President Donald Trump only won the popular vote by a 1.5 percent lead. The 48.3 percent who didn’t vote for Trump continue to make noise. They will not be silent while Elon Musk, neither elected nor nominated, guts the federal workforce. They will stand up for undocumented workers. The resistance to the Trump administration is growing nationwide.
In late 2024, discussions of nationwide protests began making their rounds on social media. When Trump took office, activists named the movement 50501, which stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one movement.” The tagline on the movement’s website asks people to “join us in the fight to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach.”
Political Revolution PAC partnered with 50501. The political action committee “advances politics in America through progressive grassroots activism,” according to its website.
The movement’s first protests occurred on February 5 and 17 across the country at government buildings. The third wave of protests took place on March 4. The protests are the very definition of grassroots, occurring without a budget or central structure. They happened in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Activists on social media called for an economic blackout on February 28, urging Americans not to buy anything from big box stores, Amazon, or gas. “This day is meant to send a message to the biggest, most powerful corporations who support the Trump admin/oligarchy we see forming and acting more pervasively by the day,” Political Revolution stated.
A young college student wrote a poem in his dorm room in the early ’70s that became the song, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The young man was Gil Scott-Heron, and in his poem, he proclaimed, “The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you. The revolution will be live.”
Indeed, the grassroots efforts of activists garner articles but not many, if any, news reports. However, in any event, everyone there has a phone with a camera. The revolution will be digitized, and resistance to the Trump administration will spread across the globe.
Democratic Lawmakers Can’t Lead the Resistance
Not only are concerned Americans going to protests, but even more are calling their lawmakers.
Democratic Congressional members have experienced a record-high volume of calls from constituents. Some of them are not thrilled about it. At a February 10 meeting of the House Steering and Policy Committee, Democratic House members complained about “activist groups like MoveOn and Indivisible” mobilizing “thousands of phone calls to members’ offices,” Axios reported.
This is the opposite of what Americans who identify as Democrats want. The majority (65 percent) of Democrats polled in a CBS/YouGov poll want Congressional Democrats to oppose Trump as much as possible.
Enter the Democratic National Committee. Ken Martin, newly elected DNC Chair, said on February 4, 2025, two days after being elected chair, “Well, we need to stand up and fight back, for sure. I think what American people are hoping the Democratic Party does is grow a spine and get back in the fight.” He said he is “ready to do that.”
Martin plans to help Democrats “win elections.” There are House elections in Virginia and New Jersey this year. And that’s great but it won’t do anything at the moment to stop the Trump administration’s fascist moves. That is up to the American people.
During a 50501 training call on February 19, Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, mentioned that her organization created a guide in 2016 because of “the lack of leadership on the Democratic side of the aisle right after [that] election.” Greenberg added that they knew “the grassroots was going to have to be the one that stepped up to change that equation.”
The Independent Senator From Vermont
One lawmaker stands out as the voice of the opposition. Although Senator Bernie Sanders caucuses with Democrats, he is independent and a consistent voice for the American people. In a February 28 opinion piece for The Guardian, he wrote that “this is a turning point.” He warned against staying silent while the Trump administration ravages democracy.
“As Americans, we cannot stay quiet as Trump abandons centuries of our commitment to democracy. Together, we must fight for our long-held values and work with people around the world who share them.” Senator Bernie Sanders
In February, Senator Sanders launched a national “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour.” The tour’s first leg occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, and Iowa City, Iowa, where he hosted thousands of people engaged in resistance to the Trump administration. He will head over to Michigan and Wisconsin for the next leg of the tour.
On the Senate floor on February 20, Senator Sanders spoke truth to his fellow senators, pointing out that “all of us must have the courage to stand up for truth, to stand up for democracy, to oppose authoritarianism.”
Indeed.
