‘Hands Off!’ anti-Trump protests drew crowds. But did Texas Republicans know? | Opinion
A couple of thousand marchers protested against government chaos last weekend in marches from downtown Dallas to small-town Granbury, and Texas Republicans generally responded as if they had seen the return of the woolly mammoth.
It took nearly 200 activist groups to organize more than 1,200 “Hands Off!” rallies nationwide against President Donald Trump and his Texas pal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
When the Mostly Parker County and Strictly Better Parts of Hood County Resistance marched 120-deep through flag-waving Trump counterprotesters around the courthouse square, the general reaction on social media seemed to be: “Who are those people?”
This is the problem for Texas Democrats.
What are #50501, ‘Hands Off!’ and Indivisible.org?
If you live in the echo chamber of progressive Democratic text alerts and message boards, you knew everything about the national #50501 movement — “50 protests in 50 states on 1 day” — and sponsoring organizations “Hands Off!” and Indivisible.org.
But only 24% of Texas voters say they are liberal.
Only 39% say they are Democrats at all, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll.
So outside the narrow progressive echo chamber, Texans didn’t know much about the “Hands Off!” rallies.
Why the news media didn’t cover the ‘Hands Off!’ march
In Dallas and many cities, editors at news outlets including The Dallas Morning News and some TV stations had no way to know the events would be big enough to cover, particularly a week after the much larger Mega Marcha for immigration reform.
So a small fraction of Texas Democrats mostly told each other about these protests. Then, some acted as if others were stupid, negligent or corrupt for not knowing whether or why they were protesting.
This is often lost on progressive Democrats. But “You’re stupid” is not a winning political message.
I knew about the national protests a week ahead, but only because a friend called asking if a family event in Fort Worth would conflict.
Fort Worth downtown protest planned
I dug around and found the only Fort Worth-area protests were in Arlington and Burleson. (A Fort Worth protest is planned April 19 in Burnett Park.)
Then I saw on social media that Trump activists in Granbury, which is so solid red that the Republicans usually have to pick fights with each other, were set to counterprotest.
From the videos on social media, Granbury police did not separate the groups as the “Hands Off!” marchers circled the courthouse and through some Trump counterprotesters. A Granbury police spokesman said officers will re-evaluate their plan.
In the videos, about 120 “Hands Off!” protesters with signs stepped peacefully past 40 or so Trump devotees waving flags.
(Typical signs: “Hands Off Our Benefits,” “Hands Off Our Right to Trial,” “Hands Off Education,” “Musk Must Go,” And the all-purpose “Hate ≠ Great.”)
The first tea party rally was after Barack Obama won
Generally, the local protests were reminiscent of 2009 and the early tea party conservative rallies.
Back then, In the weeks after a Democratic landslide and the inauguration of President Barack Obama, libertarian and conservative voters organized out of desperation while Republicans wobbled around with no direction in a Democratic Senate and House.
The first tea party rally in Fort Worth was in March 2009. It was at a worn-out bar and grill on Camp Bowie Boulevard West.
Activists called for Texas to secede from the U.S., while a Denton County rancher in a cowboy hat rode in circles on a mobility scooter decorated as a plastic pig. He waved a sign reading “PORK DC.”
By that April 15, talk radio stations were organizing slicker rallies featuring Gov. Rick Perry. The tea party’s fame had spread, and Perry spoke at a LaGrave Field event in Fort Worth for 6,000 people.
Let’s see whether progressive Democrats can break out of their own echo chamber.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 12:04 PM.
