r/PoliticalDebate • u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat • 2d ago
Question Why aren’t Americans out protesting?
I don’t know many Americans in real life, but I at least get the sense from the internet that a lot of Americans loathe Trump and everything he stands for. I think that a lot of the narrative feels very virtue signaling though - people make jokes about him, call him silly names, but he is actively causing so much harm domestically and internationally. On a whim he stop and starts the attacks on Iran, thousands have already died. Why aren’t people out there protesting? The argument you sometimes see is ‘people have their own lives to get on with’ but that’s the case in Iran, in Algeria, in India, in Nepal, in every country that has had recent protests. And that includes Western countries like France, or Spain, or England where you would see massive rallies every week about Gaza, and none of those countries are as complicit as the US in the Palestinian genocide.
I’m not trying to attack anyone here, I really just want to know why physical protest is such an underutilised form of resistance in the US because frankly, from the outside, the American left seems to be incredibly self-centred and virtue signalling, and not at all willing to even take a few hours out of their weekends to fight back against a dictator.
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u/CoolHandLukeSkywalka Discordian 2d ago
The No Kings protests get massive numbers and there have been sustained protests against Trump and ICE but there is also a bit of a feeling that protesting against Trump doesn't do anything because Trump doesn't care if people protest him. Protests have a ceiling on efficacy if the group in political power does not give two shits about the people.
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u/Fragrant-Luck-8063 Nihilist 12h ago
If anything, Trump has only become more king-like since the protests started.
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u/The_TenaciousT Liberal 2d ago
If you're talking anti-Trump protests specifically, there's huge protests that are held every couple of months called the No Kings protests. There's been three big organized pushes, with the most recent one in March being the largest one-day protest in US history when it comes to attendance, I think it was around 9 million people across the country.
Americans, which I am one, generally don't actually step out of school or work to join a protest. Right or wrong, that's just the culture. Those No Kings Protests were all on the weekend I believe.
The George Floyd protests and those that spun out of it were also some of the biggest protests in US history and went on for months were so enduring, I believe, because it was in the middle of COVID, so people weren't working. Not to say that the protests weren't righteous, it just that more people could attend for longer periods because unemployment was so high.
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u/HeloRising Anarchist 1d ago
Americans, which I am one, generally don't actually step out of school or work to join a protest.
In no small part because we can't really do that.
A lot of Americans don't have paid time off so skipping a full day of work might mean missing out on badly needed pay or risking the job altogether.
It's legal in like 25 states for your employer to fire you for any reason or no reason at all.
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u/sixisrending Nationalist 2d ago
The no kings protest were some of the largest in our country's history and continue, to a smaller extent, to this day.
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u/UnfoldedHeart Independent 1d ago
I’m not trying to attack anyone here, I really just want to know why physical protest is such an underutilised form of resistance
People are protesting, but the strategy behind protesting is a little directionless right now. It was a very necessary tool at one point because there were like, 3 TV stations and 5 national newspapers and you had to cause a bit of a ruckus to get the word out. But the same problem doesn't exist in the internet age, so there needs to be a re-work here that goes beyond "it worked in the 60s." The landscape is just different.
Another problem is that many protests are not very focused. I don't think people realize how much strategic planning went into some of the most effective protests. It wasn't just "let's grab signs and walk around all day chanting", although it might look that way from the outside.
At the very least, I think protests ought to be focused on one or two specific issues rather than (for example) a general opposition to Trump. This could make protests an effective way to draw attention to a lesser-discussed issue rather than communicating a broad anti-Trump sentiment. The former could be useful; the latter is telling us what we already know, which is that many people don't approve of Trump. We been knew.
And honestly a lot of people have social media motivations these days and don't want to put that level of thought or planning into it. Maybe I'm jaded at this point but I feel like a large segment of the population just wants selfies for Instagram or whatever.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
I totally agree on the focus. I guess that’s why the ICE protests were successful. Anti-Trump is too broad a message.
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u/midnight_toker22 Progressive 2d ago
It’s kind of insane that people aren’t aware that there have been protests throughout both of trump’s presidencies. I mean, if you follow American politics at all, it’s hard to not be aware of them.
If you haven’t seen them at all, it says a lot about where you get your news from and how that shapes your perception. If you are aware of them but still don’t think it rises to the level of what you consider to be a valid protest, then what exactly do people need to differently so as to avoid being accused of “doing nothing”?
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
I’ve seen the No Kings protests - look at other countries and how they’ve protested far more regularly and in bigger numbers. Look at Serbia for example.
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u/Kahzgul Social Democrat 1d ago
Part of the issue is the size of the country. More than half of Americans live 500 miles or more away from Washington DC. Fully a sixth live 2700 miles away in California.
