this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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Politics
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I mean is it too much to ask for these to happen on a weekday? Just because I want Americans to protest doesn't mean any protest will do.
On a basic level, weekends are when the most people can afford to show up. And I mean that monetarily. The sheer number if people living paycheck to paycheck without much PTO would mean fewer showing up.
On a less basic level, why are you against weekend protests? Because they are less disruptive?
Because they're not disruptive. At all. These are protests in name only; in essence they're parades (I wouldn't complain as much if they were only less disruptive). Also, despite being not disruptive they make people feel like they've "done their part," effectively acting as a pressure valve against more radical action. I've seen arguments that these protests are a good stepping stone for organizing more effective resistance, but even then do we really need six of those? I'm pretty sure if these were still useful we'd see more of them.
And that's another thing that ticks me off about this. Americans' pain tolerance is disgustingly low for people staring down fascism while running and manning the world's deadliest, evilest war machine. Like do y'all think this is going to end with signs and parades? Without anyone threatening him in any way, why the hell would Trump give up power? There's a widespread trend of highly underestimating the pain and effort it'd take to drag Trump out of power, in a time where the fascists get stronger the more time is wasted.
They disrupt traffic a lot. Especially in the US where we are reliant on cars so much. That is pretty huge. Parades are disruptive in the same way.
Maybe, but all protests have this issue. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do them
I don't think this is the case, but this makes it sound like you don't know what it means to live paycheck to paycheck, which is pretty bad anywhere but very bad in the US. You can't necessarily afford to take time off, and if you call out you could loose your job and subsequently your health insurance. That could be life or death for a lot of folks The US is fucked in a lot of ways, but especially this one.
This is never going to happen short of prolonged and bloody civil war. I think we may see that unless Trump dies in office (of natural causes, assassination will just make him a martyr). The best we can hope for outside of full empire collapse is pushing out the shitty dems and getting actual progressives/leftists in office.
Ultimately I don't think these protests are doing a lot, but they are not doing nothing either. And they certainly aren't hurting anything. The normies that go to these were not going to organize outside of them, and maybe (very maybe) these protest help them see what collective action can do.
I mean sure, but that does little to nothing to affect the people in power, hence it's not disruptive in the sense intended here.
It does when they've outlived their usefulness.
Do you think the US is more or less fucked than it was coal wars? Americans do have a history of getting off their asses and doing shit when it actually affected them, and the people taking part in the early 20th century labor movement risked not just their jobs, but their lives. The fact that you didn't even entertain this possibility shows exactly what I mean. That aside if enough people participate they can't all be fired, but that's not the point I'm making here. Hearing "this admin wants to ethnically cleanse the US of brown people" and responding with "but I might lose my job" is my definition of a disgustingly low pain tolerance. Figure something out; people in worse situations than you did. You would not be talking like this if you had family being actively threatened with deportation.
Not gonna happen. Trump is not going to allow his power to be threatened in his last shot at power. He'll try disenfranchisement, and if that doesn't work he'll launch a coup. You're not voting your way out of this; the current state of the American empire is incompatible with democracy.
Then what are they doing?
The opposite; they convince them that this is all that collective action can do. Historically movements this popular based on collective action spread like wildfire, because people can see them actually getting things done. It takes bravery and risk to do anything with collective action; neither is present in No Kings.
You can’t win, when they’ve done it on a weekday you get everyone complaining its not on a weekend
What? I have literally never seen someone complain about this.
Well your experience is not representative of the whole