Small towns, large cities, courthouses, Tesla dealerships, community centers, the national mall, countless signs invoking values and imaginative opposition to the current administration! America voiced its opposition to the current MAGA administration at Saturday’s “Women’s March” and “Hands Off” events in over 1300 different actions.
One participant wrote me this letter:
Matthew, I hope you report on the protests tomorrow. They were SO inspiring. In my little town, we had over 1,000 people. And the signs were GREAT. I got some FABULOUS photos, which I will forward to you all.
Many people quoted Cory Booker on their signs. There are also posts on Facebook with lots of photos from friends who attended protests in Princeton, NJ; DC; small Jim Thorpe, PA, etc.
It was SO exciting and uplifting. There were so many honks of support. We were rather loud and rowdy but peaceful. The police were mostly in their cars watching and allowing.
I am proud of America. There is a LOT of resistance. We are going to turn this around.
With blessings and hope.
I invite you all to meditate on signs creatively made that I share in the video this morning. Michael Moore provided them, along with many photos of numerous events around the country and still more portraits of Trump that are pouring into his office, from his invitation to paint them last week.*
I strongly endorse this “Practical Guide To Resist Authoritarianism” that Patrice Mersault gifted us with this morning. I offer a summary here, and recommend going to the full text to get practical details.**
- Expose the Lies—Break the Propaganda Machine. “The right’s most powerful weapon isn’t just Trump—it’s the disinformation engine that keeps people confused, divided, and exhausted. They thrive on lies. Rip the mask off.”
- Fight Where It Hurts—Local & State Power. Get involved in local elections, run for office, hold officials accountable, act locally.
- Disrupt Their Power—Attack Their Funding & Influence. Defund right-wing extremism; pressure companies; disrupt media influence.
- Expand the Resistance—Build Coalitions, not Purity Tests. The Right thrives on division. We win with solidarity.
- Take Direct Action—And Be Ready for More. Join resistance Movements; Prepare for Mass Civil Disobedience.
- Organize & Educate. Authoritarianism thrives in ignorance. Democracy thrives in education.
- Prioritize Voting & Electoral Reform.
- Make the Calls that Defend Democracy. Flood key political leaders and organizations, flood phone lines, fill their inboxes. (Direct phone numbers are given.)
- The Only Way they win is if we stop. Authoritarianism isn’t unstoppable. It’s a parasite and only grows if we let it. You are not just a bystander but the frontline. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke.)
If hope is a verb with the sleeves rolled up, hope is on the move in America since so many showed up, praying with their feet and signs and imagination out of moral outrage at the dismantling of democracy taking place, caused by Project 2025 idolaters and MAGA cult worshippers.
*Michael Moore on Substack, April 4, 2025: An Entire Wing of the Smithsonian Full of Your Perfect Portraits of Donald Trump!
**Open Letters by Mersault on Substack, March 25, 2025: Protect Democracy: A Practical Guide to Resist Authoritarianism.
See Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.
And Fox, The Pope’s War: How Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and Hot It Can Be Saved.
And Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
And Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faith Traditions, pp. 404-423.
And Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer on Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the World.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: Scene from a protest in small-town Pennsylvania. Photo by team member Cynthia Greb, used with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
If you had made a sign for a march on Saturday, what would it have said and looked like?
Recommended Reading
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved
The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic Christianity.
“This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive forces that threaten authentic Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope.
“In the gripping The Pope’s War, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering look at the layers of corruption in the Catholic Church, holding moral truth against power.” — Jason Berry, author of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
10 thoughts on “Protests Galore: Hundreds of Thousands Turn Out Around the Country”
What are the ‘signs’ of unity rather than political divisiveness? What then can we agree on?
Collectively, people want jobs or their jobs and not unemployment. People want affordability of rent and food and freedom from self-inflicted inflation. People do not want to see neighbours and friends taken away by authorities in the middle of the night or worse yet in broad daylight. People want tourists to visit and spend money in their small businesses, shops and towns. Kentucky want foreigners to buy their bourbon. Universities need foreign students to pay tuition to support their profs, programs and infrastructure. Farms, farmers and the critical ‘food chain’ rely on foreign workers to harvest the crops. People do not want a severe recession or worse yet, depression. People do not want to see their retirement funds diminish due to the selfish needs of others, especially the ultra rich who will benefit. People want to keep good relations with neighbouring countries in the free world and not alienate them. People need to know the threat on democracy based on the ‘Executive’ orders of a small group. People do not want to hurt and need relief from pain and the pain to come.
