Back in 2016, two days after Donald Trump was elected president, thousands of protesters filled Denver's streets.
This time around, the protests started even smaller — though the first one, at least, was a lot smaller than 2016.
"The weather's going to be a big part of that," said Paul Nelson, a spokesperson for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, as snow dumped on a few dozen people holding signs and chanting on the Capitol steps Wednesday night.
But it wasn't just the cold that Nelson said might have discouraged protesters. It was politics, too.
"The campaign that the Democrats ran was completely demoralizing. They were tone-deaf on the needs of working class people and oppressed people across the country," he said. "As a result, a lot of people are probably adopting a really cynical view of American politics."
That was a big message at the event: The Democratic Party missed what people actually want, and may never understand. It's an idea that's being discussed across the nation this week, notably in a statement from Senator Bernie Sanders.
Nelson and fellow protesters railed against the two-party system, both parties' indifference to "oppressed" people and the power structures that underpin everything in this country.
Elsewhere, hundreds of people protested Trump's election in Chicago. A few were arrested at a smaller rally in Seattle. In New York City, people rallied for Palestinians and, like they did here, denounced Democrats as well as Trump
"The election will continue in the streets."
Those were Tom Chaney's words as he spoke from the bullhorn Wednesday night. The Teamsters Local 455 member tried to spark some optimism in his comrades.
"We all know Donald Trump is going to be our president. Now that’s going to really [expleitive] suck," he said. "That doesn't mean that were all going to die. That means things are going to get hard. Let's all remember, they didn't stop Black Lives Matter."
The crowd cheered in response.
"Now's the time to be brave," he added. "We have a long road ahead of us now."
Outside their anger about his victory, protesters highlighted Trump's threats of mass deportations, his promises to ramp up oil and gas production and their belief that neither candidate would deliver safety to Palestinians living under Israeli bombardment.
That rejection of both parties was a theme through the event.
"The Democrats will come beg for our votes in two years, and two years after that. But until then, we’re on our own," Hatem Teirelbar, who's spoken at pro-Palestinian protests through the last year, said to the crowd. "Maybe that sounds grim, but I find some hope in it. Because, as so many have said before, the masses, the people are the makers of history, not the two parties."
There's been a lot of ink spilled on the idea that Trump has fundamentally changed the Republican Party. The protesters on Wednesday, many of whom leaned far-left and communist, said there's no saving the Democratic party.
"People in this country, that oppose war and who oppose these tax breaks on the ultra wealthy and the corporations that are bleeding this country dry, those people deserve a party. The Democratic Party has shown they are no such party," Nelson said. "I'm of the mind that it needs to be something different."
Any movement to resist Trump will need to find some common ground.
Sarah Stapp and Solomon Smilack didn't know there would be a protest on Lincoln Street when they showed up with their signs. They just wanted to speak out, and the Capitol felt like the plce to be.
"I was here in 2016 and I'm back here in 2024," Stapp told us. "We’re going to keep fighting. We’re not done."
Her sign read, "NOT MY PRESIDENT." Her husband, Smilack, carried one that said "ABORT FOX NEWS."
Smilack said that the initial protest was small, in part, because the lack of a competitive primary had dampened Democratic involvement in the election. (Turnout is trending lower, too.)
"People were much more engaged in the political process in 2016, because we had primaries that year," he said. "We had a much longer path for engagement."
But there are also differences of opinion at play. Stapp said she'd be "celebrating in the streets" if Harris prevailed Tuesday night.
But Ryan Stitzel, an organizer with the Denver Aurora Community Action Committee, said he'd still be out shouting in the snow if Harris won.
"We absolutely would be, because we really want to push for a progressive agenda and we don't believe that any of these candidates are doing that," he told us. "If you look, everywhere where abortion rights are on the ballot, they're more popular than Kamala Harris. Where LGBTQ rights are on the ballot, they're more popular than Kamala Harris."
That disillusionment could impact protest movements emerging from this moment, he said. But he added: There's no time for that.
"I don't think they can afford to be burnt out," he said.
Nelson said it won't take long for marches and rallies like this to draw many more people. Once Trump is inaugurated, he'll surely give them reasons to speak out, he said.
"There will be more energy as people see what Trump does. He says his first 100 days are going to be pretty brutal," he told us. "I imagine that kind of oppression is going to breed a particular type of resistance."
