I went to an anti-Trump, pro-LGBTQ rally at Cal Anderson Park yesterday morning, because that's what we do nowadays (sign spotted there: PROTEST IS THE NEW BRUNCH). Turned out it was put on by the Socialist Alternative of Seattle. It was a good crowd for a Saturday morning, and I'm all in favor of unity, and I'm hardly a public speaker myself so who am I to make suggestions? Yet here I go:

• Lay off the blanket attacks on capitalism. Attack the billionaire class, the .1%, Wall Street, Trump and his cabinet, dark money, Citizens United. But capitalism itself? I certainly have my problems with capitalism (it benefits the ruthless and unethical to a degree it shouldn't), but a blanket attack can only backfire. Focus on what we can do. 
• Don't attack “corporate Democrats.” In the fight against Trump, we're all allies. Remember that. Don't shoot at your flank while the enemy is still on the rampage.
• Avoid “toppling the tsar” analogies. A rally on March 8 was mentioned. It was also mentioned that this was the day the so-called February Revolution began in 1917, which eventually led to the toppling of the Russian tsar. A friend looked at me and rolled her eyes, and I said, “Yeah, I don't think that ended well.”

It always makes me laugh when Republicans—most recently Jason Chaffetz of Utah, overwhelmed by his own constituents at his own town hall—claim that left-wing protesters are bought, they're paid for, since this would imply a kind of cohesive, united attack that the left has never displayed in my lifetime. We're usually all over the place. Everyone's got their pet cause, and many can't see the forest for their particular beloved twig. We can't afford that any longer. We need to focus. Trump is the reason we're out there in droves. Remember that. The future of the country depends upon it.