The protests, regardless of the views of participants, gave social cover to and reinforced the American nationalist framework promoted by Washington and the billionaire families it serves. Often in the guise of criticizing U. S. corporations and even the U.S. government, their real targets were governments of other countries mainly nations oppressed by the U.S. capitalist families and they appealed to Washington to pressure these governments, mostly through the weapon of trade tariffs and sanctions. They ended up prettifying U.S. imperialism as a supposed agent of progress and social enlightenment, rather than targeting it as the number one exploiter and warmonger in the world. In today's context of sharpening trade conflicts between the U.S. rulers and their capitalist competitors abroad, all these protests were in the America First camp, giving a social varnish to Washington's big stick. A couple of examples of seemingly progressive demands help illustrate the point.
Many protesters focus on concern over the environment.
One of the most prominent was for the restoration of a portion of the U.S. Endangered Species Act that supposedly protects sea turtles which are in danger of extinction from being killed in shrimp nets. U.S. capitalists who profit from the protectionist import ban. It is the toll of the capitalist market dominated by U.S. and other imperialists and the drive to reduce costs to compete that makes environmentally friendly equipment of little interest to the bosses. The campaign over the sea turtles points people toward identifying with the U.S. government. That's a dead giveaway of the American nationalist content of this demand and how it pits working people in this country against those in the Philippines, Malaysia, and elsewhere.