Nov 4 - This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! protest

I hemmed and hawed about whether I should just add this to the schadenfreude thread or not, but after some consideration, I think it’s worth it’s own thread, and I think this is the most appropriate forum, but moderators, please feel free to correct me if you think I’m in error.

An organization calling itself “Refuse Fascism” is making a ‘call to action’ on November 4th (this Saturday) for people to:

They have a list of times and locations in some big cities too.

I was wondering:

  1. if anyone here planned to attend any of these events.

  2. (for everyone, regardless of attendance) Do you think this is it - the big movement that’s finally going to sweep Trump from office? Personally I expect this will have fizzled out by mid-next-week with some minor vandalism near a few of the locations listed, but I’m trying to judge if I’m being overly-skeptical. What do you think?

  1. no. But I wish them well.

  2. It’s not going to accomplish anything alone, just as the protests didn’t end the war in SE Asia. It starts to add up, and the constant background noise helps.

  1. Closest event to me is 800 miles. So no.

  2. Might make some people feel better. Trump certainly won’t hear anything about it from FOX. Not that he gives a shit anyway. Some republicans may care.

I’ve been seeing the signs for this here in San Francisco for months. I’m sure it will make some people feel better, but will have no significant impact on the President or his administration.

Calling Trump a fascist is a stretch. Authoritarian tendencies? Yes. But he doesn’t have the power or leverage to be a true dictator like he would like to be. I don’t know if I’ve ever called Trump a fascist (don’t think I have) but Trump is a fascist the same way Bernie Sanders is a communist. He is on the continuum, but nowhere near as extreme or powerful as that term implies.

Also I don’t see how a protest will change it. The march on January 21st didn’t change anything. We should be worried about voting in November 2018 to take back the house. That will actually accomplish something. With a house under democratic control we can stall Trump’s legislative agenda, and we can conduct legitimate investigations into Trump, Russia, money laundering, etc.

Investigations at multiple levels (state, federal, local, congress, law enforcement, special counsels, independent counsels, etc), taking congress back, hoping the judiciary reins in Trump, etc are what actually matters.

Do protests actually accomplish anything in America? Or petitions? I know its better to do that than not to do that, but does it actually change anything?

Who is behind this Refuse Fascism organization? Who started it? Who is coordinating things between different cities? Is there any coordination?

Sounds like WaPo spoke with one of the organizers, someone named Andy Zee. I don’t know any more about who’s behind it or their level of coordination than that.

Not going (never heard of it) and no, it’s not going to have any effect.

happy to see that Pence is included.

He is pretty scary, also.

In previous threads on here, it seems like a significant portion of Dems feel like Trump isn’t actually so bad, and perhaps even preferable to a more “vanilla GOP” guy like Pence or Paul Ryan.

It’s more like evil but utterly incompetent is preferable to evil and competent.

Tragic choice.

Whatever Donnie’s numerous faults, he has not an ounce of religious feeling. His sidekick is a moralistic puritan.

Well, OK, we can offer to make masturbation illegal as a motherfuck, in return for single payer.

Pence won’t go for that, because Jesus warned against the sin of masturbation. He never said anything about taking care of the poor and sick.

VA and NJ voters can protest on Tuesday.

Tragic times.

I’ll repost a link to a Naomi Klein video. Americans need to be energized to combat encroaching fascism. Not being an activist, I don’t know the best timing or tactics. It would certainly be sad if the protests develop into another fizzled joke like OWS or BLM.

Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush are “vanilla GOP.” Even sensible right-wingers like John Boehner might be considered “vanilla.” Pence and Ryan ? :eek: I won’t try to characterize their flavors but neither is vanilla! :rolleyes:

In previous threads on here, it seems like a significant portion of Pubbies feel like Trump is actually the seeping pustule on a goat’s asshole, but still preferable to a slithering Grendel like HRC. Must admit, though, my premise is weakened by the vague inference of a “significant portion”. Is that one percent? Fifteen? Fifty?

My case could be bolstered by posting some of the countless examples, but I can’t be bothered with that right now, because I’m so busy. But there’s a whole bunch of 'em, you betcha!

I think Jesus was in favor of a lower corporate tax rate, and told us that the poor were basically lazy, so not to worry about them. Pretty sure. May have been supply-side Jesus, but he’s the real deal.