From drone footage, we estimated almost 4000 people participated in Medford . . . and much to local Republican politicians' dismay, these were ALL local, unpaid protesters. Everyone gathered with friends and it felt like a huge family reunion of local folks who all care about our democracy. The huge turnout in Medford was impressive, but just as important were the turnouts at smaller cities throughout rural Oregon--1200 in Grants Pass, 350 in Klamath Falls. There were HANDSOFF protests in Pendleton, Baker City, LaGrande and Prineville and even more communities across Oregon's huge Congressional District 2. Republican Representative Clifford Bentz--who represents Oregon District 2 and has been in hiding since receiving pushback and negative comments at his town halls last February in typically "red" counties in Northern Oregon--should be nervous. He's refused to do public town halls in Southern Oregon since Trump took office--and with thousands demonstrating against the Trump administration in Southern Oregon--I doubt he'll show his face in an open public venue anytime soon.
Success in unseating Mr. Bentz would be difficult, but now is the time for for candidates to appear and point out that he is not in touch with his district, and, of course, giving voters a viable alternative.
Mr. Bentz may well be representing the wishes of a majority in his district, but if he is unwilling to meet with them he can be accused of being out of touch and not caring about the district.
Wonderful news, especially about protests in District 2! Photos that Peter posted seemed to show a lot of older people though. We need younger folks out there too! I don’t think we had 4000 in Denver but there were a lot of people despite the temps in the mid 30s.
The Medford crowd was somewhat mixed. One person told me, "It's so great to see younger people here." Generally, though, there are a lot of older folks in the Rogue Valley--but they do vote!
Just need to add that Ashland managed to line the streets from the Plaza to Pioneer, in spite of a very last minute announcement for the rally. It was wonderful as a lot of folks who could not make it to Medford were able to show up... My vote for favorite sign read: "Worst Sequel Ever:
There were thousands of demonstrators in Medford, but no police presence because It wasn’t necessary. Among the crowd lining the north side of Jackson St., I noticed someone holding a big sign saying that abortion is murder. The message stood in stark contrast to the prevailing sentiment at the event, but there were no violent attacks with pepper spray and flag poles, unlike Trump’s infamous “Day of Love.”
Besides the signs, there were also plenty of American flags. It’s time we reclaim it from MAGA. Trump likes to grab and smooch the flag (non-consensually, of course) but if he gave a rip about the republic for which it stands, he wouldn’t be so contemptuous of our Constitution and act like such a lawless tyrant. Unfortunately, that’s just who he is.
Resistance to Trump may be more diffuse, but I'm hearing a lot of support for Cory Booker now. He spoke for over 25 hours and made perfect sense, something Trump can't even do for a few minutes.
I wish these people protesting in Oregon would get as worked up about the failures of our state and local governments as they do about the antics of the Orange Guy in DC. I’m not in agreement with most of what Trump is up to but the failures of my local city and county governments (Portland and Multnomah) have much more of a negative impact on me any my family.
Thanks Scott but you’re seriously mistaken if you think the new Portland government is working better. It’s not. We elected a bunch of far left ideologues whose only solution to problems is more money. The Portland doom loop is unfortunately accelerating—
Basically a protest of people who don’t like that their candidate lost. That’s all…unless they work for the feds, or are male playing women’s sports, virtually no one’s life had tangibly changed in the last 3 months. Crazy how none of them do anything during a decade of progressive failure in Oregon. Just more virtue signaling. Hey look, we’re the good people! Orange man bad! Ignore the education scores, trash, crime, housing, graffiti, tents, drugs. Those all just need more taxes. Oregon is truly insufferable. Screeching progressives who are only about self validating performance art.
Sounds like a whataboutism. It's always sobering to realize that some people remain under the illusion that having a totally ignorant president who doesn't support the Constitution and rule of law won't affect them.
Nice non sequiter. Trump is awful so everyone shut up about everything else…got it. I’ll remember that when I listen to the gunfire in my neighborhood at night.
I don't know what a non sequiter is, but it certainly wasn't a non sequitur. You can talk about whatever you want, but it doesn't change the fact that our president is an ignorant, lying, pussy-grabbing criminal.
He is. All true. And gathering outside to scream about it - on a state that Trump already lost by a wide margin in November - is nothing more than group maturbation designed to make you feel good about yourself and virtue-signal to your fellow progressives who want to feel validated that they were right. Oregon is a dumpster fire. Do something about that…maybe protest that? Because the orange bad man didn’t make it that way. Not one tent with a meth addict in it is from Trump.
