"Come and join us": The new resistance welcomes apologetic Trump voters

Just over three months into his President Donald Trump's second term, protests against his administration appear to be growing in size, frequency and composition, reflecting a new wave of resistance. This time, it's open to Republicans and others who have not previously identified with progressive causes as organizers and demonstrators recognize the need to siphon support from the plurality of voters who put Trump back in office. 

"Be compassionate," Laura Ahmadian, a nurse from Worthington, Ohio, said in an interview. "You can't have fallen into a cult and leave a cult if everyone still believes that you're a monster." 

Ahmadian spoke to Salon at a protest she attended with her father in the Ohio capital of Columbus earlier this month. She cut ties with a once-close friend, she said, after learning they had voted against protecting abortion rights, telling Salon she herself had to flee Ohio to receive lifesaving treatment for an unviable pregnancy. But she recognizes that any movement against Trump will require appealing to at least some of his voters.

Attending a May Day demonstration promoted by the First Unitarian Universalist Church, she said everyone who opposes the Trump administration should continue appealing to those friends and family members whom one "can still reach with reason."

Ahmadian was one of more than a thousand protesters gathered before the William McKinley Monument on the western side of the Ohio Statehouse, many displaying handmade signs to honking cars whizzing along High Street before marching the block from Broad to State. Most signs, provided by organizers, addressed the fight for public education that brought teachers' unions from across Ohio to protest Senate Bill 1 and the proposed cuts to education in the state budget. But also among them were jabs directed at the federal government, particularly Trump and his entourage of billionaires.

She and others told Salon that, this time around, they want their actions to be more inclusive. That means making explicit appeals to disaffected voters on the center and right of the political spectrum. The hope is that Americans who either didn't vote or voted for Trump in the 2024 election — and now regret their choice — will recognize that they are not only welcome at these protests but are needed voices against what many feel is an increasingly antidemocratic federal government.

One woman, who declined to provide her name out of fear for her safety, lamented what she called the administration's "bulldozer of rights" and "taking people off the streets without due process." Dressed in a gown and cape as the Lady Justice statue, the woman called on all Americans to fight for the U.S. Constitution and for every resident of the country no matter who they voted for. 

"I want people who voted for this administration and thought they were going to get something different, and are seeing what's happening and feeling that it's not right to come join us. You're welcome, and we need them, too," she told Salon. 

"This is about America," she continued. "This is about all of us. We've all been fooled before. We've all made decisions we later looked back and said, 'That was not the best decision.' That's okay. It's called learning and growing as a person, and they're welcome — everyone is welcome." 

Despite demonstrators' hopes for attracting disaffected Trump supporters, polling suggests that his 2024 voters aren't as disillusioned as those on the left might wish. Trump's approval rating following his first 100 days is now the lowest for any president in decades, but he continues to enjoy strong support from his 2024 voters. A University of Massachusetts-Amherst poll of 1,000 people from early April found that just 2% of Trump voters say they regret their choice and wish they had voted differently.

Ryan Wynia, a central Ohio product and design consultant, attended the May 1 protest at the request of his 11-year-old daughter, Vivian, who wanted to attend for her birthday. He told Salon that in the face of the Trump administration's "brazenness" and how it "emboldens Ohio politicians," he struggles to empathize with the few Trump voters who may be regretful. Still, the 43-year-old said he recognized their efforts to effect change can't be about making the point that those voters were wrong. 

"It has long been indefensible to support Donald Trump, but the coalition to regalvanize the need for some representative democracy — it's going to require more than people willing to show up at a protest," he said. 

But Dean Kessler, a former cross-country coach and EMT who also attended the action, suggested that he's more forgiving. Holding a sign that read, "Eggs are expensive because all the chickens are in Congress," Kessler told Salon that Trump's "trampling of the rule of law," disregard for due process, elimination of USAID and Congress's proposed cuts to Medicaid have galvanized him. As a lifelong moderate and registered Independent, he said that protesting — along with aligning more consistently with Democrats in recent elections — is not something he ever saw himself doing. 

"There are plenty of criticisms for the Democrats as well. But we feel as though, at this point, you have to pick a side," he told Salon, noting that he and his wife, Nancy, have "kind, loving" friends who don't share their concerns about the administration. "You can't say, 'Well, when the Democrats are in power, they do dumb things too.' It seems like we've gone beyond that point. We are now at a point where — choose a side because this could be the end of democracy in our country."

Nancy Kessler, echoing her husband's sentiments, noted her opposition to the president's approach to women's rights, the environment and, most notably, immigration. The former substitute teacher said they felt so strongly that they had to do something about Trump's then-proposed immigration policy that it led them to host a Venezuelan family for roughly six months until earlier this year and help them obtain a temporary legal status, which the Trump administration has since rescinded.

"I never thought I was a liberal. I thought I was a very — and still feel like — moderate person," she told Salon. "But I feel like the extremism of the current administration is pushing me to more extreme positions."

Since Trump took office, the Kesslers have driven down from Carey, Ohio, at least four separate times to participate in Columbus protests. They said they hope to have a greater impact taking to the streets in the state capital than in their roughly 3,500-person village some 78 miles north, and they already feel they've been successful in influencing others' thoughts about the power of voicing their opposition and demonstrating. 

Lauren Engler, a 72-year-old attendee of the May 1 protest, told Salon that Trump's tariff policy and the federal and state governments' attacks on education and threats to defund it, in part, drove her to demonstrate this year, though she's long since participated in protests. While, as a Jewish woman whose father escaped the Holocaust, she said she felt the Trump administration is transforming the country into an authoritarian state not unlike the one he fled, she also hoped to appeal to Trump's supporters. 

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"Normal people are pissed off, and the Republican staunch supporters — it's their fault. But if they would just say, 'OK, we'll join you' — come and join us," said Engler, who had earlier pointed out her bright red "This pussy grabs back" T-shirt, a reference to the president's infamous Access Hollywood tape. "It takes all of us to change." 

A masked college student, who declined to provide her name out of fear for her safety amid the Trump administration's recent arrests of student activists, said that canvassing during the 2024 election taught her just how uneducated many voters are about voting, their rights and what's at stake.

In the face of what she called a "crumbling" democracy, she also made an appeal to Trump voters. She invited people across the political spectrum to join protests, get to know their communities and unite. 

"No matter what side of the political spectrum you're on, you are getting hurt right now. It feels like a lot of people want to be in denial because they're the one who voted for these things," she told Salon. "But it's OK to be aware you are getting hurt right now, and there's still a place for you out here."