The moment has come to take to the streets
April 5 protests will be a resistance test
There’s a sense of urgency in the air.
Can you feel it?
Everything seems to be spiraling out of control in Washington.
The Trump/Musk regime is traumatizing the economy. It is abducting innocent people and deporting some without due process to a foreign torture prison. It is dismantling essential government agencies and purging good people who’ve served them well. It is extorting universities and law firms. It has upended our status in the world. It has attacked the rule of law.
And this weekend, there’s something you can do about it.
On Saturday, April 5, thousands – maybe even millions – of people will join together in cities and towns across the country in nonviolent protest.
It’s essential that you take part, if you can. Sign up now. Tell your neighbors. Tell your friends.
The event, called “Hands Off!”, was launched by Indivisible, but now has over 200 organizational partners including MoveOn, the Working Families Party, 50501, Common Cause, Public Citizen, the ACLU, and the AFL-CIO.
The core message:
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!
The anti-MAGA public has been building up to this – as I’ve been chronicling here at Heads Up News – with angry town halls, countless Tesla Takedowns, smaller protests, and a barn-burning anti-oligarchy tour by Sen. Bernie Sanders, most recently accompanied by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
But this is the big kickoff. This is where it comes together.
And it’s none too soon, either.
As Laura Gamboa, a professor of democracy and global affairs at the University of Notre Dame, writes in Foreign Affairs, history has shown that delay is costly. The longer it takes for the people to respond, “the more power leaders with authoritarian tendencies accumulate,” she writes, and “the harder it is to mount an effective resistance.”
Everyone has an issue they care about the most. To me, one key on April 5 is to state unequivocally that this is not normal. This is dire.
Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, hit on that very point as he opened his inspiring, record-setting, 25-hour marathon speech on the Senate floor Monday evening.
“I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis,” he said. “These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Making Courage Contagious
Over 20,000 people participated in a mobilizing Zoom call on Tuesday night for the April 5 protests. Organizers announced that they have registered over 1,200 local events and counting.
“There is so much energy out there right now,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible.
“Strength in numbers. This is how we will get through this moment, this is how we will push back, and this is how we are going to come back, all of us, together,” said Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn.
“They want you to give up,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “They want you to be isolated and fearful.”
“Public courage is the solution,” said Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the ACLU.
“Bravery does not come from politicians. It comes from the people,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works.
“We have to make courage contagious,” said Levin.
Only the Beginning
April 5 will be just the beginning of a period of mass mobilization. As Indivisible co-founder Sarah Dohl explains:
April 5 isn’t just a protest—it’s a recruitment drive. There are millions of people watching this crisis unfold, waiting for a reason to jump in. We need to show them the resistance is real….
We’re proving they won’t be alone if they choose to fight. That courage is contagious—and public, peaceful resistance is how it spreads.
Similarly, the wildly successful Bernie Sanders tour was very much about organizing for the future. As Micah L. Sifry writes for the American Prospect, the Sanders team has collected contact information from more than 107,000 people.
“[M]any have wondered about the endgame of these rallies,” Sifry writes. “Are Sanders or his fellow speakers asking anything of those who attend?”
The answer is that they all get added to a list that Sanders and his operation plan to tap for future events – especially local ones. As Sanders senior adviser Jeremey Slevin told Sifry, “what we are hoping is that these rallies can be a funnel to start and let a thousand flowers bloom.” You can sign up here.
And While You’re Protesting
“Be the media,” says Brian Hansbury, a co-founder of the Media and Democracy Project. That means livestream the protests you attend:
When you head to a protest come prepared with a fully charged phone. Maybe invest in a gimbal. Show your fellow Americans what it looks like to be engaged in this critical time. It is important that Americans not yet in the streets see you modeling peaceful, civic action.
Let’s fill every social media feed with a nonstop stream of Americans standing up for the rights and protections of everyone.
How We Get From Here to There
This is the best roadmap I’ve seen for how the anti-Trump movement proceeds. It’s from Jonathan V. Last, the editor of the Bulwark.
Demonstrate popular power in the provinces through large-scale rallies.
Use these events to organize the resistance into a mass movement that can be called into action.
Direct the mass movement into targeted political strikes: Getting blowout wins in special elections; boycotts of Tesla; etc.
Politicize everything: Attack the authoritarians for every bad thing that happens, anywhere in the world. Flood the zone.
Elevate the corruption/graft in a way that pits the billionaire insiders against the “forgotten man.”
When the moment is right, bring this movement to the Capital for a show of strength.
Use this demonstration as a slingshot to take back legislative power in the 2026 elections.
More importantly, use it to send a message to the institutional actors that people will have their back if they show courage.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comment section!
Tesla Under Siege
Saturday was a “global day of action” for Tesla protests, a massive show of force for anti-Musk advocates.
Here are some social-media posts from protests in Seattle, Manhattan, Boston, Cherry Hill, N.J., Berkeley, Portland, Austin, Texas, and Walnut Creek, Calif.
On MSNBC on Monday night, the top of Rachel Maddow’s show included a tremendous video montage of the weekend’s activism, including video from 25 different Tesla protests across the country. You can watch it here.
Trans Day of Visibility
After relentless attacks from the Trump/Musk regime, trans Americans and their allies joined in Washington and elsewhere on Monday for the Trans Day of Visibility “to show we’re not going anywhere.”
“What [Trump] wants is to scare us into being invisible again,” Rachel Crandall Crocker, the executive director of Transgender Michigan who organized the first Day of Visibility 16 years ago, told the Associated Press. “We have to show him we won’t go back.”
