Protests flow in waves. After Trump was removed from office in 2020, it lost a lot of energy. The protests in his first term did successfully getting voted out of office and limited the damage. Now it’s growing again after a period of stagnation
Look at the AFD protests and you’ll see they too also died down and then started growing again
I think you mistake what I am saying. I am not saying their shouldn’t be larger numbers. I am telling you why it has been difficult to get those back again. But the movement is starting to grow again. Comparisons to the crescendos of other movements isn’t helpful to understand what it takes to make that happen
Yes, it’s not new which is also why protestors are burnt out. There were millions protesting across the US during his first term and that movement did work - it lead to him getting voted out in 2020 and limited his damage to be less than it was this time around
But five year have now passed between him getting voted out of office and so the movement against him lost energy. It has to be re-build essentially. Now people are much more cynical after he was re-elected. The 1st time people were absolutely pissed about him getting elected. No one like him had in their lifetimes. But now, it’s no longer “how could this happen?”, but “this is happening again”. That’s a much harder starting point for a movement - one with less hope
Plus, the US media environment is actively worse - making the news about pushback harder to find. The protest aren’t covered anything close to as much as they were in 2017. The US media is now much more concentrated in billionaire control than it was in 2017. Since then Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and made changes, CNN’s new billionaire owner John Malone has shifted coverage, Elon Musk bought twitter, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the LA Times and blocked endorsements of Harris, and so on
There has been plenty more resistance that aren’t just protests right now too. For instance, in the courts with more success in getting him to stop things than you otherwise might think. Yes, he has been somewhat ignoring the courts, but mostly following them and they are blocking a lot. Hundreds of lawsuits are ongoing, many of which were filed on day 1 of his 2nd term. Here’s one tracker
There has also been more resistance from state and local governments too - at least ones where Democrats have control. States and cities have a fair amount of power in the US. For instance, many have been blocking collaboration with ICE using local police and such (which slows the federal government down a lot)
I think you misunderstand what I am saying. Once a movement has grown it can organize things more quickly, but you’re looking at things at way too short of a time scale here.
I assume you are referring to the recent protests in Germany based on your description. There were already growing protests of the AFD in Germany well before the CDU/CSU’s actions. That large protest wasn’t the first at all. There were protests growing earlier in 2025 and even some smaller ones going back to Jan 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024–2025_German_anti-extremism_protests
The fact that things are declining at such speed in a weird way makes getting protests spread harder. It’s a lot easier to unify around a single bad thing than five thousand things. Nothing feels shocking in that environment. Keep in mind that Trump’s strategy is to flood the zone with so many bad things it’s hard for anything to break through the noise. It’s designed to make people so numb they don’t think they can do anything. It takes time to remind people they can
Especially with the online social media environment in the US repeatedly telling Americans that no one is fighting back. Comments like “we’re cooked”, “why is no one doing anything”, “where are the people protesting”, etc. have more of a negative impact than you would think
Protest movements take time to grow. Especially when most within the US don’t have any idea they’re going on. Because the media coverage of protests is limited (though not zero, yes)
I know Indivisible is trying to get a larger DC specific group together on April 5th if you’re looking for larger in one place. Though there will also be protests in all 50 states that day too
People are protesting locally in tons city not just every state capitol. It’s helped get local news coverage when national news orgs have limited converage. It helps the average person be more likely to run into them and learn about it as well
There are people protesting, you’re just not seeing it because the media is suppressing coverage of it
Here’s a protest yesterday in DC
Here’s another for Ukraine aid the other day in DC
I also think you underestimate how big the US is. 2-3 hours would be if you’re close by DC. People on the other side of the country in California, Washington State, Oregon, etc. are 5 hour plane rides away or 40+ hours of driving
They are being suppressed in media coverage, but there are people protesting. Media coverage paints a false picture that no one in the US is fighting back
Here’s one from today with 1000 people in Boise, Idaho
Here’s a super incomplete timeline with just a handful of the nationwide protests. I’m missing a lot, I’m just showing your the photos I had from recent memory
8 days ago there were national protest for science funding cuts. Here’s the main one in DC
11 days ago there were nationwide protests in all 50 US state capitols + DC + Many cities within those states. This was part of the 50501 movement
Portland, Oregon
Monroe, Wisconsin
San Fransisco, California
Albany, New York
Raleigh, North Carolina
Richmond, Virginia
Austin, Texas
Protests Outside Fox News in New York City
16 days ago there were large protest in the Iowa Statehouse
19 days ago, a protest in Cherry Hill, New Jersy outside Tesla Showroom as part of a nationwide movement protesting Telsas. There have been tons more than just this one and these happen basically every day
21 days ago, large protests in DC for Ukraine aid
And so on. There’s a lot more going on than just this
Local and state officals can enforce laws on their own without federal involvement
Assuming everything is doomed to fail is exactly what Trump and Musk want from you. They want you to stop fighting or trying because you might realize they are weaker than you think. Don’t do their work for them
The state and local is where most of the progress is going to happen in the next 4 years. They control a lot more than you think - even including running elections for federal office. Pay attention to all your local elections - they are going to matter a lot
EDIT: While I’m here, going to mention there are local elections in some localities across the US tomorrow (feb 25th) in parts of California, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, & Maine
Here’s a substack post with more info about those local elections
We can still fight back on the state level. States and local levels will lead the way for progress here
California got a state law to enforce net neutrality in 2018. This is a good part of what limited the damage of Trump overturning it the first time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Internet_Consumer_Protection_and_Net_Neutrality_Act_of_2018