They are the voice of the population speaking loudly and clearly.

Loudly? Perhaps. Clearly? I don't think so.

It's very clear that the protestors don't like Donald Trump. They are against "kings" as a general matter. But neither of those will, or even could, prompt actual responses from Congress or the judiciary, or from persuadable people who turn on the TV and ask, "What's all this then?"

Are they against ICE and immigration policy? Impoundment and declining to spend money appropriated by Congress? DOGE? Firing inspector generals and fighting independent agencies? Pressure on colleges? Foreign policy in Gaza? Health care premiums? The answer is probably "yes" to any and all of those things and more.

Which makes me think that this will end up being as useless as the Resistance protests. It's not politics, it's performance. It's fun to show up and yell and wave the sign that you made about the subject you chose...but because there's no thought or organizing or shaping a message or structure behind it, it's useless. It's just IRL Hashtag activism, which allows people to think they're accomplishing something but they're really not.

Politics is for power. Getting everyone out on a Sunday to protest doesn't accomplish anything unless it's in service to something that can cause change. When you have a huge protest demonstrates support/opposition on a specific issue, you create enormous leverage on that issue: the Civil Rights marches or the Yellow Vest movements, for example. But when all you're doing is registering generalized unhappiness with everything the government is doing...it doesn't accomplish anything.

To return to my earlier analogy, it's like putting a cork on the tip of the arrow - so the force is applied over a wide area (of issues), instead of focused on one spot. The arrow flies just as fast, but it's literally pointless.