Skip to main content
PHOTOS BY JP BOGAN, BRIAN BROSE and JAKE NELSON
President Donald Trump opened his second term by launching a barrage against nearly every institution that gives Americans stability: free speech, voting rights, diversity, health research, libraries, museums and even weather forecasting. Each day brought a new story of Trump and his cost-cutting lackey Elon Musk finding a service we all took for granted and tossing it in the trash.
But in Portland, almost as unsettling was what wasn’t happening. For three months, protests against Trump and Musk were rare and sparsely attended.
In November, the quiet came with relief: no riots! But as the ambition of Trump’s agenda came into focus this winter, streets devoid of demonstrators started to feel like a kind of defeat. Could the civic PTSD from the fever dream of 2020—the gas masks, the cops dressed as storm troopers, the anarchist window-smashers, the munitions erupting from the federal courthouse—have broken the spirit of Little Beirut?
Even for those of us whose idea of activism is an annual donation, the absence seemed…sad. The idea that Portlanders had simply capitulated to the president who once sent federal agents into town to snatch dissenters into vans? It was too depressing to contemplate.
That’s why, for many of us, the sight on April 5 of people teeming across highway bridges carrying picket signs brought a feeling of relief. If nothing else, the tens of thousands of anti-Trump demonstrators thronging to Tom McCall Waterfront Park 11 days ago for the “Hands Off Our Democracy” rally showed that those of us frightened by what is happening to our country aren’t worrying alone. He can’t deport all of us, probably!
Well, here’s another reason to buck up: That energy didn’t come out of nowhere, and it hasn’t gone away.
On most afternoons, somewhere in Portland, you can find groups of people, handwritten messages in hand, declaring their opposition to Trump and Musk. Most commonly, they gather around the sales offices of Musk’s electric-car company, Tesla. Sometimes the head count is a couple of dozen people. Sometimes it’s more than 100. The demographic is typically far older than those who took to the streets after George Floyd’s murder. The vibes are quieter: more peaceful solidarity than revolution.
“We’re here to call attention to what’s going on,” says Carolanne Fry, an organizer with Outer East Portland Indivisible, “and to show people that they’re not alone if they’re really upset with the fascist takeover that’s happening in our government right now.”
Most of these protests, like the waterfront rally, are organized under the umbrella of the Indivisible Project, a Washington, D.C.-based political advocacy nonprofit that has close ties to the nation’s progressive donor base and reported $5.6 million in assets at the end of fiscal year 2023. (Outer East Portland Indivisible, which marshaled many of the events in the following pages, received a $1,000 GROW Grant from the national organization for items like bullhorns and banners; it says most of its funds come from local donors.) But the messages on the poster board—and the honks of passing cars—hint at what Richard Nixon liked to call the silent majority.
Since the big march April 5, WW sent photographers to document a week’s worth of smaller protests scattered across the metro area. We spoke to organizers as well as participants about what spurred them to raise a fuss. In the following pages, we invite you to take a look—and take courage. —Aaron Mesh, Editor
Tyler Brown contributed reporting to this story.
Saturday, April 5
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Photos by JP Bogan
“I was born when Roe v. Wade happened, so I grew up a little spoiled when it came to my rights. I have a daughter, and I refuse to let her rights be taken away. I will fight for her.” —Andrea Hill
“Where are our elected officials? They need to show up and fight like us, like we are right now. They can’t let this happen.” —Tim Mongin
Monday 4/7
Tesla dealership - South Macadam Avenue
0 of 11
Photos by JP Bogan
Read an interview with the Portland Tesla protest organizer.
Thursday 4/10
Tesla dealership - Southwest Cascade Avenue, Tigard
0 of 8
Photos by Brian Brose
“If we don’t have our democracy, we have nothing. It’s time to show up.”
—Mary Minor
“I believe we are in a slow-moving coup. We’re here to defend democracy against this tyrannical administration and defend civil liberties.”
—Emily and Joel
“These billionaires that are trying to take over are not elected, they’re not confirmed by the Senate, and they have no right to be doing what they are doing. It has to stop.”
—Ginny
Friday, April 11
Southeast Market Street Bridge, over Interstate 205
0 of 6
Photos by JP Bogan
“We’re out here on the outskirts of town because this is where more conservative people live and that is where it matters more.” —Jen
Saturday, April 12
Southeast Foster Road and 92nd Avenue
0 of 7
Photos by Jake Nelson
“I’m protesting the theft of our democracy, the demise of rule of law in the United States by the Trump-Musk administration, which is breaking all kinds of laws and doing all kinds of illegal activities.” —Jeffrey Stookey
“I’m protesting the humiliating, disgusting loss of democracy in our country. I’m 56 years old and I’ve never ever seen anything like this. After voting in election after election from Dukakis onward, I just can’t believe the level of corruption that is happening in the government. It’s just jaw-dropping every day. I’m so tired of criminal, corrupt people getting away with it.” —Christina