US protesters on Trump: ‘He's shredding our constitution, our government'

The Guardian

9 hours ago

Millions of protestors gathered across the US on Saturday across thousands of events to protest against Donald Trump's administration in a planned series of events called 'No Kings'.
Organized by a coalition of groups, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, though they occurred on the same day Minnesota lawmakers were shot, and one killed, in political violence, and just a week after the federal government ordered military to descend on Los Angeles streets to quell protests there.
The Guardian spoke to dozens of protesters across the country about the mass demonstrations. Here is what they said.
A 56-year-old chef, originally from Argentina
'Other people have the right to work hard and make a life for themselves when they come from a country where they can't do that or are facing political oppression or are desperate,' he said. 'This is supposed to be the land of opportunity and a land built on immigrants.'
'It's a perverse show of power, unnecessarily,' he said of Trump's military parade in Washington. 'For the most part, the administration is pushing forth an agenda and people have been asleep at the wheel.'
Major, 71, is an honorably discharged Vietnam veteran. Rusty is a retired chemical company employee
Major said that he was there to protest everything that Trump has done over the past several decades, 'including not letting Black people rent his apartments in New York and arresting people for no reason just because they're people of color'.
'Being a veteran during the Vietnam era, I know a couple of guys who died in combat to fight for the things that Trump is destroying now.'
'If you don't stand up and make your voices heard, then change won't happen,' Rusty said. 'What he's doing is shredding our constitution, our government.'
Forty-five-year-old e-commerce worker
'There's a decline at the top of the country's leadership in respecting the laws of the land that were designed to guard against the abuses that they are committing against the people who live here.'
Dunphy said that he was protesting against the 'kidnapping by un-uniformed agents of quasi legal agencies,' Dunphy said. 'That's an 18th-century problem that we shouldn't be dealing with in the 21st century. There's a disregard of due process.'
Dunphy said he hoped that the nationwide protests would encourage elected officials to vocally oppose Trump's presidency. 'My assessment of the past five months is that it's a dismantling of a government that we've worked so hard to build in response to the unjust way things used to be.'
Minneapolis based accountant
McGowan carried a sign with the names of the two lawmakers – Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman – and a red heart. He made it this morning after the news broke about the shootings. 'We all know, for Americans, that democracy doesn't come with a guarantee of safety, and that you fight for that kind of thing,' he said.
'We are all affected by not just by political violence, but all violence in our lives. And there's way too much of it – way too much gun violence, way too much television hate, way too much inhumanity to your neighbors, and we need to push back on that and to contribute civility to our common good.'
Art conservationist
Normally, she said, when you attend a rally, you feel pumped up and recommitted to the cause. 'It's like some of that, plus mourning. It's just horrifying, and it's all so upsetting,' Cheronis said.
'It's really sad, especially someone who was not even a divisive character, a complete and total public servant, who had no dreams of going to Washington or some bigger stage, really just kind of working hard for the people,' she said of Hortman.
Mental health therapist
'Our flag has been conscripted by Maga, as though theirs is the only true patriotism,' one volunteer, mental health therapist Laura Gustavson, said, with an American flag. 'We're saying we're taking the flag back. It's part of our constitutional representation.'
Seventeen-year-old high school student
'I want to represent my Mexican culture, but I'm an American as well,' said said Sanchez, whose flag bore the images of the US flag and Mexican flag side by side
Miles, 64, and Urie, 74, traveled from Vermon
Miles wore a sandwich board reading '$30M TAKEN FROM OUR MILITARY'. Urie's board said 'IT'S NOT ABOUT LEFT VS RIGHT. IT'S ABOUT RIGHT VS WRONG'. Despite the seemingly overwhelmingly pro-Trump orientation of the crowd, the pair said they had received a positive reception from some soldiers.
'People said they appreciated us making our view known,' Miles said.
Army veteran, 40, who served in Iraq
'America does not do military parades like this,' he said. 'Everything is just authoritarianism. He's try to create chaos and become a dictator.'
'This is the nation's capital. This is exactly where we need to protest.'