Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Trump’s rally turnout, unlike Trump, modest

The pro-Trump “Mother of All Rallies” turned out a few hundred demonstrators in Washington, DC, rather than the planned thousands. Sympathy rallies across the country were much smaller–or canceled altogether. Photos showing the assembled on an almost empty mall circulated on … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The DREAM returns

The Trump administration’s decision to end President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will unleash a world of trouble, and resurrect Dreamer politics. It’s most intense and threatening for the 800,000 recipients, their families, friends, neighbors, and employers, but the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How activists should respond to the racist right: 2. shut them down (antifa) (?)

Standing up to a racist fascist movement when it is still small enough to start seems to make sense. Antifa is an umbrella term uniting people who commit to doing so aggressively, as (at right) in Berkeley in April. Of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How activists should respond to the racist right: 1. nonviolent counterdemonstrations

Of course it’s heartening to see 40,000 explicitly anti-racist demonstrators turn out in Boston (August 20), dwarfing the assembly they were protesting against. Was it the best approach to countering white nationalist mobilization advancing in response to Trump adminstration policies … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How Trump encourages and provokes political violence

Donald Trump has done great damage to more than his presidency. With his remarks about the tragedy in Charlottesville, Trump dramatically increased the nourishment and encouragement he has been feeding the racist right. Activists respond to signals, and racist right … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Business defections, updated

Donald Trump’s advisory councils are no more. This doesn’t mean, of course, that Trump will no longer be taking advice; it’s not clear that he ever listened to these groups anyway. But, since the horrifying events in Charlottesville, and especially … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Varieties of disruption: business defections

Protest can exercise influence by disrupting the usual politics of the moment, and there are lots of ways to create disruptions, and different people have vastly different opportunities. Large demonstrations are one way to show strength, but you need to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why Charlottesville?

With the help of Donald Trump, a few hundred white nationalists captured national attention this weekend, eclipsing for the moment growing international dangers as well as the much larger sustained mobilization of the anti-Trump Resistance. Weapons, provocative symbols, counterprotest, and … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Democracy and science

This weekend’s March for Science turned out hundreds of thousands around the world, with particularly large turnouts in Washington, DC, and Chicago. For yet another protest weekend, a week before the Peoples Climate March, this level of participation was pretty impressive. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taxes and science

When large demonstrations work, they change the conversations afterward. Assembling in Washington DC–and elsewhere–occupies space in mainstream and social media even when the demonstrators have gone home. Last week’s tax march, which turned out tens of thousands across scores of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment