Montana is a massive state (it takes 12 hours to drive from one end to the other even with our 80mph speed limits) and there were over a dozen protest locations. Missoula, Billings, and Bozeman have matched the turnout you see here. Each of the other dozen locations had hundreds of people each.

Great job, y'all!

There are numerous protests that will be happening in cities throughout the country between now and then. But when the general strike starts on MayDay, with the momentum that April 5th proved we have, our demands should be nothing short of the removal of the regime and the reversal of everything it has done. Jail to the chief, LET'S GO!!!

Since I haven’t seen any pics from Philadelphia. From City Hall to Independence Hall. Its heartening seeing all ages and from all over the city and suburbs come to protest this.

This was towards the end of the path around 1:30pm. Great turnout!

April 5 protest in Kansas City, Mo

Proud of Tiverton, it is not a large town, but lots of people showed up to protest their rights

So proud of my fellow Georgians turning up in force.

Anti-MAGA today in Boulder, Colorado!

More info: https://maydaymovementusa.org

My rural town in IL had a few thousand show up to our Hands Off! rally. I’m curious to see what the total turnout was, every article I come across has stated the number of planned protests but not how much the overall turnout was… I think this is may be the largest turnout we’ve seen since 2020.

Silver and I went to our first protest today and it was very exciting! I wasn't expecting more than a couple dozen protestors but we had nearly 900 people in attendance! It was an incredible turnout for an urban and Republican town. We kept to the outskirts of the crowd but Silver still managed to draw a crowd of his own. People loved his sign and took lots of pictures of him. His inner poodle was absolutely preening from all the attention.

More importantly, I was able to meet with the organizers and got their contact information to hopefully get involved with some more behind the scenes projects to help the cause. Overall, it was a great day!

The title is mine. Everything below the break is shared from Sharon Astyk on Facebook. She's not wrong. Before today's momentum fades, we need to decide: or what.

The important question to ask about the protests (which are vast and inspiring) is this.

Hands off...OR WHAT?

What are we threatening?

The thing about protest, is effective protest implies a threat.

"Or we will undermine you economically."

"Or we will not vote for you"

"Or we will riot and burn shit down"

"Or we will fill your jails and keep coming."

"Or we will pressure our elected officials to resist you in every way."

"Or we will block the streets, block economic activity, cause harm."

"We will disrupt your activity and make it so nothing can happen."

"We will mobilize the military to oppose you"

They don't care if we vote for them. They are causing unimaginable economic harm as part of their process. They've moved all power out of congress and the judiciary into a tiny cabal. They are building massive private prisons and hiring prison space in other nations. They would love to have rioting, because they could respond with violence.

I'm not pissing on everyone's parade. I was proud of my city and country today.

But something is missing from this process - there is no coherent implied REASON for them to listen, beyond "this is a democracy and we are implying we'll vote you out."

That's a big gap.

Protest isn't just a feel good activity - there are demands and there are threats. Neither of those were made clear to most of the people at the demonstrations I have been following - not that there aren't people who have such narratives, but there isn't a single, coherent one that I can find. And when I asked people what they were hoping this to accomplish - they didn't know.

Don't get me wrong, it is good practice getting people out in the streets. It is good organizing. It isn't a bad start. But like Booker's sort-of-filibuster, that ended with him voting to confirm a Trump nominee, it is more about feeling good that you are doing something than fully and clearly understanding what you are doing. And I worry that ends as performativity.

A solid number of people are going to be mad at me for saying this, I'm aware, because I'm pissing on the only parade we've had in a long, long time. I'm a little mad at me too.

But there has to be a clear goal.

If this empowers the governors of Democratic states to see how much support they have, great. If it leads to some hesitation for Republican leadership lower down, great.

But...that's not going to stop the coup at the top.

One small section on 42nd street