<p><img src="/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/01/21/USAT/77842749007-afp-2194424319.jpg?crop=4095,2304,x0,y426&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp" width="100%" /><p>Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States just after noon on Monday. An hour later, a protest began in New York City.</p><p>As a group began congregating in New York's Washington Square Park, Trump was standing in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. – the same building his followers had defiled four years prior – making his <a href="/story/news/politics/elections/2025/01/20/donald-trump-sworn-in-as-47-president-inauguration/77755765007/">inaugural address</a>.</p><p>“The golden age of America begins right now,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-inaugural-speech.html">he said</a>. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.”</p><p>He later added that he would declare a national emergency at the southern border, and that the country will “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.” He added that official U.S. policy would now be that “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/transcript-read-trumps-full-second-inaugural-address">there are only two genders, male and female</a>.”</p><img width="100%" /><p>As I stood with the attendees of <a href="https://www.answercoalition.org/we_fight_back">ANSWER’s</a> national day of action and march, I felt a little bit of hope that people were still out protesting for a better world but worried that the resistance movement of Trump’s first presidency and through his 2024 campaign is fading away.</p><p>I hope that isn't true. Now more than ever we need people to be speaking out as we witness Trump's second term unfold and Republicans lean more into the hate he campaigned on.</p><p><strong>Opinion:</strong><a href="/story/opinion/voices/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration-first-100-days-forum-responses/77727664007/">What can we expect from Trump's first 100 days? Here's what you said.</a></p><h2>We have to keep fighting against Trump's hate</h2><p>The park was covered in a layer of icy snow from the day before. The slush on the walkways had turned grayish brown. Just up ahead, several hundred people held yellow signs with phrases like “the movement continues until Palestine is free” and “money for the people’s needs, not the war machine!”</p><a href="/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/01/20/protests-donald-trump-jd-vance-inauguration/77841829007/"><img width="100%" /></a><p>Srishti Mehta, 27, of Queens stood with her friends near the fountain. She held a sign quoting onetime presidential candidate <a href="https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1854284514190623211?lang=en">Kamala Harris</a>: “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”</p><p>She told me she had also attended the People’s March on Washington, D.C., over the weekend, an event organized by the group that created the 2017 Women’s March. She noted that she was surprised by how few people were out protesting.</p><p>“Our rights are on the line, especially as women, first-gen immigrants, women of color,” Mehta said. “If we don’t show up, there’s no one else showing up for us.”</p><img width="100%" /><p>I also attended Saturday's People’s March, which had a fraction of the crowd that came out in 2017. While ANSWER’s event was clearly focused on the plight of the Palestinian people and the imperialist attitudes of the United States, the People’s March was a bit broader in what they were fighting for.</p><p>There were still pink hats – some worn from eight years of age, others freshly bought for $25 from a woman standing nearby. One woman held a sign referencing Harry Potter, while others held signs advocating for transgender rights. When a speaker before the march mentioned Palestinian rights, a woman off to my left started complaining.</p><p><strong>Opinion:</strong><a href="/story/opinion/columnist/2025/01/20/trump-inauguration-speech-unpopular-president/77837047007/">Trump pledges unity in inaugural address by immediately attacking fellow Americans</a></p><p>These dichotomies are present in the Democratic Party, which is seen by Republicans as further left than the party is in practice. This is the failure to unite multiple factions within the party, and the failure to talk about issues that now motivate people to protest. Now that we must all come together to resist Trump, those contradictions must fall by the wayside in pursuit of a better tomorrow.</p><h2>Will Trump be a president for all of us? It's not looking that way.</h2><p>During his campaign, Trump stressed that he would be a president for everyone. He touched on this briefly during his inaugural address.</p><p>"With your help, we will restore American promise and we will rebuild the nation that we love, and we love it so much," he said. "We are one people, one family and <a href="/story/news/politics/2025/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-full-text-transcript/77839163007/">one glorious nation under God</a>."</p><a href="/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/01/20/see-president-donald-trump-celebration-parade/77839855007/"><img width="100%" /></a><p>Despite this sentiment, it's clear there are a lot of people Trump does not include in his version of the nation. Immigrants. Trans people. People of color.</p><p>That is what brought people out to protest.</p><p>Richenda Kramer, 89, of Staten Island is part of the group Raging Grannies. The organization has existed in New York City since 1988; she’s been involved for 25 years.</p><p>I asked her why she felt it was important to keep protesting. She pointed to the way visibility can keep an issue in peoples’ minds.</p><p>“I think it helps,” Kramer said. “It’s outcry that tends to change politics.”</p><p>I think Kramer is right, but I think the people who really need to change are the Democrats. If anything, the protests that have happened in recent days are a sign that people still have some fight left in them. The Democrats need to harness that, to be present at these events and to start looking toward the next two years.</p><p>Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/sara__pequeno">@sara__pequeno</a></p></p>
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States just after noon on Monday. An hour later, a protest began in New York City.
