These are selects from the last few days (click to enlarge), looking for the smaller fragments of resistance following last Saturday’s big protest and before next Saturday’s followup.
It’s been eye-opening getting out there and walking around. On one hand, it’s good to know you can find the pulse of pushback. On the other, I have to say yes it’s a pulse but kind of a faint one. I’m having to look pretty hard.
It’s even some of the same people. At Saturday’s Tesla protest in Georgetown, a couple of the demonstrators recognized me from the Dance Against DOGE at the GSA a few days earlier. I’ve run into a Pulitzer prize-winning photographer more than once, so I guess we’re looking at the same list of events.
Passing cars were mostly in support of the anti-Tesla demo, which included a DJ (same guy from the GSA) blasting great songs. But honking your horn and going about your day is about the same personal investment as liking a post.
People walking by were harder to read, that’s something I couldn’t capture. I didn’t see any MAGA types, that wasn’t the problem. Some seemed mildly sympathetic or curious at the spectacle, at least enough to giggle and snap a photo or selfie. Some didn’t react at all. I heard one girl with her father say ‘at least they’re peaceful’. No one joined in or looked like they were getting too excited, other than the fact that something out of the norm was happening on the way to the cupcake shop or whatever.
Last weekend’s rally did feel like it was ordinary concerned people turning out en masse with some seriousness of purpose. There was energy there. I hope next weekend can match or surpass it. But I also hope we can find a way to keep a more consistent pressure on in between the biggies. It shouldn’t be that hard in DC at least.
The city should be a roiling cauldron. Right it feels like watching a pot slowly, maybe, starting to simmer.
I was thinking it was surprising not to see college students being visibly active (I did see them shopping), but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised given everything. Are they tuned out or feeling the chill, keeping their heads down and their dissent muted? Maybe I need to dig into that more, see what’s percolating at various campuses like GW and Georgetown.
Let me know if you hear of any interesting actions or signs of life.
[PS - I want to say something about Fetterman (image 5). Regardless what you feel about him, I think that guy is still struggling, you can see it in his body language and a grimness in his face. He came out to meet a constituent cohort from Pennsylvania (that I followed from a nearby rally) and while he managed to flicker to life for a few moments, he looked like he would rather be doing anything else. I shook his hand and tried to joke that he was great in the movie The Pale Blue Eye, he’s a blink-and-miss-it background extra in a bar scene. He was not amused.]