MacIver News Service | Nov. 7, 2018
By Bill Osmulski
Madison, Wis. – The midterms are over. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin won a second term, Tony Evers beat Gov. Scott Walker, and Democrats will take control of the House. But it’s not enough for the left.
They want Trump.
On Thursday at 5 p.m., liberal groups plan to conduct major protests throughout the country, including in up to 21 Wisconsin cities, because President Trump accepted U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ resignation on Wednesday, according to left-wing activist organization Moveon.org.
Moveon.org originally started pre-planning the protests in case Trump crossed a “red line” with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion with Russians in the 2016 presidential campaign. The group distributed templates for press releases and letters to the editor, talking points, training videos, and signs. It created a sophisticated website for organizers to plan local events, recruit participants, and rapidly mobilize them for when such a “red line” was crossed – signaling a “constitutional crisis.”
“It all boils down to defending democracy. The framers of the Constitution clearly wanted limits to the power of the president—that’s why they gave Congress the power to impeach the president, gave the judicial branch the power to say that things the president wants to do are illegal, and even made the president accountable under the law. If Trump obstructs the investigation, it may be a criminal act, and it’s definitely a challenge to whether Congress will protect these limits or allow our democracy to erode into something else,” according to the event website, trumpisnotabovethelaw.org.
By March, everything was ready to go. By November, over 400,000 people nationwide had RSVP’d.
Even though Sessions getting fired was not one of the designated “red line” events, apparently, Moveon.org could not wait any longer. The order for mobilization went out around 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Protests are to begin at 5 p.m on Thursday.
Sessions is out.Keep an eye on https://t.co/Lh9J0PfEiC as the broad coalition including @Public_Citizen @MarchForTruth17 @IndivisibleTeam @MoveOn & many others formulate next steps. #Mueller #JeffSessions— Anna Galland (@annagalland) November 7, 2018
In Wisconsin, the protests are being coordinated by the local chapter of Indivisible, a national Trump “resistance” organization launched by D.C. Democrats after the 2016 election.Within a few hours of the call-to-arms, 2,554 people had confirmed they would participate in a protest at the state Capitol in Madison; 35 in Beloit at Horace White Park; 112 at the County Government Center in Walworth; 257 at Civic Center Park in Kenosha; 88 at Monument Square in Racine; 1,683 at Pere Marquette Park in Milwaukee; 631 at Houdini Plaza in Appleton; 38 at the Green Bay City Municipal Court; 267 at Phoenix Park in Eau Claire.
The goal of the events is to pressure congress into taking action. That could include: protecting the special counsel’s office, creating a “modern-day version of the Senate Select Watergate Committee,” or beginning hearings in the House Judiciary Committee into obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
What happens after Thursday’s protests appears to be open ended by the national organizers. There are disclaimers on the website insisting the protests are non-violent, with this chilling caveat, “And what people do next to force Congress to act is up to them!”