"If 6.5 million people attended October's No Kings rallies (some estimates go as high as 7 million), it would amount to about 1.8% of the US population. That would make them the biggest protests in American history, but still just halfway to that 3.5% mark, and not directly in response to a particular outrage. The organizing and openness of those protests was a huge accomplishment and, at the very least, taught a lot of people who had never protested before how to do so."
"A more interesting measure of people in the streets, however, is Chicago (and other anti-ICE/CBP protests). I have no idea what population of Chicago took part in mobilizing to oppose Stephen Miller's goons. But there are aspects of that mobilization - perhaps most importantly the way media coverage arose from citizen witness to local media to independent media to mainstream outlets - that provided real lessons in how to thrive in a disastrous media environment."
Four peaceful strategies to oppose Donald Trump's authoritarianism are mobilizing mass protests reaching a 3.5% participation threshold, peeling off a small number of Republican legislators, rescuing Republicans from predictable catastrophes, and winning congressional power by 2026 to rein in presidential authority. The October No Kings rallies drew roughly 6.5 million people—about 1.8% of the US population—making them historically large but short of the 3.5% benchmark. Local mobilizations against ICE/CBP, notably in Chicago, demonstrated effective media escalation from citizen witnesses to mainstream outlets and offered practical lessons for organizing under adverse media conditions.
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