University of Kwazulu-Natal

The Resistance Reaches Into Trump Country Ash Center

Bonisiwe Shabane
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the resistance reaches into trump country ash center

In this report, Matthew Cebul, Lead Research Fellow for the Nonviolent Action Lab, examines the effectiveness of nonviolent action movements in supporting democratic resilience globally. Identifying challenges faced by nonviolent pro-democracy movements, Cebul offers key takeaways for combating accelerating democratic erosion in the US and abroad. The historic number of No Kings Day protesters and their expansive geographic spread are signs of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement. This article was originally published in Waging Nonviolence. In this report, Matthew Cebul, Lead Research Fellow for the Nonviolent Action Lab, examines the effectiveness of nonviolent action movements in supporting democratic resilience globally. Identifying challenges faced by nonviolent pro-democracy movements, Cebul offers key takeaways for combating accelerating democratic erosion in the US and abroad.

In this op-ed, Liz McKenna examines the second ‘No Kings’ protest on October 18 and offers strategies for translating successful protest movements into influential policy change. She emphasizes the importance of sustained organizational efforts alongside protest activity to engage actors across partisan lines, building a broad coalition and a durable base for the movement. Archon Fung and Stephen Richer are joined by University of Pittsburgh’s Lara Putnam to discuss the recent No Kings protest movement. The #Resistance (also known as the Resistance) is an American anti-authoritarian and liberal democratic hashtag and political label and used to protest the first and second presidencies of Donald Trump.[1][2][3][4][5] Commencing on an unknown date shortly after the presidential election in November 2016, it initially included Democrats on Twitter and Facebook before expanding to include independents and Republicans who opposed Trump on various social... Generally, the #Resistance symbolizes solidarity against Donald Trump.

Its hashtags have also been used alongside other policy-specific hashtags, targeting marginalized groups such as minorities and women. Though its height of popularity occurred during the days following Trump's first inauguration, it resurfaced during times of political controversy and animosity.[9] For instance, there was a notable spike in use throughout the week... In 2017, Françoise Mouly and her daughter Nadja Spiegelman released two issues of the comics paper Resist!, part of The Resistance movement, criticizing the Donald Trump administration. [11][12][13][14] Demonstrators take to the streets during a nationwide "No Kings" protest in Rock Springs, Wyoming.Imago via ZUMA It’s been a week since an estimated 7 million people across 50 US states and the District of Columbia—and countless others all over the world—took part in the “No Kings” protests to speak up...

From Washington, DC, to Oakland, California, protesters proudly waved American flags and declared their love for the country. They spanned generations, and many were dressed in various inflatable costumes—ducks, SpongeBob Squarepants, dinosaurs, and more—borrowing from Portland’s example of defying the rhetoric from Republicans and the administration that vilified anyone who demonstrated as... The peaceful October 18 pro-democracy protests, which naturally drew the ire of President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, marked one of the largest single-day demonstrations in US history. Two million more people than the previous “No Kings” gatherings from June showed up across 2,700 events in big Blue cities and, notably, in reliably Republican towns. “Even my small, conservative hometown of Brenham, Texas, held a ‘No Kings’ Rally with at least a hundred people in attendance,” wrote the ACLU Justice Division leader Ellen Flenniken in a post about the... No crowns!”

“The current protest movement has already reached deeper into Trump country than at almost any point during the first Trump administration.” In recent articles, we’ve shared our Crowd Counting Consortium data about the widespread protests that have occurred so far during the second Trump administration. We’ve shared that the volume of protests has been far greater than during 2017, that the protest movement is overwhelmingly (and even historically) nonviolent, and that protests have been far-reaching, occurring throughout the United... All of those trends continue to hold, and we expect large-scale participation in the No Kings 2 protests on Oct. 18. But one question that often arises is whether the protests are largely concentrated in major cities and liberal areas, or whether they have actually begun to occur in areas that the GOP dominates politically.

The answer is important, since it gets to the heart of whether protests are largely trying to activate supporters in Democratic strongholds, or win over independents and lukewarm Trump supporters in tougher political terrain. In a new analysis, we find that protest events now occur across a wider range of U.S. counties than we have observed since January 2017. The share of counties hosting at least one anti-Trump protest has risen markedly during his second term, surpassing the historic spikes observed during his first term. And the current protest movement has already reached deeper into Trump country than at almost any point during the first Trump administration. To analyze the geographic spread and scope of the current protest movement, we matched our data on protest events and protest participation from the Crowd Counting Consortium to 2024 presidential election county-level data, and...

Census data about county population size. Then we analyzed the number of counties that have featured any anti-Trump protests and any new protests during Trump’s first and second terms; the average electoral margins of those counties; and the number of... We’ll send you a weekly email with the latest articles. Lead Research Fellow for the Nonviolent Action Lab, AY2025-2026 Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment Research Fellow, November 2025-April 2026

Research Project Manager, Nonviolent Action Lab Democracy Visiting Fellow, Reimagining Democracy Program, AY2024-2025 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Nonviolent Action Lab, AY2025-2026

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Its Hashtags Have Also Been Used Alongside Other Policy-specific Hashtags,

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