The Urgent, Inspiring Launch of “Trump Must Go NOW!”
November 10, 2025
Permalink: https://revcom.us/en/reporters-notebook-washington-dc-urgent-inspiring-launch-trump-must-go-now
Editor’s Note: Revcom.us sent a team of reporters and staffers to Washington, DC to cover the launch of “Trump Must Go NOW! The Beginning of the Fall of the Trump Fascist Regime,” initiated by RefuseFascism.org together with over 30 other organizations. Here is some of what they experienced and learned during the first three days of this struggle to drive out the fascist regime.
November 5: Launching “Trump Must Go Now!,” Right in the Center of Power
As I walked from the train station toward the RefuseFascism.org rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, I thought about the enormity of what was on the line today. As the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian and the organization Refuse Fascism (which involves people from different perspectives) have been stressing, the stakes for humanity are extremely high. The window is narrowing, but it’s still possible to drive out the fascist, planet-threatening Trump regime—if people rise to the challenge. Thousands must grow into millions in mass nonviolent struggle—refusing to relent or back down until Trump is removed from power.
Today was the launch of that political battle. Who would turn out? What kind of unity, determination, and spirit would be manifested? And would we emerge at the end of the day with the strength, potential and momentum to quickly make the leaps required?
Those Who Gathered
Before I even arrived at the rally sight, I met people from Boston, North Carolina, and Fresno, California whose signs, hats or T-shirts made clear they were heading the same place I was. Ernie came on his own, flying all the way from Fresno. Why? “Well, the SNAP benefits thing is what finally did it.… when you start starving people and using them as leverage that’s gone too far. We have to keep the pressure on… we can’t let up.”
The Sylvan Theater, where the rally was being held, is a large stage and open-air amphitheater, maybe a couple hundred yards down a grassy, gently sloping hill from the Washington Monument. According to the National Park Service, it’s a historic site, “a public gathering space for music, theater, and first amendment demonstrations for over 100 years.” Well, as Sunsara Taylor would say in her speech, “We did not come here to make a statement, we came here to make history!”
As I walked along the curved walkway in front of the stage area about an hour before the action began, and then throughout the day, I met people from Berkeley, Seattle, Kansas, Idaho, three different towns in North Carolina, Washington, DC, nearby Maryland and Virginia, Connecticut, Boston, and Pennsylvania, as well as Italy and Germany.
Three women came together from northeast Ohio. Two women had flown in from Butte, Montana. Why did they come? “What’s wrong? Everything.” Are you part of Refuse Fascism? “Well we came here, so I guess we are!”
People seemed relaxed, glad to be among other decent, caring people, even joyful. At the same time, the mood was serious, and I heard a lot of passionate, heartfelt anger at the Trump regime’s escalating assaults, and a real current of moral outrage and calling on others to step forward.
I talked with two women who were part of the Handmaids Army that was such a big presence throughout the day and, really, the whole week. One deeply feared for her LGBT family’s safety and future. The other had children who were laid off from their government jobs, and their four-year-old was asking why they didn’t have money. “Why should a 4-year-old be worrying about money!”
I talked with a Child Protective Services worker from the Northwest. Her voice began to break as she talked about what’s facing her clientele and everyone: “I don’t want all of the children to lose health care and food… I’m here for everyone’s civil rights… we need to stop [Trump’s] rise in power before it consolidates into a full fascist regime because when it does everyone is in danger. When the least of us is attacked, it will affect us all and we must be held accountable for what happens to the least of us, and that’s why I’m here… We can’t live with this, we need this out now, and I think if people continue to flood here, I think we have a chance of getting them out. That is what has worked in history with other regimes and I believe this can work.”
Diversity and Unity
As I was talking with people, the diverse crowd was steadily growing, from maybe a few hundred when I arrived to many hundreds, near the stage and up the hill toward the Washington Monument, as the 11am start neared.
There were people in all kinds of costumes. One dressed as George Washington holding a sign “I Disapprove.” Then there was the devil, Guy Fawkes, and the inflatable animals popularized in Portland, Oregon to mock Trump’s lie that protesters were all “antifa” terrorist. A couple had clown outfits, another looked like the Joker from Batman. And lots of creative signs. One woman wore a sandwich board of indictments against Trump. A younger guy’s handmade sign: “A true patriot will defend his country from its government—Thomas Jefferson.”
