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Trump's pause on Ukraine aid is like the U.S. switching sides in WWII, expert says
(www.nbcnews.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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It's easy to say this, and easier to think this, but it's difficult to do it. Let's say, hypothetically, I (or anyone else) literally dropped everything right now and drove to DC. What do you presume we do?
We need organization, and organizing on this scale is difficult. There've been protests, but they didn't really go anywhere. We need a massive amount of people who're willing to lose everything, and someone who's able to organize them. Or one John Wilkes Booth. But right now, we have neither.
We had two time travelers try to save the future before the election. I am not terribly confident the future resistance can muster the resources to send a third.
I think that sometimes the need for organisation is a little overrated. If 50% of Americans were so pissed off by Trump's actions that they all just stopped whatever they were doing and converged on Washington DC just so they could stand as close as possible to the federal Government and stare at them in the face.... I think something would change. You can do all the organisation you want, but sometimes it's the straw that breaks the camel's back that triggers change.
Yeah, and I mean, that's great in theory, but do you understand how large the US is? If a protest started right now in DC, and half the country decided they wanted to attend, even if they all left right now, it would take days for them to even arrive, and then we'd have a hundred million cars trying to get into DC, and the majority wouldn't even get close. Most probably wouldn't even make it to West Virginia. It's not like we can all just hop on a train and be there by dinner time.
Yes, I agree with the sentiment that if we had half the country show up in DC, we could overthrow the entire government in an afternoon. The whole "They can't stop all of us" idea is certainly accurate, but I think these sort of sentiments often come from outside of the US, from folks who don't understand just how big the country is, and how impossible it is for something like that to spontaneously happen.
Yeah, the point isn't actually that they get there. The point is that they all dramatically change their behaviour in a fairly worrying way.
Realistically, if such a protest did start, most people would not be able to just drop everything and leave. That's something that would need at least hundreds, in some cases thousands of dollars set aside to cover. We're talking at least days of lost work, not to mention costs associated with being away from home for days at a time. Even if everyone was willing and able to do that, without organization and pre-planning, even finding out about that it's happening will take time. And if a protest happens on the other side of the country, even if I hear about it and want to attend, what are the chances it'll still be going on by the time I get there? Realistically almost none, and on that logic alone, most people wouldn't try to participate.
On the other hand I think the 50501 protests did show that there's appetite in almost all 50 states to take action. Those weren't even widely publicized or well organized, and we still had people showing up. If there were some assurances that after spending 2 days driving and a thousand dollars on costs, there'd be something actually substantive happening when we got there, I think we'd see a turnout. I just don't think it's likely many people would gamble on it.
Localized protests in individual states do help, too, even if only to make it clear to everyone that there's national support for such action. It's like yelling at all the other states, saying "Hey, we all share your concerns!", which has value. We just need a unified message and a unified plan of action, or at least some organizers who have a plan and can lead a crowd.
I can understand the desire to rationalise a path through what you're facing at the moment. But sometimes change is outside of our hands.
As an aside, don't forget that higher levels of organisation make it easier to decapitate a movement.
It's really just frustrating. I want to take action. I'm motivated. I have the means to do it, I just don't know what to do, or how. So I see posts that boil down to "It's easy, just go organize at the capital!" and like... I'd love to do that, but if you have experience with this sort of thing, what do I do, specifically, to make a difference? We're well beyond the point where "Call your congressman!" makes a difference. We need something immediate. Every day, shit's getting worse, and the "Just vote in 2026!" crowd are far more optimistic than I am; I think we're already past the point where there's been irreparable damage and it's been two fucking months.
Anyway, this is really just a rant, and to be clear, I'm not upset at you or anyone else in this thread. I'm just upset in general, and I don't know what to do about it.
I feel entirely powerless to affect change too. But then at times I guess it's because the vast majority of people don't see the world in the same way that I do, and so unless I can convince them that change is important, then isn't going to happen.
And how would I convince these people? How would I make them see the world in the way that I do? How do I communicate something that is so central to me but so subtle and peripheral to them? Why should they bother to listen?
And the conclusion that I come to is that in a world where we are generally free to express ourselves, but are constantly fighting for attention, it is always going to be an uphill struggle; but it's the only thing that I can do to change anything.
Sorry that I don't have an answer for you.
Look at global protest movements and tactics used. Taking over gov. admin buildings, blocking off parts of major cities, taking control of infrastructure nodes. Clear and focused demands (e.g. immediate resignation of Trump and his admin). Continued protests day in and day out. A whole network of protest sites all around the country, not only in the capital.
Mass participation with large parts of the country joining in on weekend peaks and key days (at least 10 million for country with the population of the US, realistically you would need more, as much as 20 million on peaks).
Btw, I am not saying this is easy or they are guaranteed to work, but these things to happen when a broad swath of society gets pissed off and have had enough.
Perhaps that's just not the case in the US with respect to society more broadly. It doesn't help that your opposition is trash, but often protests are not spearheaded by established political parties.
Once again, the problem is organization. This would need to be a national movement, not just one city or state, and organizing on that scale is difficult. It would also need to be swift and decisive, because I don't think anyone doubts that Trump would respond with violence against any large-scale protest that he actually perceived as a threat. He's already commenting about quelling "illegal protests", and we know that to him, an "illegal protest" is any protest supporting anything he doesn't like.
I don't know how to organize anything on this scale. I don't even know where to start. Do you?
To be honest, I don't think there is a way to make them happen. At least from global examples, they happen almost in spontaneous manner, more often than not from a spark of some sort (killing of students, a particularly disliked decision etc.). Albeit the spark is of course tied to deeper mass social concerns.
I joined in the protests in my country (even night ones with police raids) and regularly brought supplies for protestors who barricaded in the centre of the capital (not just food, but helpful things like eye protection, masks, fire proof gloves). The government literally lost control of the main square and avenue of the country. This was also happening for months and months, including camping out during winters months. But people weren't backing down.
The initial spark was beating of unarmed protesting students, that's what led to the creation a protester controlled zone. There were massive protests all around the country after the initial assault on the students.
The next spark was the killing of protesters by the police. That's when society's attitudes hardened and there was a desire to get rid of the shill president and his admin and not back down (not to mention people become accepting of the need to use force by the protesters).
BLM didn't have national organizing and it was the longest protest in American history. What is needed is a spark to convince enough people it's time, and for those people to sustain so the avalanche grows.
I'm not saying it's easy or that organizing isn't important, but we do have a recent sustained protest movement to show that it's possible.
I would love to be proven wrong, but I don't think we can sustain a lengthy protest this time. I think as soon as there's a hint of actual substantive action, Trump is going to throw his entire being into quashing it. I think he's hoping it happens, honestly, so he can try to flex his authoritarian muscles.
Personally I think whatever happens needs to start and end relatively quickly. Holding signs and chanting isn't going to get this done.