Americans Across The Nation Gather To Protest Trump Inauguration

On Jan 18, thousands of Americans took to the streets of Washington D.C. and other cities around the country in protest of Trump's extremist, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-progressive agenda

In Washington D.C. and other cities across the country, protestors gathered and marched in protest of President-elect Donald Trump’s impending inauguration, while the numbers may not match the numbers of 2017, a spirit of urgency and uncertainty rippled through the various protests.

According to The New York Times, on Jan 18, thousands of Americans took to the streets of Washington D.C. and other cities around the country in protest of Trump’s extremist, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-progressive agenda.

In 2017, the march, then branded the Women’s March, was laser focused on what women would lose, many of the mostly female attendees wore pink hats in the shape of a vulva, those were largely gone in this march, and in their place were a broader set of concerns and a new moniker, the People’s March.

Many of the attendees expressed concern that in Trump 2.0 there would be more at stake than there was in the first iteration of his presidency.

Outside of D.C., variations of the People’s March cropped up in New York City, Manhattan, Nashville, and Portland, Oregon.

In addition to Trump, protests focused on Elon Musk, the most visible sign of the encroaching oligarchy, which the outgoing Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden cautioned Americans to be on their guard against.

According to The New Yorker, Biden’s warning in the waning days of his presidency, given on Martin Luther King’s birthday, stands as an unusual occurrence; the speeches given by outgoing presidents rarely venture into the space of sounding an alarm, but Biden’s did.

“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people,” Biden said. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

It is this current, particularly the back half of Biden’s final sentence that most animates the protests that occurred ahead of the second inauguration of Trump, his second, more informed opportunity to test the limits of his office, as opposed to respecting its limitations.

Protestors like Jillian Wheat, who traveled to Washington D.C from Ohio, expressed concern that Trump poses a unique threat to American democracy.

“I am angry and frustrated, I’m worried that he is going to dismantle our democracy, “ Wheat told the New York Times.

In San Francisco, the resistance took on a decidedly leftist flavor, perhaps appropriate in the state that was once home to the Black Panther Party, as protestors focused on Palestine, the military-industrial complex, and of course, Trump.

Ramsey Robinson, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told Mission Local that it was the people’s duty to fight for their collective freedoms.

“We come together, like we always do, when there’s a heightened threat of more war, poverty, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and environmental destruction. We fight back,” Robinson said.

Some who protested, like Jason Capili, noted that the turnout makes him believe that some have checked out, something that raises concern.

“I wish there were more [people]” Capili told the outlet. “I feel like more people are resigned. It’s worrisome because this time we need to get up twice as hard.”