Millions gathered in cities across the United States on Saturday in protest of President Donald Trump and his administration, which they dub a monarchical ruling power that is stripping away the rights of American citizens.
“This corrupt system is waging a war on the working class,” speaker Adrian Rollins, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said to the crowd on the steps of the Utah state Capitol. “This is not freedom. It’s capitalism, freedom for the rich, wage labor for the rest of us.”
“I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Rollins, a Mexican-American veteran who served in Iraq, continued, “Not to a president, not to a politician, and not to a king.”
The “No Kings” rally in Salt Lake City saw around 3,500 attendees, according to an estimate by the Utah Highway Patrol, and thousands more participated in 11 other planned protests across the state, including in Provo, St. George and Park City. The event comes on the heels of a No Kings protest in June, where bystander Arthur Folasa “Afa” Ah Loo, 39, was fatally wounded by a security “peacemaker” at the event.
Organizers and other news outlets estimated larger crowds at the Salt Lake City rally, perhaps an indication that many came and went from the demonstration throughout the planned two-hour event.
More than 2,600 events were planned across the nation to protest the federal government.
Many protesters at the Capitol in Salt Lake City told the Deseret News they were fed up with how the country is being run. Rollins argued that the system is past reform.
“It must be replaced by a system that serves the people and nonprofits, where wealth, health care, (and) education are guaranteed, and ordinary people control the institutions that shape our lives. This system is socialism, and it means power in the hands of the people,” he said, followed by cries of support and cheering.
Another speaker, former Utah Teacher of the Year John Arthur, opened up his remarks by welcoming the crowd to the resistance.
“Every single morning, my students pledge allegiance to the flag,” Arthur said, noting that his students raise their voices when they get to the end of the pledge — “Liberty and justice for all,” to which the crowd repeatedly chanted.
As a father of two daughters, Arthur expressed the struggle parents have in trying to explain the state of the country to their children.
“I‘m constantly aware that the children are listening. The children are watching us right now. They’re taking it all in, and they’re waiting to see what we’re gonna do,” he said. “In my house, when my daughters were little, we referred to Donald Trump as the bad Orange Man.”
“How do I explain masked men coming into our cities, our states, our schools, children shackled in Chicago?” he said of the concerns parents have these days. “Our children are going to struggle to have clean air, clean water, clean food, a place to live here in this valley.”
The two parties: Fascism or anti-fascism
The U.S. is no longer divided between a two-party system, a protester said. “It’s fascism or anti fascism,” Carrie O’Neill told the Deseret News, “and that means I’m gonna vote Democratic Party, because I don’t have a better idea.”
The root of the problem, she said, isn’t just Trump but “is corporate buy-off, and it’s happened on both sides. That’s why we have gridlock. Solve the corporate buy-off of America, and we’ll get on our feet again.”
Many people shared a similar sentiment at Saturday’s protest. Yes, the demonstration was in objection to Trump, but many people told the Deseret News that they don’t feel represented by either the Republicans or Democrats.
“I just think the Democratic Party is just complacent. And I’m ... sick of it,” Erika Einreinhof said. However, she added that though she aligns more with Democrats on the sense of moral justice, she can understand why people she knows vote Republican.
Both O’Neill and Einreinhof said if they could choose who ran the country, they’d favor former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg or California Gov. Gavin Newsom, even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I just think anything at this point is better,” Einreinhof added. “Honestly, I would take Mitt Romney. I’d take Gov. Cox if he wanted to run. I hate him, but you know what? I’d take that over whatever ... is going on in Washington right now.”
“Trump makes a Watergate scandal look like nothing,” she said.
Living in fear every day
Protesters as young as 13 were expressing the fear they have in sharing their opinions of the Trump administration.
Nellie Hasler held up a sign that read “I am the same age as Anne Frank! Don’t let history repeat itself.” She told the Deseret News that she doesn’t want young people fearing for their lives.
“I know there are girls right now that are probably hiding because they don’t want to be deported, or their parents are being deported, and it’s just that that’s not OK. And I don’t want people to have to feel like that in their own country,” Nellie said.
Her mom and dad, Whitney and Josh Hasler, both held posters of their own and expressed the love they have for their country, but fear for the direction it’s headed.
“I use the word ‘terrifying’ on a daily basis, and I’ve never done that in my life,” Whitney said. She specifically is worried about First Amendment rights, like free speech and freedom of the press.
“I don’t want to have to live here being scared to speak out with what I think is true,” Nellie said, adding that once her parents got involved in protesting, it made her braver, “because I know when I come here, we’re not alone. We know there are people who are also fighting back. So if we can stick together and hopefully we can get over it.”
“I love the idea of making billionaires and kings afraid of the people, because they should be,” Destiny Clifford told the Deseret News. She quoted former President John F. Kennedy, who said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
She added that both sides are responsible for leaving the American people “with really no option. And so I’m really hoping that these kinds of protests change their mind and allow them to start working with the people, because things like Luigi Mangione will keep happening if they don’t.”
Around the nation
Rallies appeared to be calm for the most part across the U.S., as people packed Times Square in New York City and other well-known venues, and in other locations.