# “Hands Off!” mass rallies scheduled nationwide for April 5 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 31, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417 "2025-03-31T18:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/121 "2025-04-06T14:14:36Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > I have seen between 3 and 5 million… That seems reasonable to me. ~1,200 events with an _average_ attendance of 2,000 (a very low estimate) would be 2.4 million ~1,200 events with an _average_ attendance of 5,000 would be 6 million * * * * * * I wonder if anyone will be able to provoke Der Trumpnik into commenting on the day’s showing. His natural inclination would of course be to ignore the whole thing completely… **UNLESS** someone can poke and prod his ego and label him a “chicken-hearted, lily-livered, cowardly, mushroom-weenie, whiny _LOSER_” if he doesn’t step up like a _man_ [_cough, cough_ 🤢] and comment. He doesn’t seem to be able to resist a challenge to his almighty-ness. No doubt he’ll accuse Biden, Kamala, and Obama of organizing it. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/122 "2025-04-06T14:30:07Z")
In Morristown NJ the crowd of 2000+ had plenty of oldsters but also loads of middle-aged adults. Seemed to me there was a healthy representation of young adults. And two of the speakers were high school students. (One of the lasting tragedies of the last 8 years will be the damage done to Gen Zers’ understanding of our political system. They have never seen “sane” politics or even elections in action.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/123 "2025-04-06T14:48:03Z")
I’m looking at pics of yesterday’s rally that were newly posted. A small, brown cardboard sign with black marker lettering said, ‘Elon eats farts.’ I got a chuckle out of it. On a woman’s larger sign, someone had a white, paper, coffee cup drawing (taking up the whole sign) with ‘I like my government how I like my coffee. Not in my vagina.’ ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/124 "2025-04-06T14:48:42Z")
Alt National Park Service is using 5.2 million as their official number. > Estimates were based on reports from over 1,600 events nationwide. More than 21,000 coalition members traveled across the country to volunteer and help monitor safety at each location. These volunteers worked closely with local authorities to assess crowd sizes. Their reports were compiled and added together to arrive at the overall participation estimate. All the photos I’ve seen were mostly people 60+ which I did find curious. But when I checked my Facebook feed yesterday and every friend with kids was busy attending something for/with their kids. So if the younger people were working, the middle aged people were busy with their families. I had several protests happening in my vicinity but I couldn’t attend, I was helping a friend who just went through tragedy. I am impressed with the numbers that did show up! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/125 "2025-04-06T15:38:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > We had our state assembly woman. But we’re just a county seat with a population under 50,000. Any higher elected officials would have been in Santa Barbara, Sacramento, or DC. Salud wasn’t in SB either. He sent an assistant. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/126 "2025-04-06T16:26:04Z")
In Boston, US Senator Ed Markey was the lead speaker. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/127 "2025-04-06T16:32:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I don’t think they believe there is anything they can do about the way the country is. More like they have no context of things ever being any different. ---
**Author:** ![knavette57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knavette57/32/3871_2.png) [@knavette57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knavette57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/128 "2025-04-06T18:21:01Z")
I was there in money spirit, I donate. I have too much happening to attend, and my local protest was badly damaged by hard rains, but even so, that is what I would expect in my bright red district even without the rain. We did have a good BLM protest a few years ago, and I know people live here who do not like Trump policies. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/129 "2025-04-06T18:48:00Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > More like they have no context of things ever being any different. Yeah, and this is so sad. They probably believe “good old days” crap is just that-- crap. That their parents and elders are misremembering and it’s all at best mythology and at worst, lies. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/130 "2025-04-06T21:57:37Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’m really disheartened by the lack of young people at these rallies. I don’t think they believe there is anything they can do about the way the country is. They might be right; it’s just us older white people whose early civic indoctrination and privilege have made us naive enough to think that rallies actually accomplish anything. Maybe that’s it, and also (as has been said) a lot of younger people do have jobs that require weekend shifts. But whatever the reason, this worked to the advantage of the resistance, in that Donald and his fascist pals evidently didn’t think that video of old white people getting their heads broken and hauled away in paddy wagons would work well for them. If it had been crowds of young people, particularly young PoC–who knows? There has been a LOT of talk to the tune of “we shouldn’t protest because that will just give Trump the excuse he wants to declare martial law, and then we’ll be a lot worse off.” That argument was exploded, yesterday. And the next day-of-protest may bring out even bigger crowds. