Trump resistance protesters have planned to pivot to disruption — signaling a major change in the movement, according to a report Monday.
A "Free America" walkout slated for Tuesday has anticipated tens of thousands to participate on the day of President Donald Trump's one-year anniversary of his inauguration, according to a new Axios report.
"The vanguard in this are starting to think about how ... one day, peaceful, legally permitted marches are not enough to push back" against the Trump administration, Dana Fisher, professor at American University's School of International Service, told the outlet.
"And they're starting to think through what types of tactics are ones that people are comfortable with and would be willing and open to participating in to expand the toolbox," Fisher said.
Past demonstrations have remained mainly peaceful throughout 2025, including "No Kings" protests.
"I don't think that there is an intervention that will have the MAGA regime see the error of its ways," Rachel O'Leary Carmona, Women's March executive director, told Axios.
"I do think there are interventions that demonstrate the political, electoral and financial cost of authoritarianism in our communities, and those are the things that we have to be focused on," O'Leary Carmona added.
The Trump administration has long claimed that protesters are paid, despite evidence that they are not. The shift among the resistance movement marks a major change in strategy following the death of Renee Good at the hands of ICE officer Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, among other ICE attacks and aggressive tactics on community members in Minnesota. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act — yet has said he has "no reason" to do it — as a response to the rising protests in response to the increased violence.
"A free America begins the moment we refuse to cooperate," the movement's website said. "This is not a request. This is a rupture. This is a protest and a promise. In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable."
More protesters have expressed they are now increasingly more open to political violence, according to survey data shared by Fisher with Axios.
"As of Jan. 16, 34% of those polled agreed that Americans 'may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,'" according to the poll results.
"Only so many more people [can] get murdered in front of cameras who are peaceful protesters in cities at the hands of ICE before there are going to be some folks in the streets who feel like peaceful non-violence is not enough," Fisher said.