What is currently happening is not an assault of political ideology, rather a people assault, an assault on free nations, and an assault on the ‘common good’. — BB.
— BB.
My sign SAID “Not Today, Satan!”
Others I’ve made were:
Honk for Free Speech
Stop Hurting Veterans
All Oppression is Linked
Heaven Help us All
Every non 2 legged creature is a saint ( for Earth Day)
So many issues So little cardboard
My sign would say: “Republicans & MAGA Cult Followers: Don’t Sell Your Souls to Ignorance/Racism/Greed !!!”
“My planet is hotter than my girlfriend.” (My partner’s handmade sign during the last election.) Since we are peacekeepers at our rallies now, we can’t carry signs. But we got lots of good laughter with that one. Another one we made during the first tRump term was “Super callous fragile racist sexist fascist potus.” This weekend, someone in our small town of 48,000 carried this sign, “Grab him by the Teslacles.” Our wonderful rally’s count this weekend was between 1600 and 2,000 people and there was lots of good, positive energy. (In this high desert Republican town there were only between 50 and 100 counter-protesters. They didn’t know what hit them.)
I met Brian Swimme and Matthew at an event in Toronto Canada, May 1982. It was held at the Applewood Centre for Spiritual Studies. Catholic New Times newspaper had a half page review of the event titled: Physics Meets Mysticism in the Way of Transformation. The theme of the weekend was HOPE:
Swimme’s response to those working for disarmament was “Hope is in the absolutely dark situation. Only with the situation this dire could we possibly move on….the present peace movement crosses religious, racial, occupational and cultural boundaries.”
Matthew concluded by saying that what moves people is a vision – a quest for a new civilization based on creativity, justice and compassion.
Their message is stunningly relevant in the abounding dark chaos of our time, which is in fact generating the light of massive protests against fascist enablers.
I wasn’t able to go to a protest this time, but if I had, I would have worn my historical Suffragist outfit and carried a sign that says “I can’t believe I still have to protest this crap.” Here’s a link to my re-creation of Anna Howard Shaw’s 1915 “Fundamental Principle of a Republic,” an advanced Toastmasters project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1od4yXFrhE&t=1s
Remember when we protested via “Occupy Wallstreet”? How effective was that effort? What changed? We want the rich to play the game of separateness nicely. They laugh at us because they know that we need them to supply us with all we require so we can continue to live in our separateness. We never consider that this need has created the mess we have to endure in our world. Oh no, it is the rich people’s fault, not ours. If only they would be nicer in the way they treat us, then all our problems would be solved. Come on, do we have any idea how the reality we encounter today has all been self-created? We can’t have our cake and eat it too, meaning we can’t have our separateness and expect that others will play that game nicely. Frankly, the rich do not take this new series of protests of ours seriously. This is because they know they have us right where they want us. They can wait this out until we exhaust ourselves, and eventually, we will get back in line. Transcend the illusion of our separateness, then we can change our world.
Thank you for this DM, and all.
In the Toronto Star (Canada) this morning is an OPINION piece by Katharine Lake Berz “Anti-Trump rally shows result of democracy losing grip” in which she points out fierce facts about the small, about 1,000 mostly white protestors, some protestors covering their faces in fear of being recognized who attended.
“That climate of fear is very real in Miami …”.
How can we help all trapped, knowingly and unknowingly, in the hell created by the “authoritarian convicted criminal and his right-wing followers in the past 3 months alone? Everywhere.
Matthew your suggestion last November about drumming helps me tremendously personally, but to those persons who still voted Republican, even last week, what are energetic and other ways, I/we can heal Republican right-wing, Opus Dei thinking/values/culture/energy?
My sign said “In your ❤️You Know He Is Wrong!”. And I brought my granddaughters with me in Bethlehem, PA!