Members of Indivisible Michigan display illuminated signs that read “RESIST TRUMP” on a pedestrian bridge over Grand River Ave. in Lansing, Mich., on Jan. 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
A group of Michigan organizers formed a “light brigade” in Lansing on Wednesday evening to protest President Donald Trump’s first days in office for his second term.
Around a dozen members of Indivisible Michigan stood on the pedestrian bridge over Grand River Avenue in Lansing holding illuminated signs that read “RESIST TRUMP.”
The event was originally scheduled for Jan. 20 to coincide with Trump’s inauguration, but was postponed due to dangerously cold temperatures.
But Tessa Paneth-Pollak, a coordinator for Indivisible Michigan, said that the event has taken on a new urgency in light of the deluge of executive orders signed by Trump during his first days back in office.
“On Inauguration Day, we had our concerns, but we’re getting to see more data now about how he plans to – should I say lead? We’re in worst-case scenario territory,” Paneth-Pollak said. “Kind of like a slow wave of panic is setting in over people.”
Shelley Cichy, another coordinator for the event, said that the group wanted to highlight the gravity of the current political landscape.
“We are struggling against a very, very mighty force of authoritarianism with a complicit Congress,” Cichy said.
While Democratic opposition to Trump’s second term may seem more subdued than in his first presidency, when there were large scale political actions like the Women’s March and protests at airports, Paneth-Pollak said that organizers are being “more strategic” with their efforts.
“I don’t think the interest isn’t there. I think people are showing up differently,” Paneth-Pollack said.
But Paneth-Pollack said that there is fatigue among Democrats who have seen Trump remain a prominent figure in politics for ten years, with four more on the horizon.
“You can only stay vigilant so long, and there’s a sense of exhaustion,” Paneth-Pollack said.
That’s why a key purpose of the light brigade was to make people feel understood, Cichy said.
“I think a lot of us are just feeling like, what can we do? We feel hopeless and powerless,” Cichy said. “And in some ways, getting the light brigade back out there feels like we’re sort of creating a community of like-minded people and sort of telling them you’re not alone. If you’re feeling desperate, so are we.”
“I think we would all agree that it feels sometimes, at this point, like a march or a rally is almost performative. It doesn’t really do much. He still won,” Cichy added. “It’s probably not going to change any lawmakers’ minds or anything like that. But it does give people who are feeling the way we do a chance to know that there are other people out there who feel the same way.”
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