By KYLE PRATT
Opinion Editor
Regardless of personal political leanings, one thing is certain. People are angry, and they are making sure the world knows it.
Protesting is one of the most American things to do. We love to take to the streets and make our thoughts known.
However, mass protests like those we’ve seen in the past few weeks are relatively rare, but lately, they have become commonplace.
We are experiencing an important moment in American history. Children 50 years from now will be learning about these past few weeks in their schools. That’s if schools still exist after Betsy DeVos, of course.
In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump said he would be a president of the people, but it is clear that the people against him.
He has been president for less than two weeks and there have already been two nationwide protests, both of which made his inauguration crowd look like a backyard birthday party.
I expect we will see many more over the next four years.
Our president came to power through the votes of the minority of the people, and now millions are marching to express their resistance.
He is the exact opposite of a populist. The majority of the people are against him, and at this rate, it is likely to grow as time goes on and as more ludicrous executive orders are signed.
So far, the president hasn’t reacted, but the fact that he could is terrifying. We’ve seen these sorts of things in other countries.
People took to the streets in Ukraine in 2014, and the police opened fire under orders from the president.
In 2011, people across the Middle East protested en masse against their leaders, after the Tunisians successfully ousted their leaders and set up a democratic society.
Many of these governments resisted, namely in Libya and Syria, where the government started killing its citizens. In Egypt, the government began to become violent, but then the military sided with the people, leading to a relatively successful revolution there.
Now, do I think our president would get violent with protestors? Probably not, but I think it is more likely than it has been in the past.
We don’t really have precedent for this. There have been mass protests in the United States, such as during the women’s suffrage movement and during the civil rights movement. But we haven’t seen people rise up in resistance of a particular president.
This, like everything else with this election, is unprecedented.
People knew in the 1960s that John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson would not open fire on people protesting the Vietnam War.
Today, I can look at our president and say that he probably wouldn’t do that, but I am not very confident, and that is what’s terrifying.
Trump has a fragile ego and a thirst for power. So did Muammar Gaddafi, and so does Bashar al-Assad.
The United States has much more stability than Libya or Syria, and a government attack on civilians is rare, but it has happened, and with tensions high, we must insure it doesn’t happen again.
But don’t stop resisting.