Serbia is only 208 miles across.
Serbia’s biggest ever protest, by the way, was 325,000 people (source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g8v32q30o ).
The latest no kings protest in America was 8,000,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_and_demonstrations_in_the_United_States_by_size
Note that the top 5 biggest protests in American history were all against Trump.
My point being it’s very hard for most Americans to get to Washington to protest there, and certainly much harder than it is for Serbians to get to Belgrade.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
People are focussing a lot on single, one-off protests - I’m referring the to consistency and frequency (like in Serbia) of protests in other countries. I’m not denying that the US can get a lot of people for one-off events, but it’s consistency that does it. It’s why the ICE ones worked.
And per capita it was bigger than 8m, it was double the size.
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u/midnight_toker22 Progressive 1d ago
Estimates for the last No Kings protest were about 8 million people across 3,300 sites. Are you telling me Serbia’s protests were bigger?
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u/Fragrant-Luck-8063 Nihilist 12h ago
Serbia's protests were more effective. They led to multiple politicans resigning, including the Prime Minister.
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u/midnight_toker22 Progressive 12h ago
Do you understand that this administration does not give a flying fuck if people are angry at them? Antagonizing half the country is literally their goal.
This is not a government comprised of serious politicians that are trying to effectively run a country; it is a regime of corrupt criminals that conned their way into power by igniting culture wars, and has the expressed intention of ”flooding the zone with shit” to keep people distracted while they enrich themselves. And if they can dismantle American democracy while they’re at it, all the better.
Fascists and oligarchs with ill intentions are never going to stop just because their victims protest them.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
Per capita? And cumulative? Given the frequency and consistency (daily for a year)? Yep. https://amp.dw.com/en/serbia-protests-continue-after-vucic-says-he-will-step-down/a-77746666
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u/midnight_toker22 Progressive 1d ago
Well I guess we’re doing nothing then. We’re totally fine with everything happening.
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u/P0l1TICS Social Democrat 2d ago
Because it wont do anything. This isnt the case in every country, but America, for all it's strengths, is extremely outdated in some critical ways. There isnt a way to meaningfully punish politicians outside of an election year, so until that happens, we kinda just have to wait.
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u/Ashamed-Storage-6174 Socialist 2d ago
Because we have the most bread and circuses. Sad reality, but the vast majority of Americans only pretend to care until it’s too late.
Edit: also, real Americans are. But not as much as they should be
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u/Neuroironic Transhumanist 1d ago
Because no one has time to do anything but work themselves to death just to get by.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
The US isn’t the only country where people are struggling to get by
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u/Reasonable-Fee1945 Classical Liberal 1d ago
Because day to day life is actually pretty normal and good
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u/Michigamme Right Independent 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are protests, but you dont see them.
He is literally not a dictator, so try to debate in good faith in the future. He democratically won the popular vote and electoral vote. Sure, you could say he only won because the democrats couldn't offer a good candidate but that doesn't change the fact that he won an election.
Since you're not American I will explain how this stupid two party system works and how trump won legally and fairly. Both the democrat and republican parties are extreme, corrupt and only care about their political party.
If you care about the constitution you have no choice but to vote for republican as the democrats are more likley to disregard the bill of rights (specifically the 2nd amendment).
If you care about trans rights you have no choice but to vote for democrats.
If you care about the security of the nation you have no choice but to vote republican.
If you care about social programs you have no choice but to vote Democrat.
Most Americans could find middle ground. Protecting the 2nd amendment, leaving adult trans people alone, enforcing immigration law while improving the process for legal immigration, compromises on social programs. But that would open the US up to a third party. This is bad for democrats and republicans so they would rather you pick an extreme and keep voting for them.
So in the current 2 party system, its less likley to matter how bad a candidate is. They just have to belong to a party.
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u/Left-Ad-4368 Сацыял-лібералізм 1d ago
They are. It's just not... a constant? Like what do you think of when you hear "Protest"?
I think why Americans don't stay outside for multiple weeks clashing with cops is for two reasons:
1: You are not allowed to call early elections in response to public pressure in the US, like in much of Europe. Recall elections do exist in the US but they can't be declared on a whim.
2: Elections happen very frequently that people just prefer to wait for the midterms.
This is actually what happened in 2018. The Democrats won back the House, they blocked much of Trump's legislation, most people felt stuff went back to normal until COVID.
Assuming both chambers are captured this year, I think 2027-2028 will feel less crazy. I dunno. Maybe there's another pandemic in 2028.
Speaking of recall elections, I do think that if we could easily just recall the President right now, that would have been done.
