October 18, 2025 "No Kings" Protests

[ThelmaLou]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Agreed–but I feel too often that there’s no next step, no escalation, of any import. If it’s an introduction that doesn’t lead to escalation, it serves no meaningful purpose.

My bold.

“Too often”?? When, precisely, has our country been in these exact circumstances after the 1770s? Even during the Civil Rights and Vietnam protests, there were still some grownups in government on the opposition side.

This is our PRESIDENT now:

@Fear_Itself

Trump posts AI video of airplane dropping diarrhea on protesters.

@atrupar.com on Bluesky

We are in a different ball game today. We are feeling our way and making this up as we go along.

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Nonviolent civil disobedience seems to me to be the next reasonable step; but it needs to be coordinated and needs to have clear objectives, and these objectives need to be in line with American norms.

Definitely, but

@Roderick_Femm

Conditions are too different for many parallels to work. This isn’t a foreign occupation, nor is it one race against another (plenty of white folks on both sides, for one thing). There’s no charismatic leader like Gandhi to unite the masses and to coordinate actions. The population of India wasn’t almost evenly split on whether India should be independent and the Brits should leave.

The most important thing is not to be silent. These demonstrations are a powerful way of speaking out. Of course they are not going to make him resign, I can think of no actions barring a civil war that would have anything like that effect.

My bold.

Maybe not THE next step, but A next step is for leadership to emerge. A charismatic leader would be great, but the movement needs inspired, focused leadership to grow in numbers and take part in nonviolent activities-- like these protests but MORE– that will have impact on society. There is momentum now and it will need to be directed. I believe that will happen… The sooner, the better.