Rejection of Donald Trump Spreads Across the U.S.: “We Say No to Fascism!”

As if waking from the bad dream it had been submerged in all week, Los Angeles awoke shrouded in clouds, only to clear up with a bright Californian sun by nine-thirty in the morning, when the major protest against President Donald Trump and his conservative policies — or fascist ones, as many of the march’s signs read — began. This Saturday was the day of the grand No Kings march, which brought together citizens in over a thousand cities across the country. People of all ages, beliefs (from priests with collars to women wearing hijabs), physical conditions, races, or nationalities, millions took to the streets of cities and towns to raise their voices in defense of migrants and against the ultra-conservative policies of the Republican, who just turned 79 that Saturday and celebrated with a large military parade in the capital, Washington D.C.

The disdain for the grandiose gesture of the president, even more shocking in a country with 249 years of democratic and civic history, brought people out into the streets, from the capital itself to New York, Miami, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, where the protest was immense. The Los Angeles Times reported around 30,000 attendees, but there seemed to be many more gathered at City Hall, the nearby Gloria Molina Park, and the adjacent streets.

The city was in the spotlight this Saturday following protests that have been ongoing since last Friday, June 6, when hundreds of demonstrators began marching day after day in Downtown as a response to a major raid that resulted in around fifty arrests. Since then, the pulse of the strongly Democratic city and state against the federal government has intensified. Trump sent up to 2,000 National Guard members without the approval of the governor or the mayor, who imposed a night curfew in the center to prevent altercations.

However, on this Saturday, disturbances seemed to be left behind in Downtown Los Angeles, at least during the early hours of the day. There were marches throughout the city and the county, from Hollywood to Santa Monica, but the downtown protest was the main one. Even the subway, usually running at half capacity in a car-loving city, was full. In the first hour, leaders from civil and migrant rights groups spoke of “the real issues affecting ordinary people regarding access to healthcare and education, marginalized families, when this land has enough for everyone.”

After the speeches, the march began. In Los Angeles, it was peaceful and calm, with little law enforcement presence, except near official buildings. It was not until after four in the afternoon that the police ordered dispersal and launched tear gas. But before that, the atmosphere was calm. Elderly couples carrying signs, families with young children, groups of friends, and activist groups marched down Broadway, Grand Central Market, or Pershing Square, chanting “We say no to fascism!”, “Fuck Trump,” “Damn the immigration service,” or calling for the removal of ICE (the immigration service) from the city.

Under the nearly 30ºC of June in Los Angeles, demonstrators showed their creativity in signs, ranging from those criticizing ICE (whose acronym reads the same as ice, which allowed for many puns) to “No Kings, just Drag Queens” or those labeling Donald Trump as a fascist, rapist, egomaniac, traitor, or criminal, among other insults. Lily Martínez, 48 and daughter of Mexican immigrants, carried one that read “Immigrants are the heartbeat of Los Angeles.” Dressed and made up as a Catrina, with an American flag on her arm, she stated that it was essential for her to be there. “I am Mexican and Angelino. This is my culture, my pride; I am Mexican, American, Angelino, and immigrants are the heart of Los Angeles,” she asserted. “I am a citizen, but I am afraid. Because I have children who go to school and work; they are brown, they are Latino, and they could be kidnapped. My sister wasn’t deported, but she was detained by ICE when she was dropping her daughter off at school. Thank God they let her go, but with a lot of fear.”

On the other coast, eyes were on Washington. To ignore the military parade and shift the focus away from the capital, the No Kings platform excluded the District of Columbia from the protests organized nationwide, but other groups held their own demonstrations. The organization Refuse Fascism chose Logan Circle to start a march that moved through parts of downtown and ended at the White House. Hundreds participated in the mobilization, which proceeded peacefully until the fences protecting the perimeter of the White House stopped them.

Justin Tobey, a 30-year-old Californian lawyer living in DC, carried a sign that read “Fags against fascism.” “I am proudly gay, and I don’t know any gay person who supports this,” he said referring to the military parade. The threats made by the president in anticipation of potential protests that day encouraged him to participate. “Trump said if people protest, they will respond with force, and I don’t want to capitulate to that kind of threat, so here I am.” After witnessing the violence used to suppress the protests in Los Angeles this week, he admitted he was “a little scared.” “But I would feel worse if I didn’t come,” he said.

Born in California, he stated he had never seen anything like the deployment of the National Guard and Marines this week, which he considers “completely disproportionate and horrible.” Regarding the recent raids in California fields targeting farmworkers, Tobey said, “I see the videos of ICE chasing immigrants through the strawberry fields around my hometown. It’s truly terrifying and outrageous.”

Jess (prefers not to give her last name) is 19 and a medical student in Maryland. She attended the march in D.C. “to protest against Trump, who is forcibly and illegally kidnapping people and making immigrants who pay taxes, work for this country, and do not deserve to be separated from their families disappear.” Like the hundreds of people who participated in the march, she is highly critical of the military parade organized by Trump. “I find it very unsettling to have military personnel in Washington, D.C. like this. I have lived in the area my whole life, and it’s intimidating. It’s authoritarian.”

The parallel between Trump’s government and dictatorial regimes occupied a significant portion of the signs held by demonstrators. Images of Trump with a Hitler-style mustache, with the distinctive haircut of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, or kissing Russian President Vladimir Putin, appeared among the crowd.

Barbara Taushanoff traveled from Cleveland, Ohio, to participate in the march. At 69, she felt it necessary because “leaving Trump in the presidency is dangerous.” In her opinion, there needs to be an impeachment to remove the Republican from the White House. The deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles seemed to her to be a sign of the authoritarianism of this government, and she criticized Trump’s cabinet appointments, which she finds incompetent: “The government is for sale under his command. That is also related to authoritarianism.”

“If you are an immigrant and you are scared, people like me are with you”

Among the demonstrators crossing the country were furious people, but also those happy to finally take to the streets in a collective rejection after four months of Trump’s heavy hand. “I feel very angry about what is happening with my friends, with immigrants; it’s horrible,” says Ida María, 22, a resident of Saint Louis but visiting Columbia (Missouri). She holds a sign with a large butterfly and the phrase “Migration is natural,” wanting to ask people to be a bit more humane. “Sometimes, I don’t know what to do, but going to protests is a way of saying that I don’t feel good about this.”

Melissa Cantú, 31, a resident of Columbia from a Mexican family, also does not feel well. Together with her young son, she holds a sign that says “You see migrants, but I see my family.” “This is something personal; my son sees a family. I was born here, but I am Mexican to everyone,” she asserts. “We all have an uncle, a mother, a grandmother who is an immigrant. I am here for all of them.”

Even in South Florida, hundreds participated in protests in downtown Miami, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale despite threats from state authorities to deter the marches. Demonstrators held signs with messages such as “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion is a duty,” “Americans do not bow down to any king,” “Stop inhumane detentions and deportations,” while chanting slogans.

“It’s very important for the country to see that we are not happy with what is happening. We have checks and balances in the United States; the Executive Power is overstepping, and I don’t like that,” said Kitty Pierce, a tourist from Seattle who joined the protest on the Fort Lauderdale waterfront.

“I want the world to know that there are people in the United States who oppose the tyranny that Trump wants to impose,” said a demonstrator in downtown Miami who identified himself as Javier and came to condemn the detentions of undocumented immigrants. “We are a country of immigrants; we were founded by immigrants. If you are an immigrant and cannot come (to the protest) because you are scared, you are not alone; people like me are with you.”

With information from Maye Primera and Jesús Jank Curbelo