By Jim Bloch
“We’re not being governed,” read one protest sign. “We’re being looted.”
The sign referred to the $3 billion dollars that Trump has added to his net worth since returning to the presidency, according to the Brennan Center.
“Clean up on Aisle 47,” another read, referring to Trump as the country’s 47th president.
There were almost as many signs as protesters.
“ICE Out For Good.” “Warm Margheritas ‘cause F*k ICE.” “Impeach. Remove. Convict.” “Resist.” “Democracy Not Dictatorship.” “The End is Near, Donald.” “No Faux King Way.” “This Is Not Normal.” “Veterans Against Trump.” “No Dictators, No War.” “No Crown for The Clown,” with a picture of Trump in clown makeup. “Prevent Truth Decay. Impeach this Pedo Now.” “Pro Science. Education is a right.” “The Only Thing More Expensive than Education is Ignorance.”
“Cabinet of Clowns” at the Port Huron No Kings rally.
“Quiet Piggy,” read another, referring to Trump’s insult of a reporter; the sign featured the president with a pig snout.
A person in a dinosaur costume wore a sign that said, “Don’t Let Democracy Go Extinct.”
A woman painted Mario Rubio, RFK, Jr. and Pete Hegseth in clown makeup under the rubric “Cabinet of Clowns.”
“World’s Biggest Gashole,” featuring Trump in a gas jockey outfit, pump in hand, wearing a button the said, “Thanks for the votes, Suckers!”
Those were a fraction of the anti-Trump messages delivered by well over a thousand marchers in the No Kings rally March 28 in Port Huron, organized by Blue Water Indivisible.
The rally began at 1 p.m. at Pine Grove Park under bright blue skies as protesters filled the sidewalks and rights-of-way along Pine Grove Avenue. At 2 p.m., along both sides of
the roadway, the group marched south — into a stiff wind that made the 40-degree temperature feel like 25 — to the Military Street drawbridge over the Black River and then returned to the park.
There were nearly as many American flags being waved by marchers as protest signs. One person carried a blended American and Canadian flag.
According to No Kings, 124 rallies were scheduled in Michigan, including one in Algonac. The map did not include the rally in Lexington. Nor the tiny one on Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan, where one participant reported on Facebook that “I participated in the Beaver Island march. We were about 25 strong. That number also represents the high temp today.”
In Detroit, thousands of people marched on Woodward Avenue. Two marches were held in Ann Arbor.
No Kings organizers said eight million people attended 3,300 events on March 28, which they called “one of the largest single-day nonviolent nationwide protest in U.S. history.” About five million people participated in 2,100 rallies during the first No King rally last June, according to the organizers; seven million people participated in 2,700 events in October, after which Abigail Jackson, deputy White House press secretary, told USA Today, “Who cares?” Ahead of Saturday’s marches, Jackson called the protests “Trump derangement therapy sessions.”
A woman who grew up in Pleasant Ridge and now lives in California appears to have agreed on Facebook: “This is great therapy for the losers of the election.”
Since October, there has been no shortage of actions by Trump to further rile up his opponents. The flagship rally unfolded in Minnesota, where Alex Pretti and Rene Goode were shot and killed by ICE agents earlier this year. Trump has killed over 150 people in more than 40 bombings of alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. He kidnapped President Maduro and his wife from Venezuela. He started a war with Iran – with the consent of Israel, but not the U.S. Congress – that has driven up oil prices by more than 50 percent. Roughly 3,500 Iranians have been killed, including nearly 250 children, compared to 13 U.S. service members.
In February, Trump rescinded the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding that determined carbon dioxide threatened human health, allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate it. He has banned agencies from using words like “green,” and “emissions,” and removed data relating to climate change from government websites. He has fired scientists and dismantled climate research.
Meanwhile, Trump is splashing his name and likeness everywhere, including on U.S. currency. In December, he added his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. New battleships will be “Trump class” ships.
His self-aggrandizing, self-monetizing and often-illegal acts are so numerous and so dizzying that they’re hard to track.
“Hitler Didn’t Start with Camps,” read on the most elaborate signs in the Port Huron march. “He Started with Banning Books, Targeting the Press, Blaming Immigrants, Creating Enemies from Neighbors, Controlling Courts and Judges, Attacking Workers’ Rights, Spreading Lies and Conspiracy Theories, Using Religion as a Weapon, and Replacing Truth with Propaganda.”
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
