Thursday, October 1, 2026
A wet and windy Saturday could not dampen the spirits of a boisterous crowd, who turned out at Heritage Park in downtown Olympia to mark the first year of a movement born in response to the actions and policies of President Donald Trump.
At least 175 people lined 5th Avenue amid a steady rain on early Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, holding and waving signs expressing their feelings about the state of the country at a rally coined — "Resist, Persist, Repeat!"
A lot of signs on display carried a common theme — “fascism” — which has emerged as a key rallying point of the now 1-year-old 50501 Movement. The grassroots movement emerged as a decentralized response to the polarizing course of actions taken by Trump at the beginning of his second term in the Oval Office.
Since its debut on Feb. 5, 2025, with 50 protests in 50 states on one day, millions of people have taken to the streets in demonstrations aimed squarely at one target.
The scene on Saturday, in downtown Olympia, was no different albeit smaller in scope.
“We are protesting pretty much everything that this regime is doing, from what they’re doing with ICE (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) — harming people — all the way to vaccine schedules and harming children across the world,” said Molly Robinson of Olympia, as she held up one side of a sign that carried several messages, including “SCIENCE IS REAL” and “LOVE IS LOVE.”
“There’s nothing that they (the Trump administration) are doing that isn’t abhorrent.”
Robinson also said it was important to reach out, spread inclusiveness and not stand idly by.
“I think a lot of it is showing other people, who maybe don’t know how many others are feeling the same rage, showing them that there are a lot of us here who are feeling that way and we won’t stand for, and we won’t go down without a fight,” she said.
As the rain continued to drive down on demonstrators, Tricia Sears smiled and acknowledged the countless motorists who passed her position along 5th Avenue where she was holding one side of a large sign emblazoned with the message — “COMMUNITY KILLS FASCISM.”
She said the sign reflects a simple truth.
“Well people coming together and demonstrating peacefully and showing joy and strength and love. … Just something that, typically, fascism is not fond (and) it doesn’t know how to handle,” said Sears, who is a resident of Olympia.
“Community brings people together and there is power and strength in that. It’s good to speak up and many, many, many, many people feel this way.”
Holding the other side of the sign was fellow Olympia resident Sandia Slaby, who echoed those sentiments.
“Fascism depends on separating and isolating. … That it can’t happen without that and that’s what they (the Trump administration) are trying to do … is pit us against each other and getting us afraid so we stay calm,” Slaby said.
“And so if we come together and speak up, then it can’t happen. … It’s like bleach on bacteria — it just can’t happen.”
While the day commemorated the beginning of the 50501 Movement, it also marked the progression of an effort to fight back against an onslaught of moves believed by millions of people to be threats against democracy.
“I think our goal is to maintain the momentum that we’ve been building for a year. … We’re celebrating that we’ve been organizing for a full year as part of the 50501 Movement,” said Amy Rehwaldt, a volunteer with Evergreen Resistance, which is a state of Washington chapter of the 50501 Movement and host of the event at Heritage Park on Saturday.
“And our goals are pretty broad. Overall, we are against fascism and authoritarianism we see developing in the United States like cruelty, which our government is implementing (with) their policies right now — like the shootings that occurred from ICE agents.”
Rehwaldt, a resident of Tumwater, said the event also featured advocacy organizations who positioned pop-up tents near the portion of Heritage Park that fronts 5th Avenue. The organizations ranged from Northwest Indivisible to the League of Women Voters.
“We have 14 different organizations with us today … that we’ve been building relationships with because we believe if we are all connected, and we all know our neighbors better, that we’re going to be able to resist this cruelty and authoritarianism together because we are going to need each other to fight that,” Rehwaldt said.
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Boatyarddog
Good seeing you ALL THANKS for showing
Monday, February 9 Report this
terry
It’s hard 2 say 2 little…
Monday, February 9 Report this
chrispc2u
Thank you for turning out. Democracy dies in darkness, we need to continue to bring oligarchy, racism, tyranny and fascism out into the light of day to expose. My prediction is that Trump won’t last the full second term because of his health, McDonald’s diet and a possible impeachment by his own party after the midterm GOP losses but we must not be complacent in the meantime. I was inspired how much the NFL stuck it to Trump, especially starting out with Green Day. The resistance continues!
Monday, February 9 Report this
wolfmanner
A bunch of Marxist misfits having a fit.
Monday, February 9 Report this
DRamsey2
Traditional American life does not revolve around the ego of one man, and never has. President Trump acts as though all Americans must praise and obey him at all times. He is an old curmudgeon who encourages people to act in un-American ways. But real America is not a concept that resides in Trump's head. America is a melting pot of cultures, ideas, beliefs and always has been. The United States, We the People, are as important as ever. Our elections are operated by the individual states, not by the federal government or the President. Every citizen is allocated one vote. Billionaires have one vote each. Naturalized citizens have one vote each as well. President Trump has one vote. America not only has no King, it has 340,000,00 people who are entitled to protections granted in the United States Constitution. We have the right as patriotic citizens to criticize the president, to protest against executive orders, to film law enforcement officers in public.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Yeti1981
I don’t question anyone’s right to gather peacefully. That’s part of living in a constitutional republic. If people feel strongly about the direction of the country, they absolutely have the right to stand in the rain and say so.
