Hands Off announced the massive collection of demonstrations long before the stock markets crashed and analysts upped their odds of a national (or global) recession—and increased inflation. Even so, there was room to add yet another grievance to the anti-Trump/pro-democracy protests. Plenty of issues–including migration/rendition, free speech, government layoffs, climate, taxes, and Medicaid cuts–already had signs and picketers, but as long as there were markers and placards, there could be more. Donald Trump and the extraordinarily complaisant Republican Party, united them all..

Activists across the country staged protests everywhere, totaling more than 1,400 events. Many organizations pitched in with the organizing, producing varieties in tone. The inventory of grievances was capacious and inclusive, varying from place to place, but there was a unified message: opposition to the Trump Administration. Pictures from New York, Chicago, and Milwaukee showed impressive crowds–Boston media estimated nearly 100,000 protesters on the Boston Common. Organizers reported a cumulative turnout of more than 5.2 million people participating. That’s substantially more than turn up to watch Fox News nightly, or even CBS News.

Will any of it matter? How? Journalists, like Gal Beckerman at The Atlantic, wondered if the much larger number of smaller demonstrations would be more (or less) influential than the mass turnout events in Washington, DC that started with the Women’s March. Wrong question.

Demonstrations, large and small, don’t often exercise much influence by themselves, but by connecting and intensifying all sorts of other events, most of which never make it into the newspapers.

I saw a big turnout (5,000 people) in Santa Ana, California, with thousands assembled in Sasscer Park, where my new Congressman, Dave Min, aired out a slurry of Trump sins. If the protests worked, Rep. Min will stay committed, meet with constituents who share the concern, and continue his efforts in Washington. Protest stiffens the spines of supporters.

And I’ve been obsessed with Omaha, Nebraska, where thousands rallied in a park with a similar litany of gripes. Their Republican congressman, Don Bacon, didn’t speak at the rally, but he’s been critical about Trump’s policy in Ukraine and angry at the prospect of cuts to Medicaid. And just yesterday, he announced that he would introduce a bill in the House reclaiming Congressional authority on tariffs. Trump lost the city of Omaha in 2024, when Bacon narrowly won reelection. If the protest worked, Bacon will meet with some of those protesters and display at least a little less loyalty to the slight Republican majority in the House.

Demonstrations are the visible exclamation points in the longer stories of social movements, animating all sorts of less visible efforts. Demonstrations everywhere makes it a little bit easier for business leaders to express doubts about the tariff strategy. A local demonstration that a spouse or child attends could well be the last straw that encourages the partner at a large law firm to join 500 other firms and sign onto Perkins Coie’s lawsuit against the president.

Influence is about the accumulation of efforts and actions. If this Resistance grows, there will be a lot of attention to the Hands Off protests, but they’re just a part of the story.