Amidst all this it felt like there was a lot of energy and a sense of unity—welcoming differences and diversity—and purpose, that “Trump Must Go Now!.” At the same time, while a lot of the people I talked with really liked what was going on that day, especially the demand that “Trump Must Go Now!,” they weren’t yet organizationally connected to RefuseFascism.org, or clear on its analysis of fascism or how to stop it.
Powerful Speeches, Rising to the Challenges of the Moment
People really should listen to all the speeches from that day. They set a powerful, determined, inspiring energetic tone for the whole day, and going forward. These speakers came from many different struggles and different political viewpoints—but they were throwing in, heart and soul, to this overriding political fight with the singular demand that TRUMP MUST GO NOW!
The rally was punctuated by a collective pledge the MC’s had us recite: In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America! This was one of the themes throughout the day with all of us feeling that responsibility—that solemn vow—with depth and passion, reflecting the broadness of mind that is at the heart and soul of Refuse Fascism.
Among the many who spoke there was Michael Fanone, a former DC cop who had been brutally beaten by fascists at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Trump launched his failed violent insurrection to hold onto power. There was Baltazar Enriquez who came with half a dozen people from the Little Village community council in Chicago which is on the front lines of a political battle with ICE. Three students from different colleges—including one who paused her studies in California to come to DC to build the demonstration—spoke with fire and substance. [Go here for a list of the featured speakers, and here and here to hear the entire program.]
Then Sunsara Taylor spoke for Refuse Fascism. This speech began with visceral agitation as to what this fascism means “in living color” for all different kinds of people under the gun. She drove home three big truths:
- one, that there is no living with this fascism and that it is accelerating;
- two, that we cannot rely on the 2026 elections which Trump is already moving to subvert or cancel—rather, the hope that people feel off the recent elections needs to manifest in the streets; and
- three, that there is a strategy that Refuse Fascism is applying to drive the regime out that can win—but it requires YOU.
She then powerfully drew on the example of the abolitionists who played a crucial role in ending the enslavement of Black people in America. She put it this way:
In a very real sense, we are like the Abolitionists back in the day. They were small in numbers. They were ahead of where even the decent people in society were at. But they were right.
They said slavery could not be compromised with. It had to be abolished.
We say the same of fascism today: It cannot be lived with. It cannot be contained. It must be defeated—nonviolently driven from power.
They lived in a country whose contradictions had reached a breaking point.
So do we.
When those in power are this bitterly divided… when the people in the millions are in motion… when the whole fabric of society is being ripped apart… a minority who is RIGHT, that acts with conviction, that does not relent, that minority can move millions and change history. This is what we aim to do. This is what we are launching today. We did not come here to make a statement. We came here to make history.
At the end of the rally over 30 Handmaids came on stage as the band Waking Stone played its anthemic “We Refuse To Accept A Fascist America.” The band was a tireless and very important cohering presence throughout the weekend. The crowd, which by then numbered a couple of thousand, got up and moved toward the stage.
Finally, one important new thing at this rally—and in this movement—are cadenced rhymes that crystallize key principles of unity and help forge people with different views into a coherent force. Watch here to see how these pulled people together.
I personally felt that the wide range of forces and viewpoints being brought together, along with the spirit and energy that characterized the day reflected the kind of leadership that really can guide the way to driving out these foul, monstrous fascists. There was fire, determination, and joy that ran through the several-hour march that followed the rally, with all kinds of signs, costumes, and a brass band leading people in everything from “Which Side Are You On” to “Get Up, Stand Up.”
A Wall of “Trump Must Go Now!,” Marching Through the Seat of Power
It definitely took a while for the entire crowd, stretching at least a couple hundred yards, to file out of the Sylvan Amphitheater and line up to march. At one point early in the march it was 8 lanes wide and a full block (528 feet) long, with a wall of “Trump Must Go Now!” signs leading the way, delivering a powerful focused message. It was beautiful.
Marching along the National Mall, all the way from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court and beyond made me realize more why it was so important to be focused on Washington, DC, the seat of power.