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > they do remind people that they’re not alone in the fight, which is a non-zero value when we’re seeing so much crap raining down from above, in a way talking to people online may not provide. They also serve as a counter to people in the MAGA-sphere, who constantly claim that everyone agrees with them, because everyone they choose to interact with shares their same feelings. Seeing a few thousand of their fellow Coloradans/Texans/etc. may make them question such. All this is true, I think. Overall, it tells Americans that we don’t have to passively accept what’s happening. It may even hearten GOP members of Congress into at least _considering_ removing the cause of all this pain. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/131 "2025-04-06T22:05:54Z")
Let me give you an idea of the DC crowd. It was so big that there was no point within it from where you could see all of it. The stage with speakers was a distance south of the Washington Monument, and a group drumming and chanting as loud as they could at that distance north of the monument. From in between them, right next to the monument, you could hardly hear either. It took me about 1 hour to walk from one side to the other and back. I could not make out any counter-protestors around the edges of it, because the edges of it were so hard to find. There was a pieman at the corner of Constitution and 14th St. NW giving out free samples of his delicious sweet potato, bean, and pecan pies, hawking them: “Get your tariff-free pies here! Ain’t no tariff in these pies!” Yes indeed, when came back, brought pie. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/132 "2025-04-06T22:16:40Z")
It looks like the next one is scheduled for April 19th and the theme is #NoKings. It occurs to me that they are keeping them focused on domestic policy perhaps to keep Gaza out of it which would divide the crowd. There were a lot of Ukrainian flags and anti-Putin signs but next to nothing about Gaza in the one near me. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/133 "2025-04-06T22:16:59Z")
The pie man’s bean pies with navy beans do sound delicious! Not a widely-held recipe but yummy ne’ertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/134 "2025-04-06T22:19:29Z")
‘No kings’ does make sense; there are a lot of people who don’t want a third term president! ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/135 "2025-04-06T22:22:27Z")
This would be my little sign if I could go: NoK ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/136 "2025-04-06T23:05:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@natureboy](#): > > > > > [@Aspenglow](#): > > > > > > The majority were oldsters > > > > … I’ve been bullish on senior outrage, and today seems to have validated my outlook. > > My wife was surprised to see so many older people at the rally, though she said she shouldn’t have been. Older people collect Social Security. Many older people are veterans. Older people have spent decades building up their retirement savings, only to see them being destroyed by Trump. Older Americans can’t, as is a stereotype, sit back and say ‘I’ve got mine. You need to work harder.’ Even in 2016, the rallies that I went to were attended by LOTS of older people, I recall making many jokes about _Grantifa_. I suspect a lot of them were Vietnam war protesters back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/137 "2025-04-06T23:09:13Z")
Sortof. I was too young then but my heart has always been with protesters. In about 2002 I went to one in Cleveland ( hey ho hey ho the toxic Texan’s got to go). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/138 "2025-04-06T23:21:54Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Let me give you an idea of the DC crowd. But was it as big as Trumpie’s inaugural crowd? . . . . . . BWAHAHAHAHA! 🤣 Couldn’t resist. * * * * * * I like the Pie Guy’s slogan! 🥧 ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/139 "2025-04-06T23:27:20Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > But whatever the reason, this worked to the advantage of the resistance, in that Donald and his fascist pals evidently didn’t think that video of old white people getting their heads broken and hauled away in paddy wagons would work well for them. > > If it had been crowds of young people, particularly young PoC–who knows? Yeah, we have a regular Friday protest outside my congressman’s local office, and it’s basically a bunch of grandmas and librarians (and college professors, and the owners of a local bookstore and a restaurant-bakery). It would be nice to have a few more young people and _definitely_ more black people, as it is Mississippi, but, on the other hand … grandmas and librarians and local business owners are popular people! And, honestly, it is probably a good thing for everybody around here to be reminded that middle-aged-to-elderly white people are _not_ always Republican. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417/140 "2025-04-07T00:06:33Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > And, honestly, it is probably a good thing for everybody around here to be reminded that middle-aged-to-elderly white people are _not_ always Republican. And it probably is true that they’re less likely to start breaking our heads. Maybe it’s our job to do this; not the young black folks’ job. There are other things they can do. Missed this one. Will try to make the next. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hands-off-mass-rallies-scheduled-nationwide-for-april-5/1016417.md?page=8)