You Should Go To A Protest Tomorrow

There's One Near You. It's Easy To Find

Tomorrow, April 19th, is another day of nationwide protests.

Shortly after the inauguration, the 50501 movement invited organizations across the country to hold anti-Trump protests on the same day. So far, there have been four such days, each with larger protests than the last until last time, on April 5th, as many as 3 million people hit the streets across America to simply say: no. We do not consent to this. Not in our name.

I am halfway across the world on a reporting trip, so I will be there in spirit but not in the flesh. But if you were ever going to go to a protest, tomorrow is the day to go. The risk/reward ratio is off the charts. It is unlikely to be this good again for a very long time.

Trump broadcasts his moves, especially the authoritarian ones. He wants to get people used to the idea that, say, he might detain a US citizen before he actually does it. Cracking down on peaceful protest attended by hundreds of thousands of regular, everyday people is about as authoritarian as it gets, which means Trump will talk about such a crackdown before he does it. He’s mentioned Tesla protests plenty, but not the national days of action. This protest will be safe for you and your family.

It’s extremely important to send a very clear message to the Trump regime and to the world right now. Our judicial system is FINALLY acknowledging that we are in a full-on constitutional crisis. People in power are beginning to grasp the seriousness of the situation we are in. None of us have lived through a time as pivotal as these next few weeks will be.

Please don’t get me wrong: this protest will not stop Trump from shredding the constitution. The question isn't whether he’s going to win; he will. The question is: what kind of resistance will he face after he’s won ? We are building that resistance in real time. We are answering that question here, now, on our streets, across our country.

There's an impulse on the left to roll our eyes at performative lib bullshit. If a protest isn’t at least blocking a road, what is it doing other than making people feel better? These peaceful protests are getting people used to hitting the streets. The best way to teach someone to swim isn't to throw them into the deep end and wish them luck. It's to start at the shallow end and teach them the basics in a non-life-threatening situation. These protests are the shallow end of the pool. Let people learn to swim.

Also? Performativity with a purpose can be good. There is value in a visual refutation of this mandate Trump keeps claiming, and tomorrow’s protests can provide it. We need to build on our April 5th momentum and demonstrate that we are even more angry now than we were 2 weeks ago. If tomorrow's protests are smaller than they were on the 5th, the Trump regime will use the dip to write them off. So we need to make them bigger. Unignorable. Overwhelming.

Please consider going to a protest tomorrow. Go, and bring a friend with you.

It seemed very silly to make a separate audio post with a 3-minute audio narration recorded on my horrible travel mic, so I’ve included it on the free subscriber file. You can hear a narrated version of all my articles by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like to.