Within the space of 2.6 miles, you have the State Department, Federal Reserve, National Academy of Sciences, the Justice Department, the Capitol and the Supreme Court and the White House. Then there are many of the scientific, cultural and historical museums Trump is trying to gut and reshape, all in the neighborhood.
So it’s the place to be directly challenging the Trump regime and its atrocities—immediately and right on the spot—and gaining strength to be able to prevent it from carrying on fascist-business-as-usual. As Bob Avakian said several weeks ago, “Why DC? Because that is the seat of government—it is where the power of this fascist regime is concentrated, and where it can be impacted by masses of people in the most concentrated and powerful way.”
Along the march one of our team met two women who had been furloughed from the Smithsonian Museum. They said that they were going to every protest against Trump. They liked the “firmness” of this demonstration, and were planning to come to Refuse Fascism’s protest at the Supreme Court on Friday. They hate what is being done to immigrants, and the SNAP assault. In this situation, they said, to be moral you have to be doing something to get Trump out.
Further on, at the Senate Building, about 10 youngish people, dressed very sharply and possibly aides of some type, came out of the main door and walked into the demonstration.
These examples point to the importance of reaching into the dominant institutions of the system itself, and the important role these people can play in driving out the Trump fascist regime.
Wrapping Up the March
At the end of the march, Andy Zee and Jim Keady from the leading group of Refuse Fascism spoke to the questions of the moment, directly and without hype. They gave people a sense of what they had brought into being that day and what huge new challenges—political and moral—now lay before them. New plans were announced to respond to the towering challenges we face, including the creation of TrumpMustGo.Org, and new actions all throughout November—aiming to grow from thousands to millions.
At the closing rally in Stanton Plaza, Andy Zee said something that really stuck with me, especially in terms of what I’d been hearing from people that day. “Do you realize the significance of what you did today? That’s a real question…. What you did today was so important beyond what you can imagine because you haven’t fully imagined the horror of this fascist regime.”
(Go here for Andy Zee’s full remarks)
Day 2, Thursday, George Washington to Georgetown:
Challenging Students, “We need you here making sacrifices.”
Thursday’s plan was to march from George Washington (GWU), to Georgetown, another prestigious university some two miles away. It was a day to challenge and bring forward students, as well as others. And the day showed that there’s many avenues and plenty of potential for both.
Before the march set off, people gathered outside the gates of GWU. I and another team member went inside to talk with students and others who were looking on. One turned out to be a staffer from the campus paper, the GW Hatchet. He told me that the paper had seen Coco Das’s oped for Refuse Fascism in the Columbia Spectator and was running their own story on the Nov 5 protest.
Some students and young people—like one who spoke Wednesday, as well as others—have made the hard choice to put school or career aside for now to throw totally into this fight. Others began to step into this in different ways, including several I talked to on the march who came alone or with a friend from schools like George Mason University and Howard University. But the fact is that students have not as yet become the powerful presence they need to be for this movement to win.
Abby, a political science student (she half-joked that “everyone at GWU is a poli-sci student”), a little bit captured some of this. She did think we were really facing fascism. When I posed that stopping it was far more important than school, career, etc., she agreed…intellectually. “I totally agree. I think it’s really hard because at the same time I wanna be focusing on my classes and doing well. I’m trying to go to law school, but at the same time it’s like how can you expect those things to happen, you’re right, when in the system we’re living under.” She had to dash off to class, but promised (sincerely) “I’ll definitely check it out what y’all are doing and I’ll definitely look into more of it because I want to do more.”
The idea was to bring a critical mass of people to the campuses to create a whole different sense and scene, at least for the afternoon. So over 100 people set off to march to Georgetown, singing (including “Which Side Are You On?”) and chanting along the way. A GWU student said, “I walked out of my dorm and heard singing,” and then joined the march. The message—“Trump Must Go Now! We need you here making sacrifices. Every single person has to contribute.”
Near the beginning, the march passed a magnet high school. One of our team noticed that school had let out but students were held inside until the march passed. “I walked past about 15 students that were outside. Most were enthused about the march, but did not try to catch up. They did take stacks of fliers and took off. But three students did catch up with the march, a half block away.”
