Yeah, I think Thursday’s May Day rally on the Statehouse lawn went a little better than Wednesday’s pro-Trump “honk and wave” in Barre. I’d say the attendance was about a hundred times better, anyway. My guesstimate is that the crowd hit four figures with some room to spare. (It was impossible to capture the entire crowd in a single photo because they were so spread out.) Pretty good for a weekday afternoon.

The rally wasn’t specifically targeted at the authoritarian Trump regime as has been the case for other recent protests. Since it was May Day, the focus was on organized labor. At first I was a bit disappointed, but as the event went on, it was kind of nice not to hear the same familiar litany of terrible things our government is doing under the orange usurper.

Also, the labor movement is accustomed to fighting through setbacks and playing the long game. I mean, one speaker brought up the Haymarket affair, which occurred 139 years ago. In the context of labor’s long struggle, a few years under Trump takes on a fresh bit of perspective.

There was also a piece of well-timed good news on offer.

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