April 6, 2025

The Protest.

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Let's start with the general picture.

From The New York Times: 

They came out in defense of national parks and small businesses, public education and health care for veterans, abortion rights and fair elections. They marched against tariffs and oligarchs, dark money and fascism, the deportation of legal immigrants and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Demonstrators had no shortage of causes as they gathered in towns and cities across the country on Saturday to protest President Trump’s agenda. 

And:

Mr. Trump, who was playing golf in Florida on Saturday, appeared to be largely ignoring the protests. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Of course he was. And of course they didn't respond.

Hundreds of thousands gathered to protest.

Locally, The Trib had this to say: 

Maureen Pastorius became one of an estimated more than 6,000 people who gathered in downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday for a protest and march that was part of a nationwide call to action against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Pastorius, 72, of Pleasant Hills came to the “Hands Off!” rally carrying a sign that read, “No sign is big enough to list why I’m here.”

“I disagree with absolutely everything that Trump and Musk are doing, and I believe they are a true threat to our democracy,” she said. “If we don’t act now, we won’t have a democracy in four years.”

Her friend, Linda Grusch, 73, of Oakdale, agreed.

And:

The Pittsburgh rally was co-hosted by Indivisible Pittsburgh and a coalition of grassroots partners. The estimated turnout was better than double the 2,500 organizers knew had registered.

“We are deeply grateful to the thousands of people who turned out today to stand up for democracy and our neighbors,” said Dana Kellerman, an organizer for Indivisible Pittsburgh. “We are building a movement too big to ignore, and we are just getting started.”

WPXI reported a longer list of organizers:

The Downtown protest was organized by a group of organizations including The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, Casa San Jose, Indivisible Grassroots Pittsburgh, Progress PA, Partners for Progress SWPA, Mondays with(OUT) McCormick, Steel City Stonewall Democrats, the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, the SWPA Coalition of Labor Union Women, and other community partners.

Kudos to all of them! 

An astute reader from the North Side texted me her first person reaction to the protest dahn-tahn:

I’m short, so it’s hard for me to get a sense of crowd size, but when we started marching, oh my God! The parade looped around blocks and blocks! It was exciting and moving to see so many thousands of people come out in the rain to protest the attacks on our parks, safety nets, veterans, judiciary, allies, economy, democracy, and the rule of law. We the people are truly pissed off!

This is what it looked like:

Note: If anyone has any other photos of or personal reactions to the protest that they'd like to see posted here, just email them in.

I'll update this blog post with them.The address is in the upper right.

I'm David. 

Donald Trump is still a convicted felon. 

UPDATE: The OPJ let me know that the picture Mike Mokus posted came from Corey Buckner's Facebook page:


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