Latest news with #DoYouHearthePeopleSing?'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ahead of Trump address, hundreds protest in ‘People's Picnic' at North Carolina Capitol
More than 500 protesters gathered on the grounds of the North Carolina State Capitol to protest Donald Trump's administration. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline) Protesters dotted the North Carolina State Capitol grounds with picnic blankets and signs Tuesday as part of a people's picnic organized by the 50501 movement — marking the third such protest just over a month into Donald Trump's second term. The demonstration, which began shortly after noon, featured more flags and signs supporting Ukraine than the movement's two prior rallies in February, as attendees voiced outrage at the treatment of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to the White House last week. At the sit down, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Zelenskyy of 'gambling with World War Three' and berated him, according to CNN. Graphic designer David Prusko of Clayton, who came to Tuesday's protest bearing a 'Slava Ukraini' sign, said Trump's blow-up with Zelenskyy made him 'embarrassed to be an American.' Helen McNeill, who said this was her first 50501 protest, said she viewed the clash as 'a set up.' 'If he had shown up in a three-piece suit, they would have said he wasted money they gave him to buy the suit,' McNeill said. 'Trump wants him to bend the knee and kiss his feet.' The protest featured a number of musical performances, including songs by a protest music group known as the Piedmont Raging Grannies, who trace their origins to antiwar protests in Canada. Another speaker asked the crowd to join in and 'if you're unhappy and you know it, clap your hands.' Shortly after 1 p.m., the picnic's emcee belted out 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' from the play Les Misérables — a song intended to resist a king that the U.S. Army Chorus performed for Trump last month that many interpreted as an act of protest. 'They protested you at your own event and you were too stupid to get it,' posted Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) after the performance. Randy VanSlyke is a military veteran who spent 22 years serving in the army: 20 with the Michigan Army National Guard, and two in Germany in the early 1970s. He's appalled at the Trump administration's move to cut funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs and subsequently benefits for veterans. 'I did 22 years for this country, and they're going to take my benefits away that I put my life on the line for,' VanSlyke said. VanSlyke, who donned a U.S. Army cap and a 'Vets against Trump' sign, wore a shirt with a famous quote from Martin Niemöller following the Holocaust that reflects the speaker's inaction with standing up for different groups. First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me. – Martin Niemöller VanSlyke likened this with present times, pointing out how the administration is currently targeting immigrants. Afterwards, it'll move on to other groups, he said. With an eye toward events closer to home, protesters also voiced concerns over attempts to curb power from Democrats like North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson. Republicans in the state Senate filed last month a one-page bill to block Jackson from joining lawsuits against Trump's executive orders. 'We can't trust our elected officials to do what they were elected to do,' Stephanie Jolly said, carrying a sign saying 'silence is complicity.' Demonstrators gave voice to a backlash against layoffs of federal employees as well. Laura Thomas, who held a balloon shaped like Trump wearing a diaper, said she and her husband were planning their first cross country road trip, which included stops at national parks. 'We stand with Ukraine, we stand with the federal workers, save our national parks,' protesters chanted at one point. With the administration making cuts to the National Park Service and the president's recent executive order to increase logging in national forests, she's worried about access. 'We don't know if the parks will be open. We have a motorhome, we're hoping to camp at some of the parks,' Thomas said. 'That's a very, very small thing compared to what a lot of other people are going through, but the things that he's doing, it's a domino effect, it is going to affect everybody.' While Trump and Vance received much of the blowback from protesters, many also called out billionaires both within his administration and those who support it from outside. 'Our government is handing over every last bite to the billionaire class,' said Graham Johnson, who proudly identified as a 'queer, autistic, disabled citizen' of the U.S. 