The Resistance Now is a weekly update on the people, action and ideas driving the protest movement in the US. If you’re not already receiving it by email, subscribe.
End family separation
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in Washington DC today, in what could be one of the biggest protests since the Women’s March in 2017.
The ACLU said more than 300,000 people will march from Lafayette Square, near the White House, towards the Capitol building, while events are planned in Foley Square in New York City and Daley Plaza in Chicago.
But it’s not just in the big, traditionally liberal, cities where protests are happening – people have also organized scores of demonstrations in red border states at the heart of immigration battles. There are more than 30 rallies in Texas and 11 in Arizona. Elsewhere, people will gather outside Fargo library, in North Dakota, to protest against Trump, while the Alaskan island of Kodiak – population 6,130 – is holding a rally at the Y intersection downtown.
The Families Belong Together Coalition, which includes National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Leadership Conference, MoveOn and the ACLU, has helped to organize hundreds of other events, across all 50 states.
It’s part of a wave of protests against Trump. On Thursday almost 600 women were arrested at the Hart Senate building in Washington DC following a protest against Trump’s policies. Representative Pramila Jayapal, from Washington, was among those detained.
I was just arrested with 500+ women and @WomensMarch to say @RealDonaldTrump’s cruel zero-tolerance policy will not continue. Not in our country. Not in our name.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 28, 2018
June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again.
Join us. https://t.co/DdRHeFtTTr pic.twitter.com/P9uK0Z1Zay
The Trump administration has reversed its policy of taking children away from their parents, but activists fear the government’s hardline stance could still unfairly target those seeking entry to the US.
Progressives in New York and Baltimore offer hope
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thrashed the guitar-playing establishment Democrat Joe Crowley in Tuesday night’s New York’s 14th congressional district primary, taking 57.5% of the vote to Crowley’s 42.5%.
Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old progressive and former Bernie Sanders volunteer, was outspent 18-1 by Crowley, but triumphed with a grassroots, boots on the ground campaign that offers hope to other leftwing candidates ahead of November’s elections. Read more on Ocasio-Cortez here.
In Maryland, meanwhile, the Bernie Sanders-backed leftie Ben Jealous won a crowded Democratic primary. Jealous now faces the daunting task of taking on the incumbent Republican Larry Hogan – who has a 70% approval rating – in November. The Baltimore Sun broke down what Jealous needs to do to win.
Congratulations to @Ocasio2018 on her extraordinary upset victory tonight! She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory. She demonstrated once again what progressive grassroots politics can do.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 27, 2018
Hi Donald
Collins dictionary notes that in British slang the word “trump” means “to expel intestinal gas through the anus”, and it seems the president will be just as welcome as such a movement when he visits the UK next month.
More than 50,000 people are planning to attend a demonstration in Trafalgar Square to protest against Trump’s presence, while activists plan to fly a giant “baby Trump” blimp over London during the president’s visit.
Trump is slipping into the country for a “working visit” – a step down from a “state visit” – on 13 July, and will reportedly spend only a little time in London, opting instead for the sanctuary of one of his golf courses.
What we’re reading
Writing about Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the supreme court, Jill Abramson says that Trump’s “first court pick, Neil Gorsuch, has formed an unholy alliance with the most rightwing justice, Clarence Thomas [and] the White House will now be hoping that this dynamic duo can become a trio”. Abramson compares the upcoming battle to Ronald Reagan’s thwarted nomination of controversial rightwinger Robert Bork.
• This article was amended on 2 July 2018. Ben Jealous won the Democratic primary for Maryland, not Baltimore as originally stated.
