The protests planned for April 5 will bring out an incredibly diverse anti-Trump coalition, so what should people do who encounter other members of the resistance with whom they disagree on many issues?
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When tens of thousands of Americans come together across the country on Saturday to protest the policies of Donald Trump, they will represent just about every segment of the population.
That is in part because of the variety of the national and local groups which are participating. They include major unions, pro-democracy advocates, conservationists, LGBTQ rights organizations, and civil rights groups.
However, the main reason is that the Trump administration seems hellbent on destroying the United States from within, and there is just a lot to be upset about.
For example, here are some people you might encounter at these rallies:
- Laid-off government employees who know that their work is important and now won’t get done
- Students whose classmates got “disappeared” in broad daylight because they have an opinion the administration doesn’t like
- Senior citizens who cannot reach anybody at the Social Security Administration anymore
- Low-income families worried about losing Medicaid
- Canadians
- Europeans (actually, probably anybody from countries not run by authoritarians)
- Potential home owners who won’t be able to afford construction anymore
- Women who have been sexually assaulted by Trump
- Parents who don’t want their kids to have measles
- Lawyers upset that their law firms capitulated to Trump after some vague threats and unconstitutional executive orders
- Family members of Venezuelans now rotting in an El Salvadoran prison even though they are not gang members
- People who think cancer research is important
- Scientists
- Democrats who want to fight Trump much harder
- Chuck Schumer
- Republicans who don’t like it that their party has been turned into a cult
- Transgender women who want to compete in college
- Anybody who has lived abroad and is worried that the US will lose all of its allies
- People who are pro-Israel
- People who are pro-Palestinians
- Psychiatrists who have been saying for years that Trump is mentally ill
- Voters who think presidents should be sane
- Golfers who had to let Trump cheat so that he could win another club championship
- Americans who care about the rule of law
- People who like reasonably priced stuff
- Anybody with a 401(k)
- Anybody who witnessed January 6 and felt that coups should not be a thing in the United States
- Voters who want their presidents to not be convicted felons
- People who appreciate competence and think that loyalty is not the only quality cabinet officials should possess
- People who don’t like liars
- Fans of democracy who would like the US to remain one
This is only a partial list, of course, but you see where this is going.
These people are not going to agree on everything. Some of them may even support some of the things that Trump does, and that’s fine.
What matters is that they are taking action to let him and the GOP know that they will pay a price for trying to turn the US into an authoritarian state while destroying the government and the economy along the way.
Therefore, if you decide to participate but run into somebody who wears an outfit or carries a banner with a message you don’t approve of, treat them with respect and keep in mind that you can get back to debating your differences like civilized people once the existential threat that Trump poses has been addressed.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
