The protests began on the evening of July 16, 2018, the day Trump returned from his controversial summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. The first protest was informally organized by Philippe Reines, a political consultant and former spokesman for Hillary Clinton. Other activists took over from there, including Democratic political strategist Adam Parkhomenko, who said the protests were a response to "Donald Trump's total capitulation to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki Summit." The protests continued every night for four months, then switched to three nights a week.