As we organize our No Kings protests, a comparison to 2017:
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed those in 2017, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful.
In fact, as we discussed in March, protests in the U.S. have been quite robust since Trump took office the second time. Our ongoing research on protests in the United States reveals that within the first two weeks of the second Trump administration, protest activity surpassed that of 2017. By the end of March 2025, there had been three times as many protests as had taken place in 2017. Protest has been surging since, with large boosts coming from major, multi-location actions in April and May.
Two notable surges of protest came on the nationwide Hands Offs protests on April 5 and No Kings protests on April 19. To date, we have tallied 1,145 protests on April 5, with events occurring in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Significantly, protest activity occurred throughout the country, including in rural and GOP-leaning towns.
For April 19, we tallied 928 protests also occurring in all 50 states and D.C. And on May 1 and May 3, we tallied over 1,000 anti-Trump May Day protests.
These are significant showings. If we look back to the first Trump administration, in April 2017 the most prominent multi-location protest was the March for Science on April 22, which occurred in 390 locations including most major cities. In 2017, we tallied 80 May Day protests nationwide, compared to over 1,000 this year. Overall, 2017’s numbers pale in comparison to the scale and scope of mobilization in 2025 — a fact often unnoticed in the public discourse about the response to Trump’s actions.
I’m off to a sign- making event. We’re holding it in a (reserved) room at the public library in this VERY Trumpy county. One of the librarians is a sympathizer so she sometimes edges into the room to listen. I have foamboard left over from 4-H projects (all 4 H projects involve at least one foamboard display; it’s a norm) and we use old snow fencing slats for handles.
Oh, and much gratitude to the LA protestors for leading the way. We love you and support you.
OT in my own post, but I have a short attention span. This is a big deal in autoworld:
A car parts supplier pointed its finger at the Trump administration's tariffs while filing for bankruptcy.
Marelli, a Japanese-based car parts manufacturer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, citing tariff-related pressures that added to its years-long financial troubles.
The parts maker, which supplies components for Nissan and Stellantis, is considered a bellwether for the global auto industry. It employs 40,000 workers across plants in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Marelli said it had already been navigating a challenging landscape of supply-chain bottlenecks and labor shortages following the Covid-19 pandemic.