'My message to the billionaire class and the government that is upholding it is: 'Our pronouns are not a threat to you, our families are not a threat to you, our capacity for happiness is not a threat to you.'' In remarks to the crowd, Meschia McKelvie called on protesters to remember a list of billionaires she prepared on a whiteboard — including Office of Management and the Budget director Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025, as well as Republican megadonor Peter Thiel and blogger Curtis Yarvin, a proponent of monarchy in the U.S. 'These are names that are not being uttered, not nearly to the level that they should be,' McKelvie said. 'The richest and most powerful men in America are in the final stages of a decades-long plan to kill democracy and turn your country into a monarchy ruled by tech billionaires.' McKelvie wore a shirt reading 'Delay, Defend, Depose' — words that were infamously inscribed on the bullets allegedly used by Luigi Mangione to kill Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Asked whether she was concerned this might be viewed as an incitement to violence, she replied, 'I really don't care.' Crystal Free, standing with McKelvie, told NC Newsline about how her eight-year-old relative suffered severe brain damage after a traumatic car crash. After waking up from months in a coma, doctors wanted to send him to a rehabilitation facility. But insurance wouldn't cover the costs. 'This is actually a reaction to violence, because there are millions of people who lose their lives every day because of having insurance claims denied and delayed,' Free said.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Army Choir Sparks Confusion After Performing ‘Les Mis' Protest Song for Trump
The U.S. Army Choir performed 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' from 'Les Misérables' at the 2025 White House Governors Ball Saturday night — a choice that sparked confusion and mockery on social media. The president, who is said to be a fan of the musical, and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, were both in attendance at the event. As one person put it on Bluesky, 'It is clear S–tler Von Clownface thinks the song represents him.' The song choice prompted confusion, cheers and disappointment on social media. While some believed the choir chose the song as a form of protest, others pointed out that Trump previously played the song at 2016 and 2024 campaign events, indicating that he is just a fan an unaware of the irony that it's a protest song against tyranny. 'I think the idea the Army Choir was trolling Trump is wishful thinking,' wrote activist Zach Brand-Wiita on Bluesky. 'I love 'Les Mis' and it's a much more progressive story than people realize, but it's also big and bombastic and over-the-top romanticism schmaltz — the kind of stuff Trump loves. Sorry, this was just them singing a popular song.' Author Ana Visneski, pictured above, agreed. 'So, as much as I would like to think the Army choir singing 'Les Mis' was done in protest, the reality is that the song list had to be approved,' she wrote on the same platform. 'Also it is clear S–tler Von Clownface thinks the song represents him and his followers — he got in trouble for using the music in 2016.' Dan Scavino, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, clearly thought the performance was a positive one. 'It was a great honor to attend this evenings Governors Ball at the @WhiteHouse, hosted by @FLOTUS Melania and @POTUS @realDonaldTrump —thank you!' he wrote. Congressman Jim McGovern was quick to respond, apparently incorrectly: 'They picked 'Les Mis'—a musical about standing up to tyranny. They protested you at your own event and you were too stupid to get it.' In 2016 The Guardian reported the producer and co-creators of the musical released a joint statement after Trump played the song at a campaign event. 'The authors of 'Les Misérables' were not asked for permission and did not authorise or endorse usage of 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' at last [week's] Trump rally in Miami, and have never done so for any of the songs from the musical for this or any other political event,' they said. 'As the musical's popularity and universal message have been part of international popular culture for more than 30 years now, countless political and social movements around the world, including the first Bill Clinton and Obama campaigns, have independently embraced songs from the musical as a rallying cry for their own cause,' the group concluded. The post Army Choir Sparks Confusion After Performing 'Les Mis' Protest Song for Trump appeared first on TheWrap.
