On both sides of the Hudson, protesters counter Trump's message to West Point's cadets
President Donald Trump sported a red Make America Great Again cap during his address to graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy Saturday, evoking themes of patriotism, strength and military might.
"We are putting America first,' Trump told West Point's class of 2025. 'We have to rebuild and defend our nation."
Across the Hudson River in Garrison, the academy's stone towers serving as a backdrop, anti-Trump protesters joined in singing Woody Guthrie's 'This Land is Your Land' and 'America the Beautiful.'
They toted American flags and signs with a portrait of George Washington, whose Continental Army faced off the British in a spot not far from here during the American Revolution. 'This man saved America from a tyrant. No More Tyrants! ' they read.
Baila Lemonik's faded pink hat, studded with peace signs surrounding a 'Not My President' button, was her answer to Trump's MAGA cap.
'We don't particularly care for the current administration in Washington because they don't care about us,' said Lemonik of Mahopac, a leader of the group Putnam Progressives.
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Trump, she suggested, had hijacked the true meaning of patriotism for his own political gain. She and the others who gathered at Garrison Landing Saturday were there to take it back.
'We're patriots because we take care of people,' Lemonik added. 'That's what you do. If someone doesn't have something you help them get it… They're taking away people's healthcare. People are going to die.'
Trump's address to the West Point graduating class, like his first in 2020, inspired spirited and peaceful protests on both sides of the Hudson Saturday.
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Outside the academy's Thayer Gate greeting attendees to the morning graduation were dozens of protesters carrying signs offering a different take on Army's familiar rallying cry for its contests with the rival U.S. Naval Academy.
'Go Army, Beat Fascism' and 'Go Army, Beat Tyranny,' they read.
'We're here supporting our corps of cadets and the graduates from West Point and we are trying to let the people know who are coming here that we support them but we do not support the president,' said Laurie Tautel, a Democrat and Orange County Legislator.
At Garrison Landing, a small flotilla of kayaks cruised the shoreline toting anti-Trump signs, accompanied by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Across the river a Coast Guard boat kept watch along the academy's shoreline west of the Hudson.
'This is our river,' said Trisha Mulligan of Garrison. 'We're trying to take it back…The MAGA has absconded with the flag and changed its meaning and so we're trying to bring it back.'
Organizer Peter Bynum said Trump has undermined the principles of democracy and the rule of law envisioned by Washington and the nation's founders.
'What a slap in the face to patriots,' Bynum said.
Karen Freede, a retired teacher from Putnam Valley, said she joined Saturday's protest because she fears for the country's future.
'Our president is not doing his job,' Freede said. "He is not for the people. He is working really hard for himself and his branding. He wants to be a dictator."
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network's New York State team. He's won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that's included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Protesters counter Trump's message to West Point's graduating cadets
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