# What good does it to be a part of a protest on inauguration day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 18, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463 "2017-01-18T12:46:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/81 "2017-01-19T04:14:19Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > He hasn’t even been sworn in yet and he’s called the CIA Nazis; there is a real chance we can drive him out of office and into a mental institution. So is the mental institutionalization going to come before or after the nuclear war the unhinged left is predicting? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/82 "2017-01-19T04:32:25Z")
Pro tip, if you need a little cartoon face to make your point, it’s probably a pretty weak point. The mental institution comment was tongue in cheek, but Trump does not seem like he will be capable of serving four years. Remember Palin quitting after two years into her term? I really think that keeping constant pressure and criticism on Trump could really undermine him, he seems incapable of ignoring even the slightest criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/83 "2017-01-19T05:13:43Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I picked today because I wanted to make it easy for you. You see that, Ravenman? That’s your soft bigotry of low expectations right there, you betcha! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/84 "2017-01-19T05:23:08Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What’s next? Are you going to tell us that Mr. Trump didn’t win the election because Mrs. Clinton had more votes? It’s a reminder that he did not win with a landslide, that more _people_ voted against him and his agenda than voted for him. The Electoral College vote may have given him the Presidency, it is not a measure of popularity. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/85 "2017-01-19T05:23:33Z")
Another reason to march that just occurred to me: it communicates to the rest of the world, especially our NATO allies, that there are still some good Americans out there. It might help offset to some small amount, the damage the Trump presidency will do to out standing in the world. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/86 "2017-01-20T06:42:12Z")
Or maybe some unwashed hippies just want to throw some bottles at Trump supporters? > **[Police arrest dozens of anti-Trump protesters around inauguration](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/inauguration-2017/anti-trump-protesters-pepper-sprayed-eve-inauguration-outside-deploraball-d-n709321)** > > Police used pepper spray to disperse hundreds of protesters gathered outside a pro-Trump dinner billed as 'DeploraBall' on the eve of his swearing-in. > Is NBC on the official not fake news list? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/87 "2017-01-20T07:02:59Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I think most of the rest are qualified as well, and not “pretty horrifying”. You mean like Betsy DeVos, a person with no experience in public education, no knowledge of the Pell Grant program, who doesn’t even understand issues like growth vs. performance in schooling, and whose pet project in her home state (which she now intends to implement country-wide) was a colossal clusterfuck for all the reasons privatizing a public good tends to be? [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/18/six-astonishing-things-betsy-devos-said-and-refused-to-say-at-her-confirmation-hearing/?utm\_term=.56ab8b732c70](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/18/six-astonishing-things-betsy-devos-said-and-refused-to-say-at-her-confirmation-hearing/?utm_term=.56ab8b732c70) No, seriously, I’d love to hear you defend her. She clearly hasn’t got a damned clue what she’s talking about. She’s not a public servant, she’s a crusader, and she is utterly unfit for this job. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/88 "2017-01-20T07:08:01Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Or maybe some unwashed hippies just want to throw some bottles at Trump supporters? It seems odd to attempt to use the behavior of a tiny minority of protestors to attempt to explain the motives of the protestors in general, the overwhelming majority of whom are **not** committing any violence. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/89 "2017-01-20T07:12:13Z")
Trumps approval numbers are not only historically low, the continue to decline. Participating in protests might be able to continue this trend. Especially if the famously thin skinned and unstable Trump can be baited into overreacting and/or writing something ridiculous on twitter. There’s already a backlash developing over,the repeal of the ACA. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/90 "2017-01-20T08:03:34Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > - People unclear on the concept of [right to freedom of speech and public assembly](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment). Some people are unclear of the idea that ‘Yeah, you have the right to do that but it is stoopid’. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/91 "2017-01-20T08:27:25Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Especially if the famously thin skinned and unstable Trump can be baited into overreacting and/or writing something ridiculous on twitter. So we can respond to the anti-protest critics by saying “Go Away! Baitin’!” