American Battleground: Resistance and revenge in 100 days of Trump

Towering three stories high, the immense balloon of a bloated man scowls at the scene below. With tiny hands, a faux military uniform and a shock of yellow hair, the parody of President Donald Trump sways and buckles in the wind like it is losing air as the crowd gains steam.

Towering three stories high, the immense balloon of a bloated man scowls at the scene below. With tiny hands, a faux military uniform and a shock of yellow hair, the parody of President Donald Trump sways and buckles in the wind like it is losing air as the crowd gains steam. “Hands off democracy! Stop the millionaire tax cut! Traitor Trump!” Thousands of protesters are making themselves heard through signs and chants as they swarm downtown Los Angeles. Similar protests are arising across the country. It is hard to know how many, but easy to hear the fury. “Resist,” says a sign held by a woman from Pasadena who tells a local Fox news crew, “I’ve lived 80 years, and I can’t see my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, coming into a world like this with him in charge.” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive leader from blue Vermont, says at a crowded rally in deep-red Idaho, “We are dealing with a president that undermines our Constitution every single day, who threatens our freedom of speech and assembly, and whose agents — as we speak — are rounding up innocent people in the streets. … What this guy wants is more and more power!” Although the public outcry against Trump appears to have started later and smaller than it did in his first term, it is escalating. Elected Democrats are being berated by their constituents for not fighting back more, while some Republican lawmakers get the worst of it as their constituents ambush them over the president at town halls.