What The Hell America!

As Trump’s second term sparks widespread outrage, a new wave of decentralized, determined resistance is rising—and this time, it’s built to last.

This article was originally published on Pat Mitchell’s blog and weekly newsletter.

Tuesday marks the 100th day of Donald Trump’s presidency, and many Americans are unhappy with him and his administration. According to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, “Trump’s approval rating is lower than for any past president at the 100-day mark in their first or second terms. … In broad strokes, the judgment of his presidency so far is that a majority think Trump has exceeded his authority, a majority say the economy is worse and about half say that U.S. leadership in the world has become weaker.”

During Trump’s first term, public demonstrations of disapproval were rapid and massively visible. The 2017 Women’s March, held the day after the inauguration, was the largest single-day protest in history (later surpassed by the George Floyd protests in 2020). 

This time around, it’s building in a different way. Researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Crowd Counting Consortium note that 2025 protests “are far more numerous and frequent—while also shifting to more powerful forms of resistance,” such as commercial and labor boycotts.

“In February 2025 alone, we have already tallied over 2,085 protests, which included major protests in support of federal workers, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian self-determination, Ukraine and demonstrations against Tesla and Trump’s agenda more generally.”

As media critic Erik Wemple observed in the Washington Post, the media has been slow to catch on to the disaggregated nature of the protests, with think piece after think piece declaring that the “resistance is dead.”     

“The major outlets did cover the April 5 protests, though [the] homepage and dead-tree placement of those articles drew condemnation. ‘For weeks and months, I’ve been reading stories and analyses in major news organizations about how the public resistance to Trump is so much quieter now than in 2017,’” noted veteran media critic Margaret Sullivan. “But when the protests did happen, much of the media reaction was something between a yawn and a shrug. Or, in some outlets, a sneer.”

That is starting to change. The massive crowds attending Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Oligarchy Tour” rallies have generated increasing press coverage, and since April 5’s Hands Off! protest, people all over the country (and the world) have been gathering, marching, and perhaps most importantly, talking to each other about their concerns—and the media is paying attention. As 50501’s Hunter Dunn told the Guardian on Sunday, “It’s gone from a trickle to a tidal wave really quickly.”

“There are now thousands of volunteers across all 50 states and in D.C. who help with 50501 in their communities, Dunn said. People come together to organize an event, like a protest or demonstration, and form small teams. Those small teams can then become part of state-level 50501 groups. The state-level groups help inform a national group. Local organizers vote on dates for national days of protest, he said.”

The next 50501 mass protest will be on May 1. You can learn more about already scheduled events or sign up to hold your own event on the 50501 website.

And don’t worry if you’ve never been involved in protests before—many people are new to organizing and action. As one organizer told The Guardian, “I decided to pick the ball up and do it myself. And I learned a lot extremely quickly. It’s probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.”

As David Brooks wrote in The New York Times, “It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”

That coordination is starting to happen. After some early capitulation to the Trump administrations demands, the institutional tide is turning.

Just last week, 200 universities signed a statement “calling for leaders in higher education to rise to the moment and commit to protecting the field, their staff and their students against the administration’s sweeping crackdown.”

A coalition of 75 civil rights groups launched “The Pact: A Civil Rights Coalition Unity Commitment,” pledging to “stay united in our shared vision for opportunity, prosperity, dignity, belonging and for the rights and justice necessary to ensure them.”

More than 500 philanthropy organizations have signed on to a letter uniting in advance to defend charitable giving.

Last week also brought the resignation of Bill Owens, longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes. Paramount, the company that owns CBS News, is in the midst of a merger that requires the Trump administration’s approval. Owens quit in response to new oversight on the part of Paramount in his newsroom.

“It has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,” he said. In a rare rebuke, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley spoke out on Sunday’s program to explain Owen’s reasons for resigning to viewers and to honor his journalistic integrity. 

Democracy is not something we have—it’s something we do.

Now is the time for all of us to practice democracy daily—by staying informed; talking with our friends, coworkers and family members; calling our representatives; and showing up at meetings, rallies and events. As the 50501 handbook observes, “The time has come for you to get involved. You are 50501. Together our voices cannot be ignored.”

At Project Dandelion, we believe that resistance movements model the unstoppable dandelion. Its interconnected, deep roots can’t be divided and from that unified foundation, more rise up and are spread by its seeds blowing with the wind… or with the breaths of young girls and boys on every continent.

“Feel empowered,” Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland, once said. “And if you start to do it, if you start to feel your voice heard, you will never go back.”