The Women’s March has faced controversy and division. Will rebranding be enough? | News about Donald Trump

But the organization continued. In 2018, leaders of the Women’s March helped rally against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh while facing questions about allegations of sexual abuse.

Then, in 2020, they held a vigil for the late Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburgwho was known for her work on gender equality.

And in 2022, when the Supreme Court is at the end fell over federal abortion rights, organizers of the Women’s March launched a “summer of rage,” with protests from coast to coast.

But the group also continued to endure controversy about its membership.

In 2018, for example, a founding member claimed she was ousted from her leadership role because of her Jewish faith. Outcries of anti-Semitism prompted other leaders to step down. Critics have also accused the group of siding with people of color and glossing over feminism.

By 2019, the movement had much smaller numbers than in previous annual marches, leaving some participants disappointed.

The organization has since brought in new leadership such as Tamika Middleton, its executive director since 2021. She admits that the organization has had to evolve to keep up with the times.

“I think we’re always learning and I think we’re always practicing, right?” she said. “Our values ​​don’t always come across in our practice the way we intend.”

Middleton, who describes herself as part of the “southern black radical tradition”, told Al Jazeera that this year’s annual protest – called the People’s March – would not try to recreate the mass momentum of 2017.

Instead, he hopes Tuesday’s People’s March will bring together a broader coalition of activists interested in advancing the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and the poor, as well as women.

“We recognize the connection between all these battles and that there is a threat, there is an opposition that is outside of Trump,” Middleton said.

Shifting trends within the movement were on display last November when the Women’s March helped organize an impromptu protest outside the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

It was the weekend after the 2024 election, and Middleton noticed a difference in how protesters reacted to Trump’s latest victory.

“When Trump was first elected, there was a kind of anger that really grew, really quickly,” she explained. “And this time what we saw, yes, we saw some anger. We also saw frustration, we saw disappointment, we saw sadness. We saw a lot of sadness.”

For Marie, an activist who participated in the 2017 San Francisco march, the past four years under Democratic President Joe Biden have also contributed to a shift in public sentiment.

Under Biden, the US continued to provide unconditional military aid to its ally Israel – even as the Middle Eastern country waged a devastating 15-month war against Gaza, killing more than 46,800 Palestinians. United Nations experts they found that Israeli tactics in the enclave were “consistent with genocide”.

Marie explained that she sees the recent events as part of a “legacy of violence” that extends beyond party lines.

“Trump is not a bogeyman,” Marie said. “This is a nation that prioritizes bombs, and especially the bombing of children, over their education.”

Political change, she added, requires more sustained activism than an annual protest can provide.

“The action needed to change this government is not a few hours on a Saturday with a few signs,” said Marie. “We have left the domain of lovely protest.”