Hands off rallies show a changing demographic and attitude of protesters.

The protesters no longer seem like the same protesters that we have gotten used to.

I went to West Seattle to pick up my guitar at the guitar shop last weekend and there was a "hands off" rally going on at a fairly busy intersection. There were no more than a few dozen people, but they were waving signs, waving at people, and many of the cars were honking as they rolled on by. But the thing that was odd about the rally was the people. They were older to the point where I saw many people literally wearing hearing aids. There didn't seem to be the usual Gen Z or Millennial presence and there were not even many LGBTQ+ people there. It was very white and much older than expected. They also seemed less emotional and just more happy to be around people who agreed with them.

I also had a friend to attended one back in Minnesota as his significant other was wanting to go. He was more there for support, but they both thought that the crowd and the enthusiasm was underwhelming. His wife had been to some of the woman's marches that took place after the first Trump election and said that the lack of people and lack of enthusiasm was disappointing. It is just not the same, and the whole thing feels a bit forced.

Of course, the very concept of Democrats in opposition is basically scaring people with lies. The big lies right now are that Elon Musk it trying to take away social security and that tariffs are ruining the economy. These are not the sort of issues that attract the young and cultural liberals. Somehow I do not believe that the LGBTQ+ community cares much about social security. There were a few younger people in the crowd, and most of those where holding signs asking to bring back Kilmar Garcia or something to do with deportations, which is probably a bigger rallying point for the younger folks. But this is part of the problem. The Democrats cannot point to any one thing that is at issue, so they seem to be just tossing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. That makes for some people who may better be described as irritated, rather than angry to the point where they seemed to be at the beginning of the first Trump administration.

At the end of the day, the media is still 90% plus negative about Trump. They have managed to pull his approval ratings down to just over 45% in the RCP averages. They talk a big game about fascism and such, but at the end of the day things appear to be moving way to fast for them to gain the big traction that they got the first time around. Moreover, in spite of the tariffs, inflation and the cost of living is actually coming down and disposable income is going up. Most of the economic indicators are "unexpectedly" good, even as consumer confidence wades a bit. The deficit was down in March and will likely be down again in April (based on taxes being received from the tariffs). Once we garner some trade deals and let things go, the economy should be roaring by the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year. Trump is playing the long game right now understanding that there are no elections for another 18 months or so. We'll see if that works out.