New York Times
13-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
For These 20-Somethings, Trump ‘Is Making It Sexy' to Be Republican
Amid a surge of youthful Republicanism in New York and nationwide, there has been an element of social cachet that has often proved elusive: In blunt terms, the word is 'cool.' Indeed, hamstrung by political beliefs that are often in opposition to those of major cultural figures, conservatives have frequently groused about the depiction of them as squares, including President Trump, whose hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center this week was seemingly led by a desire to make the venerable institution 'hot.' 'We made the presidency hot,' Mr. Trump said, speaking to the newly formed board, according to an audio recording obtained by Jake Tapper of CNN. 'So this should be easy.' It was in that spirit that a clutch of Mr. Trump's younger supporters assembled on Wednesday night at Centurion New York, a members-only club on the 55th floor of a building in Midtown Manhattan, to celebrate the nascent Republican administration, and assert their fashionableness — and their fealty to the new president. 'POTUS is making it sexy to be Republican again,' said Max Castroparedes, 27, a self-described 'international, globe-trotting consultant,' who was using the acronym for 'president of the United States.' 'He's making it glamorous to be a Republican again. He's making it great to be Republican again.' Mr. Castroparedes, a former special assistant at the Department of Homeland Security during Mr. Trump's first term, now works for Montfort, a company based in Palm Beach, Fla., that calls itself 'a specialized strategic advisory firm.' He had invited a dozen or so friends to assemble in a glass-walled room of Centurion, framed by sweeping views of the skyline, a soaring wall of wines and an imposing black chandelier. Men wore ties, women toted vintage Dior purses, and the playlist — said to be imported from Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's estate in Palm Beach — ran from classic rock ('Don't Stop Believin'') to classic Broadway ('Do You Hear the People Sing?' from 'Les Miserables') to something called 'The Trump Song,' a salsa-style number with a chorus of 'Oh my God, I will vote/I will vote, for Donald Trump.' (Mr. Castroparedes often asked the wait staff to turn the music up.) Exclusively under the age of 30 the group also, of course, came to drink and meet people, including one attendee who quietly admitted to being a Kamala Harris voter. That guest, a young gay man in his 20s, said he had noticed a rightward political drift in his social circle, but believed it was 'about proximity to power versus ideological conviction.' Of perhaps 100 friends, he said he would describe 'maybe a dozen as Trumpy.' The group is not alone in trying to make it cool to be a youthful G.O.P. fan: The New York Young Republican Club has been an increasingly visible presence on the cocktail circuit, complete with famous — and occasionally formerly incarcerated — guests like Stephen K. Bannon, the podcasting firebrand who was a headliner at a December gala for the group just weeks after being released from federal prison. The group also has less pricey celebrations, like a 'champagne, caviar and cocktails' event planned for later this month at a Prohibition-age speakeasy on the Lower East Side. 'But don't worry,' that invite read. 'We conservatives have nothing to hide!' That said, in the case of Mr. Castroparedes's party, which he had described as a gathering of 'MAGA Youth,' some of the guests were shy, asking a reporter and a photographer to avoid identifying them, and demurring when asked why they were there. One who would speak was Jairo Gonzalez Ward, 28, a consultant whose resemblance to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau might unsettle some in the Trump administration. But even Mr. Ward, whose company, Allume Consulting, had helped provide the rented aerie at the Centurion, said he was uncertain whether he would identify as a conservative or even as 'entirely political.' 'And I think this would apply to most people in the room,' Mr. Ward said. 'I don't think this room's a monolith. And I don't think the quote-unquote, conservative movement today is a monolith.' Still, Mr. Ward added, 'from a business perspective, what's happening right now is very interesting.' 'If there is a common denominator of people in the room and a sort of fundamental aspect of the administration, it's that there's a strict aversion to inertia,' he said. 'And that I appreciate.' Others were less equivocal in their beliefs, including a 29-year-old man, who asked not to be named because of professional concerns but said Mr. Trump was an idol of his. 'I loved him for many, many years,' the young man said, suggesting that he be described as 'an affluent Republican.' Much has been said of the recent inroads made by Republicans with young men — and 'bros,' that amorphous, often macho cadre populating 'the manoverse' — and the president did far better with young voters in 2024 compared with his loss in 2020. Bearing out that trend, one 23-year-old woman who attended the dinner said she had two friends back home in dependably Democratic California who had voted for Biden in 2020 and then switched to Trump in 2024. 'In 2020, it was considered cool to be a liberal,' she said, mentioning events like the Black Lives Matter protests. 'It was cool to be socially woke. And I feel like now people are so sick of it and they've seen the repercussions and they don't like the policies.' For his part, Mr. Castroparedes, who mentioned a desire to run for the U.S. Senate in his native Texas someday, said he wanted to replicate his dinners in other locations, as a kind of 'roadshow' of young Republican dining, in hopes of 'making elites comfortable' being openly conservative, which he simultaneously described as 'edgy' and 'the common-sense thing to do.' 'I think having more young people in politics is a good thing,' he said, gesturing at guests around a table and ticking off their credentials — two journalists, a health care expert, the scion of a famous Hollywood producer. 'They don't have to be political hacks like in Washington.'