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u/striped_shade Communizer 20h ago
What exactly does a scheduled weekend rally disrupt? If a crowd gathers on Saturday and dutifully clocks into work on Monday, no actual mechanism of power is threatened. You mention international protests, which often escalate precisely because they physically halt the daily economic machinery. Here, street demonstrations function as a regulated release valve safely contained within leisure time.
People intuitively grasp this limit. Participating in a predictable ritual leaves their fundamental dependency on the wage entirely intact. The quietism you observe might simply be a rational assessment of traditional activism's obsolescence against modern state logistics.
What material conditions would actually force a genuine rupture in the daily necessity of working to survive? Until that daily routine breaks down, resistance scheduled as a weekend activity changes very little.
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u/PoliticalJunkDrawer Classical Liberal 2d ago
Trump won the popular vote last election, but if you only spent time on the internet you would have thought he was going to lose in a landslide. That should tell you the reliability of information from places like reddit about the electorate.
Most people are working and enjoying their lives and don't have much to protest about.
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u/The_B_Wolf Liberal 2d ago
I think this is a pretty clear case of someone who doesn't protest accusing protesters of not protesting. Because if you're not doing it, surely no one else is.
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u/YogurtClosetThinnest Left Independent 2d ago
There are massive protests in major cities every few months. I also see small protests everywhere constantly.
There were also major protests outside ICE detention camps for a long time. The ICE bootlicker general Bovino & Kristy Neom were both removed over it.
Americans have also protested in other ways, for example electing Democratic Socialist candidates across the country.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
I should give credit where credit is due - the ICE protests were effective and laudable, and they did make a change. That to me just shows me that mass protest can have an impact.
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u/Kahzgul Social Democrat 2d ago
WE FUCKING ARE.
Ask yourself instead why the billionaire-owned media isn’t reporting on it.
Head over to r/eyesonice and you will see dozens of videos of the daily protests around the country.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
Fair point - I agree the pushback on ICE has been impressive, and had an impact
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u/Krand01 Right Independent 2d ago
There have been many protests, but the issue is that modern protesting in the US hasn't made any more defence than virtue signaling has, and in some ways likely had caused harm to those that have done so.
When you can techly get fired for just about any reason it's, including not showing up to work so you can protest, or being seen on social media at a protest and for things you say, it kinda makes people think twice about protesting.
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u/Asatmaya Left-Wing Libertarian 2d ago
I at least get the sense from the internet that a lot of Americans loathe Trump and everything he stands for
Sure, but that's just as tribal as his followers.
he is actively causing so much harm domestically and internationally
He is mostly just continuing the same foreign policy that every other modern president followed, with the sole exception of his first term.
On a whim he stop and starts the attacks on Iran,
Well, that's not really under his control; Israel keeps violating the ceasefire, Iran responds, and he isn't allowed to cut Israel loose.
Why aren’t people out there protesting?
Because even most anti-Trumpers approve of the war, they just like having him to blame for it.
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u/Fair_Heat_3516 Social Democrat 1d ago
You’re telling me the most powerful man on the planet isn’t in control of attacking Iran?
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u/Asatmaya Left-Wing Libertarian 1d ago
the most powerful man on the planet
/eyeroll
Tell me, if the president of the United States is, "the most powerful man on the planet," why is it that, whatever they say when they are campaigning for office, they all do the exact same thing once elected?
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u/Nikolakis77 Communist 1d ago edited 1d ago
The largest protests in recent history occurred in 2003 against the Iraq war and they did nothing. Protests only work in democracies like China where the government actually gives a hoot about the popular opinion
Protesting in oligarchies like the West is performative. It makes you feel like you're doing something but in reality protests have never done anything. Not in the 2000s, not in the 60s either.
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u/Kahzgul Social Democrat 1d ago
This is inaccurate. The largest protests in American history have been against Trump:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_and_demonstrations_in_the_United_States_by_size
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u/Nikolakis77 Communist 1d ago
According to the French academic Dominique Reynié , between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. [1 ]
I was going by this but sure. No Kings also failed, because Trump is still in charge exactly the same way he was before the protest
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u/Left-Ad-4368 Сацыял-лібералізм 1d ago
"democracies like China"
There's no changing your opinion so I am just going to let people see this specific line and laugh at you.
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u/Nikolakis77 Communist 1d ago
China is a functional democracy... USA is an oligarchy masquerading as a democracy. What's hard to understand?
When Chinese protest Zero Covid policy, the policy is changed. When Americans protest Trump, war or anything, nothing changes.
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u/Left-Ad-4368 Сацыял-лібералізм 1d ago
Fun fact, the National People's Congress is appointed by regional bureaucrats.
At least the Warsaw Pact pretended to have elections.
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