But we need to be careful with language.
When everything becomes “fascism,” the word stops meaning anything. Fascism is not simply “policies I strongly disagree with.” It is a specific form of centralized, authoritarian rule that eliminates elections, suppresses dissent, and consolidates power outside constitutional constraints. We still have functioning courts. We still have contested elections. We still have an active press that openly criticizes the President every day. That matters.
On immigration specifically, I understand people have concerns about tactics or individual cases. Those deserve scrutiny. But enforcing immigration law is not, in and of itself, fascism. Congress wrote those laws. Congress set the visa caps. Congress defined asylum standards. Congress funded and structured the system. If people truly want structural reform, the pressure should be aimed squarely at the legislative branch that has failed to modernize immigration law for decades.
The same is true more broadly. It’s easy to rally against “the regime.” It’s harder to engage the mechanics of policy, the budget process, statutory authority, and constitutional limits. Durable change comes from legislation, elections, and persuasion. Not just slogans.
Community is powerful. Peaceful protest is legitimate. But if the goal is to actually fix what’s broken, the conversation has to move beyond labels and toward specific reforms, specific statutes, and specific accountability. Otherwise, it becomes emotional release instead of civic progress.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
peterpumpkinhead
.....It is a specific form of centralized, authoritarian rule that eliminates elections, suppresses dissent, and consolidates power outside constitutional constraints.
Yeti - So you don't see the current administrations's push toward these very goals? Scary.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Virge13
What Yeti says is very true IF the administration and congress were doing their jobs. Since they so patently are NOT, we the people have to keep the pressure up. And yes, what the current administration is trying to do IS FASCIST!
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Yeti1981
@peterpumpkinhead If the concern is expansion of executive authority, then the protest energy should be aimed where the authority originates.
Congress writes immigration law. Congress sets visa caps. Congress defines asylum standards. Congress determines funding and detention rules. When Congress refuses to modernize a broken statutory framework for decades, it leaves broad discretion in the hands of the executive branch. Presidents of both parties then operate within that ambiguity, and critics act surprised when executive power fills the vacuum.
This tension between legislative responsibility and executive discretion is not new. It’s been a recurring pattern in American governance. When Congress avoids politically difficult reforms, the executive inevitably steps into the gray space Congress created.
If protesters truly want limits on executive authority, the demand should be clear: Congress must govern. Update the statutes. Clarify the standards. Set the limits explicitly. Own the political risk. Immigration has been electorally useful for both parties for a long time, which is precisely why durable reform has been avoided.
Peaceful protest is legitimate. But if the goal is structural change rather than symbolic opposition, the pressure belongs squarely on the branch of government that has the constitutional authority to fix it.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Porter
The World Will Tremble
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
CobraCommander
Wolfmanner hates our Bill of Rights.
GFY
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
stepup
@Yeti:
RE: "[Fascism] is a specific form of centralized, authoritarian rule that eliminates elections, suppresses dissent, and consolidates power outside constitutional constraints... enforcing immigration law is not, in and of itself, fascism."
I appreciate your wholesome response, but your framing of the issue (and dismissal of protestors' objections) can be boiled down to the above.
If demonstrators were turning out simply because of how trump is enforcing immigration law, I'd agree with you. But I say, without fear of contradiction, that that is but one facet and, more importantly, is the very facet and framing trump wants the public to use, i.e. "illegal immigration" (and his "worst of the worst"). Yet that ignores voluminous evidence of authoritarian abuse of government power resembling, or precursors of, fascism that has riled the observant public. To name a few:
- Department of Justice gutting of experienced attorneys through loyalty-pledge firings and principled/ethics-based resignations refusing illegal/unethical department orders; initiating political prosecutions in direct response to presidential demands, not legal evidence; extreme irregularities of policy and actions within the FBI; political loyalty qualifications for hiring and assignments; widespread admonitions from judges of dishonest representations in their courts; obstruction of government abuse investigations; etc.
- Department of Homeland Security use (/abuse) of its authority against the public; abuse of the public with less-than-lethal "crowd control" weapons; abuse with lethal weapons to kill citizens; admonitions from judges for failure to adhere to more than 100 court orders in Minnesota alone in just one month; flagrantly illegal arrests, detentions, and deportations; Constitutionally unwarranted intrusions and arrests; etc.
All are new abuses since trump took office.
I could go on, but I trust you get the idea that, nationwide, protestors' objections have legal and Constitutional foundation.
History shows us one of Hitler's very first steps with his newly-granted authority was to undermine Germany's justice and court system. That was essential to open the door to all that followed.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Southsoundguy
Total astroturf.
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
Snevets
Sure I missed out! ✊✊✊✊✊
Tuesday, February 10 Report this
CobraCommander
Deport Republican pedo protectors like SouthSoundGuy
Wednesday, February 11 Report this
Somney
Some people think the best way to win an argument is to write long.
Thursday, February 12 Report this