Donald Trump supporters are staging the first round in a wave of conservative rallies in Atlanta on Monday to push back against the explosive protests and town hall meetings by the president's critics.

Georgia tea party guru Debbie Dooley is helping to organize the "Spirit of America" events across the nation, which she said are open to anyone supporting Trump in his efforts to "bring back manufacturing jobs to America, put the security of our nation ahead of political correctness" and other staples of the president's campaign rhetoric.

The event will be at the Liberty Plaza - across the street from the statehouse - at noon. It follows a rally held on Saturday at the Okefenokee Fairgrounds in southeast Georgia that featured  state Sens. Michael Williams and Josh McKoon among the slate of speakers.

"People are kind of confused in Washington because he got elected - and then he did precisely what he said he was going to do," said McKoon, a Columbus Republican, who said he spends more time at the Legislature fighting "elitists" than Democrats. "The sneering contempt of people in leadership positions was turned back, finally, on Nov. 8 when people like you showed up."

In a note to supporters, Dooley implored demonstrators not to bring negative signs and to keep the tone "positive, patriotic and uplifting."

"President Trump is under attack from the left, so we need to show the left we support President Trump," Dooley wrote.

It's a direct response to an avalanche of political activism that has swept up Democrats and other Trump critics since his election.

Opponents of Trump's policies have marched in the streets of the state's biggest cities, sent a barrage of phone calls to GOP lawmakers and held a spate of town halls to try to channel that anger into activity. The size and scope of the movement has stunned even longtime Democratic activists who have seen the ebb and flow of movements such as the Moral Monday protests.

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8/26/17 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia leaders, including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sandra Deal, members of the King family, and Rep. Calvin Smyre,  were on hand for unveiling of the first statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the statehouse grounds, more than three years after Gov. Nathan Deal first announced the project.  During the hour-long ceremony leading to the unveiling of the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the state Capitol on Monday, many speakers, including Gov. Nathan Deal, spoke of King's biography. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of King's famed "I Have Dream" speech. BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres