The Women’s March Was Huge — So What Happens Next?

The post The Women’s March Was Huge — So What Happens Next? appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.

Judging by his remarks, as well as the bizarre “press conference” of new White House spokesman Sean Spicer, Donald Trump did not like being upstaged by women protesters who came to Washington on the second day of his presidency. He might have to get used to it.

Every one of the participants who spoke to WhoWhatWhy during Saturday’s massive rally insisted that the march was not the culmination of their activism — it was only the beginning.

Despite Spicer’s attempt to spin the facts, reliable analysts determined that more people showed up to protest against Trump on Saturday than supported him on Inauguration Day — and that was just in the nation’s capital. Millions more marched across the country, and tens of thousands joined in around the world.

The marches were among the largest protests in US history, and they were the most visible since Tea Party protesters in 2009 ignited a movement that changed the US political landscape. While no single Tea Party protest equaled this weekend’s demonstrations in size, the Tea Party movement effectively forced the GOP to swerve sharply to the right.

Which raises the question: Will the new movement heralded by this weekend’s marches have a lasting impact on party politics in America? Or will it recede into inaction like so many protest-driven movements have in the past?

All of the protesters who spoke to WhoWhatWhy said they wanted to get more involved in their local communities. Most had been relatively detached from political action before the election of Trump. Many said that this was their first demonstration. They felt that at this moment, they had no choice but to get involved.

“The election last year was kind of like a swift kick in the butt,” Erica Romanos, of Somerdale, NJ, told WhoWhatWhy.     

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