing with a changing political landscape, others have been dealing with turmoil within their own ranks. The Women's March has been rocked in recent years by allegations of anti-Semitism and concerns about inclusivity, with three of its leaders stepping down.
Although the Women's March was responsible for organizing this year's event, the People's March also includes many other groups, including Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, and People for Democracy in Action. According to the federation.
Middleton noted that this year's event is attended by both centrists and progressives, noting that “we're becoming more acute about our political values, and yet this time… “We were able to build a broad coalition through the march.”
The People's March and its starkly different presence in Washington come amid a wide range of reactions to how Democrats and advocates have responded to President Trump's return to the White House.
Several prominent members of the party, including former first lady Michelle Obama and Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), are expected to skip the president-elect's second inauguration. Some Democrats, including California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), have already positioned themselves as a bulwark against Trump.
But other Democrats have signaled they are willing to work with the Trump administration but also be willing to fight back if necessary. Gretchen Whitmer (D) of Michigan and Wes Moore (D) of Maryland.
“I think it's pretty pointless to say this because we don't know what Trump will do,” Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg said of some of the Democratic Party's messaging about working with Trump. he said.
“I think what we need, especially over the next two years, is the unity of many parties, especially in the House,” she said. “And so far I've seen it.”
