The mood was festive at the county courthouse last Saturday afternoon when the local “Hands Off” rally, one among more than 1,000 around the country, convened in opposition to all things Trumpian and Muskoid. Hundreds of homemade signs with countless feisty slogans were deployed in perfect 70-degree weather to protest the lawless cruelties of the regime and affirm a spirit of creative resistance. Old hippies who looked familiar from Vietnam-era demonstrations mingled with younger activists, parents pushing strollers, pink-haired teenagers, people in wheelchairs, people in costumes (Wonder Woman, a handmaid from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a penguin) and others at tables with piles of sign-up sheets and literature to distribute.

It was the biggest crowd I’ve seen in Santa Cruz — at least a couple thousand by my unscientific estimate; 8,000 according to organizers — since the Women’s March of Jan. 21, 2017. Nationally the turnout also evoked the massive 2003 marches against the Iraq War. Despite those defiant mobilizations, it was sobering to recall that for all their energy they accomplished nothing in the way of stopping Trump’s first-term agenda or George W. Bush’s catastrophic venture in misdirected belligerence. So while it was great to see the liveliness of the people and the evidence of resistance, I wondered what good it would do.

Cory Booker’s record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor a few days before was an inspirational example of political audacity, moral integrity and physical stamina, but so far it doesn’t appear to have moved any of his Republican colleagues to find the courage to exercise their constitutional power, surrendering instead to the whims and threats of their cult leader. Most Democrats appear to be lost in the pathetic impotence of their minority. Encouraging gains in special elections may signal popular second thoughts about the election of the president and the dubious bonus of his unelected sidekick, but whatever buyer’s remorse Trump voters may be feeling is helpless to reverse the result, and the 2026 midterms are a long way off with no guarantee they’ll be fair thanks to the attempt to crush turnout by requiring proof of citizenship.

Meanwhile back in our blue bubble, speaker after speaker at the courthouse defended health care, human rights, human services, civil rights, queer Americans, ethnic minorities, veterans, civil servants, immigrants, Palestinians, foreign aid, science, education, women’s rights, the environment, the rule of law — everything subject to attack and elimination at the command of the exterminator-in-chief, who at the moment was enjoying himself on one of his Florida golf courses.

If uprisings around the nation were ever to become populous enough to get the president’s attention, I expect he would dispatch some undercover provocateurs to wreak enough violence to justify a crackdown by military or paramilitary forces (like a J6 Patriot militia). There is no chance that any amount of nonviolent resistance will cause him to change course, and violent resistance would be the excuse he needs to unleash his worst dictatorial instincts. Then not just immigrants or foreign students or activists but anyone exercising the right to speak freely would be subject to imprisonment or worse.

This totalitarian trajectory, already shamelessly manifest in the first months of the administration, has got freedom-loving people angry and panicked enough to come out and voice their opposition. Yet for all the fighting spirit and pointed rhetoric, for now there is still no leadership or coherent strategy to undermine much less overthrow the regime. Everyone knows that something must be done but nobody knows what. Lawmakers are the front line, but citizens can also wield what Václav Havel called “the power of the powerless.” It will take courage, perseverance, ingenuity, organization, imagination and endurance to create an effective response to the current emergency. One day of protest is already fading fast.

Stephen Kessler’s column appears on Saturdays.