Washington DC—They came by the 10,000s dressed as frogs, unicorns, squirrels, cats, and ordinary citizens. Many wore yellow as a sign of unity and joy while some wore pussy-hats, a throwback to the historic Women’s March held on January 21, 2017. On that day nearly a million stood strong together against Donald Trump’s closed-society agenda, far eclipsing his meekly attended inauguration the day before.
And now in 2025, 8 years later, people power rose to oppose the Trump threat to democracy. The people handily rejected his authoritarian agenda and his chipping and chopping away the republic’s foundations. Institutions had unexpectedly buckled one after another, falling like dominos to his compliance demands issued over the first 9 months of his Project 2025 road map. Law firms, universities, corporations, the press, and the congressional party members of Trump himself had ceded their power and capitulated to the unitary leader. And it was this stunning collective betrayal by nearly every venerable institution that should have remained intact that wakened the people to take action, making them realize that they were the last column standing in the republic
The people arrived by foot walking across bridges, by metro trains, and buses, asserting their right to demonstrate as provided in the First Amendment. They came by the thousands, then ten-thousands, and then more kept arriving. And despite a barrage of earlier labels from MAGA party leaders, they thronged through DC in resolved defiance to assert their power.
And on Saturday October 18, the last column of resistance stood loyally and firmly in place. One could hear and feel the building crescendo of the people as they marched and as their chants and their drum beats echoed from the glass and concrete high rise buildings as they passed. The opposition was led by lines of people carrying “No Kings” and Abolish-ICE banners. Many people dressed in animal costumes to mock a president and his cabinet who had governed like a king with courtiers: the people had their say and they were keenly awake and they had risen to reject his authoritarianism.
And it was a scene repeated in major metropolitan cities across the country—and while a final number of those rallying and marching will not ever be accurately counted, it was estimated to be in the millions. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, all saw massive protests. Many smaller cities also held rallies. Rallies were also reported worldwide in sympathy for Americans patriotically standing in for the remnants of their republic.
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