Some scenes from around the country:
Hundreds marched through downtown St. Louis on Monday, ending with drag performances on the steps of City Hall, St. Louis Public Radio reported. “As the world becomes a less safe place for us, I refuse to be unseen,” said attendee Robyn Beck. “I refuse to not live the experience that I was destined to live.”
More than 100 participants gathered in downtown Erie, Penn. “We want people to see us, we want people to hear us and we want people to know that we are alive and thriving and doing well,” Tyler Titus, a participant and Erie City Council member, told the Erie Times-News. “We will always be here and we want the community to see that it is possible to be who you are as your full self and to come together in community. That is what Trans Day of Visibility is all about.”
A trans pride event at a suburban Maryland library drew protesters and counterprotesters, WJZ reported. "There are trans and non-binary people under attack,” Christine Feldmann, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Public Library, told WJZ. "They're under attack in their communities and at the federal level. We are here as a safe place where they can come and be supported, because the library is for everyone." Protesters accused the library of grooming children for pedophilia; counterprotesters urged them to choose love instead of hate.
The New York Police Department celebrated Trans Day of Visibility with panel discussions and speeches. “As the world slowly evolves to acknowledge gender identities beyond the binary, the importance of visibility for the transgender community cannot be overstated,” said Kim Watson-Benjamin, a city official.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke at a Trans Day of Visibility event at the state Capitol, telling attendees that Minnesota will always be a welcoming place for transgender people. Walz said that Republicans have “chosen to demonize a marginalized community for their own selfish reasons.”
And Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker posted on social media: “There are trans Americans right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am. We are. We will.”
Also see this wonderful AP photo essay.
Other Protests
Thousands gathered to “March for Democracy” in downtown Kansas City on Saturday. The Kansas City Star has video
Thousands of people convened in downtown Dallas to protest Trump’s immigration policies in a march organized by the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Hundreds of people protested outside the overcrowded Krome immigration detention center in Miami on Saturday after reports of inhumane conditions inside.
Town Halls Update
One Republican congresswoman defied her party’s advice to stop holding town halls last week. It didn’t go well.
Reuters reported that “Boos, jeers and choruses of ‘do your job’ greeted U.S. Representative Victoria Spartz at a town hall on Friday in her Indiana congressional district as she defended sweeping cuts across the federal government, the latest such event by a Republican lawmakers to generate loud voter backlash.”
The New York Times reported that Spartz hosted gatherings with constituents on Friday and Saturday. “And each day, she found herself in hostile territory.”
“You don’t have to scream,” Spartz pleaded on Friday, the Times reported.
Here’s a clip from Friday’s event. Here are some wonderful photos.
Also in Indiana, frustrated residents of the state’s fourth congressional district held a town hall without their congressman, Rep. Jim Baird, after he refused to hold one. The “Where’s Baird” event “gave Hoosiers a platform to discuss how recent policy changes are impacting their lives and to express frustration over whether Representative Jim Baird is adequately addressing their needs,” reported TV station WLFI.
More Lawsuits
Just Security’s tracker of legal challenges to Trump administration actions now has 159 entries. Among the highlights from the last week:
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to close down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “reinstating and preserving the agency’s contracts, work force, data, and operational capacity, and protecting and facilitating the employees’ ability to perform statutorily required activities.”
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of Trump’s ban of transgender people from enlisting and serving in the military.
A federal judge ordered the preservation of encrypted Signal messages sent by top Trump administration officials during high-level national security deliberations. This was in response to a lawsuit against the officials who participated for violations of the Federal Records Act and Administrative Procedure Act.
A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over its decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.
Three nonprofits have sued Trump to block a new executive order that would ostensibly overhaul elections in the U.S., including requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. “Under our Constitution,” the lawsuit states, “the President does not dictate election rules. States and Congress do.”
A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media and silence its networks, including Voice of America.
An appellate court dismissed the government’s appeal of a temporary restraining order protecting sensitive Social Security Administration data from Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Open Letters
About 1,900 elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released an open statement to the American people: an “SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.”
More than 1,300 former Department of Justice staffers signed a letter stating that targeting law firms and threatening lawyers who appear opposite the federal government is “an affront to the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Click Here
Check out the The Big List of Protests.
Here’s a resource for folks who want to make sure that families in their communities aren’t detained by ICE: It’s called Defend and Recruit.
Do yourself a huge favor: Take 10 minutes to listen to actor John Lithgow read historian and tyranny expert Timothy Snyder’s 20 Lessons on Tyranny. Pass it around.
Honoring Robert McChesney
Robert W. McChesney, one of the country’s leading media thinkers, died last week. His scholarship focused on media and democracy, and the scourge of corporate ownership. He was a hero of mine.
John Nichols wrote a beautiful and powerful appreciation of McChesney for the Nation. And it ends this way:
Some of our last conversations were about the huge crowds Bernie Sanders was attracting for his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, and the thousands of Americans who have been showing up to challenge Republican members of Congress at town hall meetings. Just like Tom Paine, Bob saw fresh hope in the people who were rising up and demanding a future defined by their humanity, as opposed to corporate power. This might, he suggested, be the opening for a new surge in activism for journalism and democracy, a surge that might “begin the world over again.” Bob’s last words to me, though they were a bit more labored due to his illness, were a repeat of his constant call to action: “Let’s put our heads together…” In other words, let’s make a plan. Let’s do something. That was his charge to those of us who cherished Bob McChesney’s mission and his spirit. We honor him best by accepting it.
I read about the Hands Off! protests in your Heads Up News and signed up right away! I'm so thankful to you for reporting and explaining all the different things we can do to fight against authoritarianism.
Just want to add that Congressional Dems showed up in force at the Trans Day of Visibility on the Mall. Nearly all of the speakers were members of Congress. This is as it should be. Standing up for others is what Dems are all about. They made me proud.