Dispatch from London

Hands across the sea with the HandsOff protest.

Time for a quick check-in.

As luck would have it, I had planned for some travel several months ago, and the timing was such that I wouldn’t be in the states for the Hands Off rallies. Fortunately, I could still participate from London, where there was a Hands Off rally in Trafalgar Square, a longstanding venue for protests of all sorts.

While the numbers here in London didn’t rival those crowds of thousands or tens of thousands in U.S. cities, there was a respectable crowd of between 300 and 400 people — a mix locals and American ex-pats.

Virtually everyone I chatted with is as baffled about Trump as still rational Americans are. Front of mind for most folks here seems to be the illogical and ever-changing tariffs that the orange menace has imposed. It seems like both politicians and average citizens are trying to understand what the response to the tariffs should be.

Of course, even with a successful response — whether it’s retaliatory tariffs or some other strategy — Trump will have achieved his usual goal of keeping everyone off balance so he can move onto his next set of heinous acts.

It would have been nice to have a drone with me to get some aerial views of the rally, but here’s the next best thing — some ground-level pics:

She’s not alone in that sentiment.

This group of Brits drove in from Kent to protest. They expressed to me how, as trans folks, they are keenly aware of the damage a bigoted govern can do to average citizens’ lives.

Yes, Elon is just as despised in the U.K. as he is in the U.S.

The rally crowd in front of the National Gallery.

The Hands Off rally was adjacent to a large anti-Erdogan rally. Same objectives, different dictators.

The resistance movement clearly has a long way to go, but it’s reassuring to know that there’s support from across the pond.