Yeah. Ok. Forest fire prevention…which has prevented what during the last four years? Please. The protests are a joke. The state is a dumpster fire and no Republican - especially not the orange man - are responsible for it. But you go on and wave your sign to show your friends you are a correct thinker. Ignore the progressive failure all around you for the shiny object in DC.
Jackson County is already feeling the effects of the Trump/Musk presidency. Forest fire prevention work here in the valley has been halted since Trump and Musk froze the funding. Due to cutbacks at Social Security, the Social Security website keeps crashing and people can't get access to apply for Social Security online. Inflation is up, consumer confidence is down and the stock market is crashing--wiping out people's retirement savings or college savings for their kids. Most economists are now predicting a recession by the end of the year.
Thanks! In Sequim, WA (pop~8k), we turned out about 1400 very enthusiastic folks. A handful of the MAGA-deluded showed up; one sign indicated that George Soros supports "Indvisible"--freakin' moran.
I'm waiting for my SorosBucks! I probably won't use them to invest in stocks anytime soon.
Many of the folks I chatted with had not hit the streets since the 60's; not for Nixon, not for the BushWars, not for Pu**yGrabber1.0, not for nuttin' but now. And they say they won't quit.
“Ikea has a better cabinet” was one of my favorites. My guess is, Bessent will be out by the end of the week; he's actually too good for the cabinet, as was at Soros Fund Management.
From drone footage, we estimated almost 4000 people participated in Medford . . . and much to local Republican politicians' dismay, these were ALL local, unpaid protesters. Everyone gathered with friends and it felt like a huge family reunion of local folks who all care about our democracy. The huge turnout in Medford was impressive, but just as important were the turnouts at smaller cities throughout rural Oregon--1200 in Grants Pass, 350 in Klamath Falls. There were HANDSOFF protests in Pendleton, Baker City, LaGrande and Prineville and even more communities across Oregon's huge Congressional District 2. Republican Representative Clifford Bentz--who represents Oregon District 2 and has been in hiding since receiving pushback and negative comments at his town halls last February in typically "red" counties in Northern Oregon--should be nervous. He's refused to do public town halls in Southern Oregon since Trump took office--and with thousands demonstrating against the Trump administration in Southern Oregon--I doubt he'll show his face in an open public venue anytime soon.
Success in unseating Mr. Bentz would be difficult, but now is the time for for candidates to appear and point out that he is not in touch with his district, and, of course, giving voters a viable alternative.
Mr. Bentz may well be representing the wishes of a majority in his district, but if he is unwilling to meet with them he can be accused of being out of touch and not caring about the district.
Wonderful news, especially about protests in District 2! Photos that Peter posted seemed to show a lot of older people though. We need younger folks out there too! I don’t think we had 4000 in Denver but there were a lot of people despite the temps in the mid 30s.
The Medford crowd was somewhat mixed. One person told me, "It's so great to see younger people here." Generally, though, there are a lot of older folks in the Rogue Valley--but they do vote!
Just need to add that Ashland managed to line the streets from the Plaza to Pioneer, in spite of a very last minute announcement for the rally. It was wonderful as a lot of folks who could not make it to Medford were able to show up... My vote for favorite sign read: "Worst Sequel Ever:
Penny, hope you’re in Ashland for OSF stuff, too.
Best sign in D.C. “So many issues, so little cardboard!”
I agree. It felt like a meeting with old and new friends with absolutely no "mean spirited" comments.
There were thousands of demonstrators in Medford, but no police presence because It wasn’t necessary. Among the crowd lining the north side of Jackson St., I noticed someone holding a big sign saying that abortion is murder. The message stood in stark contrast to the prevailing sentiment at the event, but there were no violent attacks with pepper spray and flag poles, unlike Trump’s infamous “Day of Love.”
Besides the signs, there were also plenty of American flags. It’s time we reclaim it from MAGA. Trump likes to grab and smooch the flag (non-consensually, of course) but if he gave a rip about the republic for which it stands, he wouldn’t be so contemptuous of our Constitution and act like such a lawless tyrant. Unfortunately, that’s just who he is.
Resistance to Trump may be more diffuse, but I'm hearing a lot of support for Cory Booker now. He spoke for over 25 hours and made perfect sense, something Trump can't even do for a few minutes.
I wish these people protesting in Oregon would get as worked up about the failures of our state and local governments as they do about the antics of the Orange Guy in DC. I’m not in agreement with most of what Trump is up to but the failures of my local city and county governments (Portland and Multnomah) have much more of a negative impact on me any my family.
Javier- I hear you. We are in a mess because money buys influence. Money buys influence because citizens don't follow the money.
I visit my kids in Portland and they are sad, mad but not defeated. I tell them to run for office- early and often.
Portland has transitioned to be much more accessible and accountable. https://www.portland.gov/transition/form-government
Regarding Oregon governance, the Secretary of State's Audit Team makes plenty of helpful hints to State Agencies- https://sos.oregon.gov/audits/Pages/default.aspx
Sign up for OLIS updates and testify on bills https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1
Stop slumming on Peter Sage's substack page and get busy.\
Peace Out.
Thanks Scott but you’re seriously mistaken if you think the new Portland government is working better. It’s not. We elected a bunch of far left ideologues whose only solution to problems is more money. The Portland doom loop is unfortunately accelerating—
https://www.portlandtribune.com/business/urban-doom-loop-likely-fueling-regional-governnent-deficits/article_3fee897a-f956-11ef-a698-237635a78c4a.html
Basically a protest of people who don’t like that their candidate lost. That’s all…unless they work for the feds, or are male playing women’s sports, virtually no one’s life had tangibly changed in the last 3 months. Crazy how none of them do anything during a decade of progressive failure in Oregon. Just more virtue signaling. Hey look, we’re the good people! Orange man bad! Ignore the education scores, trash, crime, housing, graffiti, tents, drugs. Those all just need more taxes. Oregon is truly insufferable. Screeching progressives who are only about self validating performance art.
Sounds like a whataboutism. It's always sobering to realize that some people remain under the illusion that having a totally ignorant president who doesn't support the Constitution and rule of law won't affect them.
Nice non sequiter. Trump is awful so everyone shut up about everything else…got it. I’ll remember that when I listen to the gunfire in my neighborhood at night.
I don't know what a non sequiter is, but it certainly wasn't a non sequitur. You can talk about whatever you want, but it doesn't change the fact that our president is an ignorant, lying, pussy-grabbing criminal.
He is. All true. And gathering outside to scream about it - on a state that Trump already lost by a wide margin in November - is nothing more than group maturbation designed to make you feel good about yourself and virtue-signal to your fellow progressives who want to feel validated that they were right. Oregon is a dumpster fire. Do something about that…maybe protest that? Because the orange bad man didn’t make it that way. Not one tent with a meth addict in it is from Trump.
Newsflash: It's our federal government that's a dumpster fire and Trump is throwing the entire country in it. By comparison, Oregon works just fine.
I don't know what gathering you went to, but it sounds very bizarre. Nobody at ours was screaming or masturbating.
Yeah. Ok. Forest fire prevention…which has prevented what during the last four years? Please. The protests are a joke. The state is a dumpster fire and no Republican - especially not the orange man - are responsible for it. But you go on and wave your sign to show your friends you are a correct thinker. Ignore the progressive failure all around you for the shiny object in DC.
Jackson County is already feeling the effects of the Trump/Musk presidency. Forest fire prevention work here in the valley has been halted since Trump and Musk froze the funding. Due to cutbacks at Social Security, the Social Security website keeps crashing and people can't get access to apply for Social Security online. Inflation is up, consumer confidence is down and the stock market is crashing--wiping out people's retirement savings or college savings for their kids. Most economists are now predicting a recession by the end of the year.
Thanks! In Sequim, WA (pop~8k), we turned out about 1400 very enthusiastic folks. A handful of the MAGA-deluded showed up; one sign indicated that George Soros supports "Indvisible"--freakin' moran.
I'm waiting for my SorosBucks! I probably won't use them to invest in stocks anytime soon.
Many of the folks I chatted with had not hit the streets since the 60's; not for Nixon, not for the BushWars, not for Pu**yGrabber1.0, not for nuttin' but now. And they say they won't quit.
https://www.sequimgazette.com/news/trump-protest-draws-hundreds-of-participants/
“Ikea has a better cabinet” was one of my favorites. My guess is, Bessent will be out by the end of the week; he's actually too good for the cabinet, as was at Soros Fund Management.