Explosion of protests in Trump 2.0 prove experts were dead wrong about America: analysis

America is in full revolt against President Donald Trump, according to a new analysis.

New data revealed a staggering reality: President Donald Trump's second term triggered more than 40,000 protests by Jan. 31 — quadruple the roughly 10,000 that erupted during the same timeframe of his first presidency, Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, wrote Monday.

According to Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth, whose team compiled the figures, these demonstrations represent far more than symbolic marches. Partial data covering just 41 percent of events showed more than 10 million participants flooding streets nationwide.

“The top three claims expressed during the protests are concerns about the presidency, democracy, and immigration. These themes dominate the protest landscape,” Chenoweth said.

"America, in their view, now has 'a growing, durable, and disciplined pro-democracy movement,'" Beauchamp noted.

He added that the data are at odds with conventional wisdom that democracy doesn't motivate voters. Experts claimed Kamala Harris lost because she talked about it too much. But 2026 proves that theory wrong, he said.

"Democracy is in fact a powerful motivating factor: When people are convinced that there’s a threat to their political freedoms, they can be motivated to go to extraordinary lengths to defend them," he insisted.

Chenoweth said America now possesses "a growing, durable, and disciplined pro-democracy movement" — something that wasn't happening in 2024.

The message is unmistakable, according to Beauchamp.

"For the United States to make it out of its own crisis, we need to take this lesson to heart: not marginalize discussion of Trump’s threat to democracy, but bring it to the fore," he said.