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IIt’s been 8 years since nearly half a million demonstrators gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest the presidency of Donald Trump on his first full day in office.
The first Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history at the time. Many sported pink knit “pussyhats,” a reference to Trump’s own words in 2005. Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted of having “grabbed (women) by the pussy.”
“We are the popular vote!” » Some chanted, recalling that he had not won the hearts of the majority of Americans, having lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes.
“Welcome to your first day, we’re not leaving!” other protesters promised.
Now that Trump is returning to the White House, so are the protesters. They want to show that they have not left, even if there are fewer of them.
This year’s People’s March, renamed to describe a multi-issue, multi-gender effort, is scheduled to be held Jan. 18 ahead of Trump’s second inauguration. Organizers expect 50,000 people to demonstrate, just 10 percent more than the first march.
That first march was “like lightning in a bottle – and you can’t capture lightning in a bottle twice,” said Tamika Middleton, executive director of the Women’s March organization. The Independent.
After Trump’s first election, many were driven to action by shock and anger – feelings that seem to have dissipated, if not changed entirely.
Last November, Trump won the popular vote by more than 2 million votes, notably gaining the support of 45% of women. Not even his felony conviction, he brags about having “killed” Roe v. Wade and allegations from more than two dozen women accusing him of sexual misconduct dissuaded voters from supporting him.
Vanessa Wruble, one of the original organizers of the Women’s March, said she doesn’t think there will be demand for a march this time.
“We’re just in a completely different place than we were,” she said. The Independent. She didn’t want to discourage anyone from protesting, but she warned: “I don’t think it will be effective.” »
“(In 2017), I think women were devastated to know how prepared and experienced and smart and better than a male candidate they were, that the men were still going to win,” Wruble said. His 2016 victory “seemed like an anomaly and an absolutely devastating mistake.”
In 2025, Trump beat another qualified woman: the sitting vice president, a former senator, and a former prosecutor.
Now that his victory is no longer an anomaly, “we can’t keep using the same model to try to beat each other,” Wruble argued.
Krista Suh, who was not involved in organizing the first march but created Pussyhat, also believes that the status quo should be shaken up a bit.
She thinks the symbolic hand-knit caps that transformed the National Mall into a sea of pink don’t need to make a comeback this march. She supports those who want to wear it again, but she personally feels that “it wouldn’t be right to rehash it.” She added: “I think what we need is something unexpected. »
“The Pussyhat was really great for getting the message across that you’re not alone and creating that emotional safety,” she continued. This time, “we know we’re not alone now, but we’re just trying to find the most effective way to confront this enemy,” she says, hesitant about the last word.
Eight years ago, Trump seemed to be the so-called enemy, but today, “the enemy is not so clearly defined,” she said.
The People’s March, organized by a coalition of groups including the Women’s March, the Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood, is trying to combat this nebulous other.
The march is not motivated by a specific issue, but hopes to build a “big tent” to address the new administration’s threats on abortion access, education, voting rights, climate, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, Middleton said.
“We recognize that if we want to be able to repel these threats, we must work together,” she said.
Suh praised the coalition’s work as important, but warned: “A lot of people feel like, when they’re in a big tent, they’re not being heard.” »
She thinks a walk is always necessary, but might not work for everyone.
“We need to find sustainable ways to stay engaged,” she said. “Before, we could get away with anger, anger and emotion, but now we need to take a more sustained approach. »
The Popular March actually pursues the same objective. This is just the beginning, not the end of the game, Middleton said. She added that “the ultimate goal for us is to build a sustainable movement.”
The marches only last a few hours a day, so the movement is trying to find ways to make this participation more sustainable. The People’s March aims to help individuals connect with organizations that advocate for issues they care about “so they can connect and continue to fight alongside us,” Middleton said.
Unlike the president-elect, she isn’t worried about crowd size. She emphasized that “the measure of success of the march is not how many people participate, but rather how many people we can integrate into organizations and keep them in the movement.”