As a group began congregating in New York's Washington Square Park, Trump was standing in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. – the same building his followers had defiled four years prior – making his inaugural address.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” he said. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.”
He later added that he would declare a national emergency at the southern border, and that the country will “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.” He added that official U.S. policy would now be that “there are only two genders, male and female.”
![]()
As I stood with the attendees of ANSWER’s national day of action and march, I felt a little bit of hope that people were still out protesting for a better world but worried that the resistance movement of Trump’s first presidency and through his 2024 campaign is fading away.
I hope that isn't true. Now more than ever we need people to be speaking out as we witness Trump's second term unfold and Republicans lean more into the hate he campaigned on.
Opinion:What can we expect from Trump's first 100 days? Here's what you said.
We have to keep fighting against Trump's hate
The park was covered in a layer of icy snow from the day before. The slush on the walkways had turned grayish brown. Just up ahead, several hundred people held yellow signs with phrases like “the movement continues until Palestine is free” and “money for the people’s needs, not the war machine!”
![]()
Srishti Mehta, 27, of Queens stood with her friends near the fountain. She held a sign quoting onetime presidential candidate Kamala Harris: “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.”
She told me she had also attended the People’s March on Washington, D.C., over the weekend, an event organized by the group that created the 2017 Women’s March. She noted that she was surprised by how few people were out protesting.
“Our rights are on the line, especially as women, first-gen immigrants, women of color,” Mehta said. “If we don’t show up, there’s no one else showing up for us.”
![]()
I also attended Saturday's People’s March, which had a fraction of the crowd that came out in 2017. While ANSWER’s event was clearly focused on the plight of the Palestinian people and the imperialist attitudes of the United States, the People’s March was a bit broader in what they were fighting for.
There were still pink hats – some worn from eight years of age, others freshly bought for $25 from a woman standing nearby. One woman held a sign referencing Harry Potter, while others held signs advocating for transgender rights. When a speaker before the march mentioned Palestinian rights, a woman off to my left started complaining.
Opinion:Trump pledges unity in inaugural address by immediately attacking fellow Americans
These dichotomies are present in the Democratic Party, which is seen by Republicans as further left than the party is in practice. This is the failure to unite multiple factions within the party, and the failure to talk about issues that now motivate people to protest. Now that we must all come together to resist Trump, those contradictions must fall by the wayside in pursuit of a better tomorrow.
Will Trump be a president for all of us? It's not looking that way.
During his campaign, Trump stressed that he would be a president for everyone. He touched on this briefly during his inaugural address.
"With your help, we will restore American promise and we will rebuild the nation that we love, and we love it so much," he said. "We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God."
![]()
Despite this sentiment, it's clear there are a lot of people Trump does not include in his version of the nation. Immigrants. Trans people. People of color.
That is what brought people out to protest.
Richenda Kramer, 89, of Staten Island is part of the group Raging Grannies. The organization has existed in New York City since 1988; she’s been involved for 25 years.
I asked her why she felt it was important to keep protesting. She pointed to the way visibility can keep an issue in peoples’ minds.
“I think it helps,” Kramer said. “It’s outcry that tends to change politics.”
I think Kramer is right, but I think the people who really need to change are the Democrats. If anything, the protests that have happened in recent days are a sign that people still have some fight left in them. The Democrats need to harness that, to be present at these events and to start looking toward the next two years.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno
