Understanding Protests and Political Violence

We are resharing this episode, which originally published on May 6th, 2025. You’ve probably seen footage or photos of people protesting the Trump regime. Some data suggests that the volume of protestors is higher than in Trump’s first term. But at the same time, you might be wondering if we’re seeing enough civil resistance to preserve American democracy. Our guest this week is one of the authors of a study that found that just 3.5% of the population taking to the streets is enough to block authoritarian takeover. Erica Chenoweth is a political scientist at Harvard. They join to discuss historical and contemporary strategies for protesting, democratic backsliding, global comparisons and more.