In towns and cities across the United States, a powerful wave of grassroots activism is taking hold. From bustling urban centres to quiet rural communities, ordinary citizens are stepping up to protect their neighbours and defend fundamental rights in the face of government crackdowns.
Local Communities Lead the Resistance
This bottom-up movement is emerging from local communities rather than established political institutions. In Chicago's immigrant-heavy Pilsen neighbourhood, Diego Morales of Pilsen Unidos por Nuestro Orgullo (Puño) conducts 'MigraWatch' trainings that regularly attract hundreds of participants. The community has distributed thousands of whistles to alert residents when ICE vehicles appear, and businesses display signs declaring ICE unwelcome.
When residents recently spotted ICE vehicles in the area, a massive caravan spontaneously formed to chase them out of the neighbourhood, making it harder for agents to conduct roundups. "We're really blessed in the city of Chicago that the overwhelming majority of people in the city understand what is going on, understand the cruelty of it and want to do something about it," Morales said.
In Fernandina Beach, Florida, retired federal employees Mike and Gayle Kersten started a local chapter of Indivisible after Trump's 2024 victory. Despite their southeastern corner of Florida being predominantly Republican, they've found allies across political lines. Their first No Kings rally in June attracted about 300 people, swelling to over 1,000 by October. Nationwide, approximately 7 million people attended No Kings rallies last month, making it the biggest single-day protest in US history.
"That has actually been our tipping point," Gayle Kersten noted. "We meet people in the grocery store and they're like, what can we do?" According to Harvard's Crowd Counting Consortium, this year's protests have reached deeper into Trump country than during his first administration.
Economic and Electoral Power
Beyond street protests, Americans are leveraging economic pressure to effect change. When Disney suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following comments about Charlie Kirk's murder, activists created toolkits explaining how to cancel Disney subscriptions. The strategy proved remarkably effective - customers ditched Disney+ and Hulu at double the normal rates in September, prompting the company to reinstate Kimmel within days.
Similar consumer actions have yielded significant results. An ongoing boycott against Target over the company's retreat from diversity initiatives has led to stocks plummeting 33% with a $20bn loss in shareholder value. Earlier protests against Tesla over Elon Musk's role in government cuts saw company stocks fall 13% in the first quarter of 2025.
Regular people are also flexing their electoral muscle. Since Trump's 2024 win, nearly 75,000 people have signed up with the progressive non-profit Run for Something - more than during his entire first term. About 80% of these new recruits are under 40, reflecting younger generations' growing political engagement.
Amanda Litman, the organization's co-founder, emphasised the connection between different forms of activism: "For us, it's really making sure that the people who march understand that the next step is to run, that this is as much a part of the process as protesting, as boycotting, as being present."
Building Sustainable Movements
As this grassroots energy builds, questions arise about its sustainability and direction. Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and 2025 MacArthur fellow, warned that current organising has mostly engaged like-minded people. The next challenge involves reaching across political divides and creating more opportunities for meaningful participation.
Hunter Dunn, national spokesperson for group 50501, argued against focusing on finding a single leader: "A personality is never going to save us from a personality cult. We don't need a better personality cult. We need on-the-ground, working people coming together and working together to uplift everyone."
Meanwhile, state-level Democrats are achieving tangible results through legal channels. Twenty-three Democratic state attorneys general are coordinating lawsuits that have stalled or stopped many of Trump's initiatives. Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes estimated these legal actions have saved her state approximately $1.5bn, protecting funding for programmes like Meals on Wheels and Head Start.
"We feel as though we are a bridge to the future to get us through what is going to someday be looked upon as one of the most dangerous times in American history," Mayes said. "We feel like we're a bridge to get us to the other side of this, which is really 2026 and 2028 ultimately."
The Kerstens in Florida describe their Indivisible chapter membership as "in training" - learning advocacy skills and preparing for long-term engagement. As Nelini Stamp of the Working Families Party noted, while quick victories like the Disney boycott capture attention, most campaigns require sustained effort. "Some of these things are a marathon, not a sprint, and we always have to remember that," she advised.