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/92 "2017-01-20T08:48:17Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > So we can respond to the anti-protest critics by saying “Go Away! Baitin’!” Yup, free speech is like muscles, if you don’t use it, they get flabby as evidenced by this thread that seems to be asking why do people bother to try and influence public opinion. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/93 "2017-01-20T09:02:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It’s a reminder that he did not win with a landslide, that more _people_ voted against him and his agenda than voted for him. Which is even more important, given that Trump and his spokespeople keep referring to his victory as a landslide, in a blatant attempt at Orwellian rewriting of history to fit his narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/94 "2017-01-20T10:55:13Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > You mean like Betsy DeVos, a person with no experience in public education, no knowledge of the Pell Grant program, who doesn’t even understand issues like growth vs. performance in schooling, and whose pet project in her home state (which she now intends to implement country-wide) was a colossal clusterfuck for all the reasons privatizing a public good tends to be? > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/18/six-astonishing-things-betsy-devos-said-and-refused-to-say-at-her-confirmation-hearing/?utm\_term=.56ab8b732c70](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/18/six-astonishing-things-betsy-devos-said-and-refused-to-say-at-her-confirmation-hearing/?utm_term=.56ab8b732c70) > > No, seriously, I’d love to hear you defend her. She clearly hasn’t got a damned clue what she’s talking about. She’s not a public servant, she’s a crusader, and she is utterly unfit for this job. Doesn’t that conclusion depend on what goals you have for the Department of Education? ---
**Author:** ![OwnRules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@OwnRules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OwnRules)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/95 "2017-01-20T12:10:19Z")
[**Donald Trump has assembled the worst Cabinet in American history**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/01/19/donald-trump-has-assembled-the-worst-cabinet-in-american-history/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.e23f9ecd60c6) > [@](#): > > As just one colorful example, let’s look at this report in today’s New York Times about Rick Perry, who will be Secretary of Energy. The change from the leadership under Barack Obama is already striking: the current secretary, Ernest Moniz, is a respected nuclear physicist who also came to the job with significant experience managing scientific institutions, and he’ll be succeeded by someone who advocated eliminating the department, although in his defense Perry couldn’t quite remember that it was the one he wanted to get rid of (that famous “Oops” moment). But it’s even worse than that… They only get worse from there… ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/96 "2017-01-20T13:53:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Doesn’t that conclusion depend on what goals you have for the Department of Education? Well, some of us think the Department of Education ought to promote Public Education. Not use the schools to “[Build God’s Kingdom](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary).” (According to the article, DeVos’s God is an angry Protestant one.) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/97 "2017-01-20T14:10:30Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Doesn’t that conclusion depend on what goals you have for the Department of Education? Unless those goals involve shutting it down, how does not knowing anything about how it functions or what it does promote any goals that you may desire? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/98 "2017-01-20T15:46:56Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > So if I can find one “racist” thing that CNN ever published and they didn’t rescind or repudiate it, it’s fair to label CNN “a racist website”? That’s absurd in my opinion. And the opinion of many others, fyi. Did you ever find as many for CNN as was found in the original example? Could you even find one? edited to add: Would those “many others” also be defenders of Breitbart? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/99 "2017-01-20T15:57:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Did you ever find as many for CNN as was found in the original example? > Could you even find one? > edited to add: Would those “many others” also be defenders of Breitbart? [This headline](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/20/politics/donald-trump-african-american-voters-virginia-voting-rights/) certainly got a lot of attention, deservedly so IMHO. ETA: And if you’d like to discuss the original list, perhaps you could begin by responding to my post #59 (I know, it wasn’t originally directed for you, but you decided to jump in here) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463/100 "2017-01-20T16:03:44Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [This headline](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/20/politics/donald-trump-african-american-voters-virginia-voting-rights/) certainly got a lot of attention, deservedly so IMHO. Let’s leave those goalposts right where they are-The topic is racist headlines and articles, not “attention-getting” ones. In what possible way is either the headline or the article racist, in your opinion? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-it-to-be-a-part-of-a-protest-on-inauguration-day/777463.md?page=6)