In a little while those three became 15 or so along with some GWU students. We were talking to them, but more was needed and possible. Through it, one woman, and then another, and then over a dozen got up to deliver a very energetic speak out. “I joined because I fucking hate Donald Trump!” one said. Another: “My best friend is an international student, and I don’t want to live in fear every day that he’ll be snatched off the streets”
Several of the GWU students went to Friday’s protest at the Supreme Court.
This march to the campus pointed to the potential, and the power of massing together as an attractive and challenging force.
Day 3, Friday: Judging the Judges—Love Won, And We’re Not Going Back—Trump Must Go Now!
Friday morning Refuse Fascism called a protest in front of the Supreme Court. The fascist-dominated court—outrageously—was discussing whether to hear a case that would overturn marriage equality and throw millions of LGBT people back to the dark ages.
Over 200 people gathered at the steps of the Supreme Court. Oye Owolewa, U.S. Shadow Representative for DC, early on framed this attack as part of fascism. A diverse range of speakers—including Reverend Michele H. Morgan, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church; Sophia Zoë Kilmer, civil rights attorney and trans rights activist; Camron Hurt, Common Cause Hawaii; Alexandra “Ali” Curd, staff policy attorney for Lambda Legal; Dr. Alli Muhammad, MD, the Revolutionary Black Panther Party; and Shelby von Hofe, Policy and Advocacy Manager for NOW, powerfully and passionately upheld the right to love who you love, and how that right and that love is being “stomped on.” They vowed to never be thrown back to the days before marriage equality was recognized and legalized. At the same time, this was linked to other intense struggles people faced.
And again, this was brought together, given focus, and kept on track by Sunsara Taylor. She drew out the role of the court in hammering down a Christian-fascist theocracy, harkening back to the whole experience of how they first eviscerated and then abolished Roe v Wade to drive home the danger. And she struggled for people to stay clear on the seriousness of the situation and not fall prey to consoling themselves with false hope—the fascists are remaking institutions and wrecking lives right now. Toward the end of the rally, the pioneering gay rights activist Jim Fourratt gave a fiery and moving speech, bringing alive the lessons and orientation of a lifetime of struggle.
One woman compared the situation today to Nazi Germany: “It is 100 percent a comparison to Hitler, right? This is how he did it. He made people think Jews were not human, that gypsies were not, that Roma were not human, that homosexuals were not human, that socialists were not human. And then the people just kind of turn away, and we can’t let that happen. We absolutely can’t let that happen.”
One member of our team had some in-depth discussions with people at this demonstration. These interviews give a sense of the range of people who came, some of how they’re thinking and most of all the huge potential this movement can and must tap in the crucial weeks ahead.
A leader of the local Refuse Fascism chapter put on some really rocking Latin music at the end of this extremely intense rally and those who were there began to dance with each other with a fierce joy and sense of unity.
The Forging of a Movement
The demonstration lasted through the morning. But the day was far from done. Close to 100 people walked back to the Refuse Fascism center to get more deeply into things. This included most of the DC chapter, which had backboned the whole three days, and it included a lot of people brand new to this movement from all over the country. They came back to a spaghetti dinner prepared by the tireless and highly skilled volunteer cooking crew, which had earlier in the week fed people a great soul food dinner.
Sunsara led the meeting, along with some of the leaders of the DC chapter. Brand-new people, along with “veterans” of the last several months, spoke movingly of their reasons for coming and their hopes and aspirations for this movement. More than one talked of seeing a flyer somewhere, saying to themselves “I have to be there,” and then making sure they came. Others talked of being surrounded by Trumpers in their families, and how this had steeled their determination. Throughout, there was a strong sense of the stakes in winning this struggle. At one point, one of the leaders in the local chapter made a point of “lifting up” someone he had observed on Wednesday doing a very simple thing—talking to people who were alone, or in a small group, listening to them, and going back and forth with them. Some of those she had talked with had turned up on successive days—they were part of something. As things began to wind down, people talked of going home… and bringing more for the demonstrations beginning next Saturday, November 15.
As I walked to the train, I vibed to the power of the last few days and reflected… deeply. By the time I came to my stop, I had a sense that a lever that could bring forward millions began to be forged in these first days in DC.
But the future is unwritten, and that must go forward—at warp speed.
For more see Sights and Sounds.