Protesters swarm Wilkes-Barre Public Square for 'No Kings' demonstration

Yahoo

15-06-2025

Jun. 14—WILKES-BARRE — On President Donald Trump's 79th birthday, the people of the Wyoming Valley gathered on Public Square to voice their displeasure with his policies and demeanor. The demonstration was one of countless "No Kings" protests which took place across the country on Saturday ahead of the Army's 250th anniversary military parade in Washington D.C.
The demonstrators in Wilkes-Barre pulled no punches when discussing Trump and his second administration. Many held signs and other anti-Trump props, as well as American flags.
Jessica Darraugh laid out a number of the policies she and hundreds of others around the square were protesting. She cited the Trump administration's aggressive immigration policies, threats to due process, and spending cuts to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as some of the reasons for protest.
In addition, she referred to the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump, who has been found liable for sexual abuse, as setting a poor example for the nation.
"Another main reason for me is just kindness," Darraugh, a mother and educator, said of her presence at the demonstration on Saturday. "We have somebody leading our country who is a bully and calls people names, and that's not the kind of person I want my children or my students to look up to and follow."
David Daley compared Trump and his administration to the reign of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, and lobbed a number of personal attacks at Trump.
"Donald Trump is a moron, an idiot, a fool, a failure," Daley said. He called Trump an anti-union person with multiple bankruptcies to his name, and further claimed, on a more personal note, that Trump owes him $4,000 in wages from a project he worked on in Atlantic City.
"He doesn't believe in civil rights, so I don't support him whatsoever," Daley stated. "I rue the day he was born and will honor the day he dies."
The "No Kings" theme of the protest was a frequent motif referenced by the demonstrators.
Janet Desormo was clear in her reasoning for going to Public Square on Saturday. She had history on her mind as she explained what she saw as governmental overreaches by the Trump administration.
"I want everyone to know that we don't have kings here in America. We fought 200-plus years ago, and it's not right," Desormo explained, referring to the American Revolutionary War, which was fought against the monarchical British Empire in the 1770s and 1780s. "[Trump] is vile. There's no emperor here."
Desormo brought up a number of specific policy positions she finds to be unacceptable, such as the cuts to Medicaid that would almost certainly come from the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed the House of Representatives on May 22.
"Everybody wants to be equal," said Desormo. "They don't want to have their retirement taken away. They don't want their Medicaid taken away. They don't want anything taken away. They want to be able to live in peace, not chaos and martial law."
'We're not going to put up with the lies'
A small contingent of Trump's supporters, led by NEPA Republicans' TJ Fitzgerald, gathered on the corner of Public Square near South Main Street. The message from Fitzgerald and the counter-protesters was clear.
"We're not going to put up with the lies," said Fitzgerald.
Specifically, he bluntly dismissed the protesters' assertion that Trump is a "king."
"Is there a king? Is there a crown? Is there a throne?" Fitzgerald asked. "Is there Congress? Is there a judicial system? Kings don't have that, so obviously it's a lie. Another lie."
Fitzgerald said that he was pushed by those in the "No Kings" group, though Wilkes-Barre police officers on the scene could not confirm any physical altercations between the opposing sides. The police closed traffic to Public Square during the height of the protest and patrolled the area closely to prohibit confrontations between the two groups.
Nevertheless, the two sides traded verbal barbs through megaphones from across the street.
Sticking to the point
Mel Nelson and Barbara Bullions were on the "No Kings" side of things, with the latter suggesting that the Trump supporters opposing them should be disregarded.
"I think they should just be ignored," Bullions said. "Why respond to them? They're just a dozen guys."
Both Nelson and Bullions referred to recent displays of violence directed towards Democratic politicians. Nelson expressed her distaste for the forcible removal of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, while Bullions pointed out that two state politicians had been shot in Minnesota on Saturday.
The main focus of the demonstration, however, remained on Trump.
"We decided to come out with our signs, because it is so important to get the people's demeanor in place," Nelson said. "Because it is just very frustrating, the information coming out of Trump's cabinet and the untruths. They're not telling the truth."