> this level of participation would never happen in the US

It probably would. We just don’t have an issue that imminently and clearly threatens the wellbeing of 2/7ths of the population, and for which a simple solution (e.g. withdrawing a bill) presents itself.

When American cities get pissed off and form a consensus, they certainly turn out.

I’m sure more than 2/7 of the population would argue the current president immediately threatens their wellbeing, but won’t demonstrate to show it.

I bet that if you didn’t tell people who was president, the vast majority of Americans would notice exactly no differences between the last president. Slightly different tax rates and slightly different employment rates maybe, but practically no detectable difference. People’s retirement accounts are still healthy, people have jobs, wage growth (or non growth) is similar. The only difference is the level and type of rhetoric. Businesses might notice that it’s a bit easier to get things done, but the actual change between Obama and Trump is benign when you take the media out of it. Deportations of illegal aliens was actually higher under Obama if that’s your issue. But the US is characterized by stability and even under Trump, the US is a functionally stable as it has ever been. Under Reagan, a certain element was convinced the sky was falling, under Obama, the same thing. The US isn’t perfect, but it’s all going along reasonably well. The media likes to create non-stop urgency over everything, but that helps them sell more ads. I don’t buy into the hype that the world is ending. We could always be better and not everyone will ever be happy, but for most of us, American politics is two sides of the same coin and we like it like that. We don’t want revolutionary shifts every four or eight years; we want stability and predictability — that’s why our economy is so strong and our currency so safe.

Nobody’s wellbeing is being immediately affected by this president any more than the last one.

Very few people in the USA feel that their wellbeing is being threatened by Trump in the same way that many people in HK feel threatened by the Chinese government.

You're wrong about that. It's a lot more obvious in Hong Kong because they're concentrated in a relatively small geographic area.

As a relative portion of the population, no. 2/7 of the US population don’t think that Trump is going to result in their being thrown into essentially concentration camps. He’s horrible, but it won’t result in that.

Looks like we disagree.

If they earnestly believe their wellbeing is immediately threatened, then what is your theory for why they don't care to mass protest about it?

I wouldn't be so sure. If the entire US decided to gang up on one city, especially a city with a strong identity (New York or Boston) then you might see this.

Look at how New York responded after 9/11. Now put yourself in the shoes of the people of Hong Kong. When a group of people come to believe they are facing an existential threat, they respond in extraordinary ways.

The last massive protests that looked like this took place in multiple cities over several weeks. That was leading up to the Iraq war. They were ignored.

Were the Iraq war protesters facing existential threats? No. So the situations are not comparable.

Imagine if the US passed a law allowing Southern States to extradite, prosecute, and imprison anyone in New York for criticizing the Republican party. You'd have ten million New Yorkers out in full force.

That is the magnitude of this situation.

Because we can do it every 4 years while they have to bottle it up for a long time

If you create an infinite array of dialectics, you can destroy all cohesiveness and ensure that the individual is the highest level of organization in society.

I feel the opposite, I’m glad we don’t need these protests because the solution is to just go out and vote.

We aren’t being oppressed. If the US decided to suspend the first and second amendments, start soviet style “collectivization,” or other extreme attacks on freedom, Americans would take to the streets as well. The US, despite cynicism of a select few, still operates under a Constitution with reasonably well functioning institutions. If people want something in the US, there are elections with results that are respected (mostly.) Trump being elected, Ocasio-Cortez being elected — examples of elections that came from people being frustrated with whatever frustrates them. Obama’s election was the same way. Being a republic is messy and imperfect, but change can happen when enough people want it. We don’t have to riot in the streets because rarely is anything bad enough at an individual level to warrant such action.

What do you expect us to rally for? Genderless bathrooms?

How about : "how come we have more than 500.000 people file for bankruptcy every year, due to medical bills?"

That’s bad. It’s not nearly as bad as “my way of life and the way of life for all my friends and family is completely at risk”

Filing for bankrupcy doesn't sound even nearly as scary as being extradited into China.

We're killing people in concentration camps and the administration fairly wallows in corruption.