Not long after the Nov. 8 election, thousands of Americans took to the streets in protest of a presidential election, that many believed was stolen by an undemocratic, archaic Electoral College system that installed Republican candidate Donald Trump in the White House, despite the fact he had lost the popular vote by some 2.8 million ballots. Adding to the anger and fear across the country was Trump’s unabashedly racist, xenophobic and misogynist rhetoric, that at times provoked violence targeting protesters who attended his campaign rallies.
As the nation held its collective breath waiting to see what a Trump presidency would bring, anti-Trump activists got busy organizing protest rallies to coincide with the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. The most ambitious of these was what later came to be called the “Women’s March on Washington,” which grew out of a modest effort launched on a Facebook page. Exceeding all expectations the Women’s March on Jan. 21 swelled to become the largest national political protest in U.S. history. Protesters attending rallies in 673 cities and small towns in all 50 states across the U.S., as well as cities abroad, totaled more than 4 million, with one research team estimating that an amazing 1 in 10 Americans had joined one of the anti-Trump demonstrations that day.
Between The Lines covered the protests in Washington, D.C., during the inauguration of Donald Trump and the Women’s March which took place the following day. What follows is a series of brief interviews with people who explain in their own words why they had come from near and far to express opposition to Donald Trump and his agenda. We hear from first from Robin, Kathleen and Denise, from North Carolina. [Rush transcript.]
BETWEEN THE LINES:I was just wanting to know what brought you here today?
ROBIN:Injustice, and fear for my country and the world and the viability of our planet.
KATHLEEN:We are very concerned about Trump being our president and the damage he could potentially can do to our country and human rights in general.
DENISE:We believe that this president is unfit, that he was really illegally placed in office, that a lot of things happened before the election that were not kosher, with the FBI investigation, with possible Russian hacking. We believe he really shouldn’t be in office, that he really was illegally elected. He doesn’t believe in science, doesn’t believe in global warming, he’s a racist, he’s a misogynist. We’re very, very unhappy, so drove from North Carolina to be here today to say “no” to Trump.
BETWEEN THE LINES:Peter, from Washington, D.C. is a Vietnam veteran.
PETER:My sign says this veteran is embarrassed and ashamed and will resist.
BETWEEN THE LINES:Tell us a little bit what brought you out to the protest today at the inauguration.
PETER:I’m finding that President-Elect Trump, soon-to-be President Trump, is probably the least qualified person to ever serve as president. I find him morally repugnant. I find him lacking in intelligence and curiosity and just ill-informed on so many policy issues. And I think it’s important for the American people to come together, recognize what we’re facing, the challenges we’re facing, and to organize ourselves to prevent him doing much damage over the next four years.
BETWEEN THE LINES:Pat traveled to Washington from New Fairfield, Connecticut.
PAT:My sign says, “One person, one vote does not equal Donald Trump.” If we have a true democracy, it should be one person, one vote. He did not win the election! We’ve got a plutocracy. We’ve got people who buy influence in government. We have people who gerrymander and rig elections. It’s wrong. Why do the poor people on the West Coast even bother to vote? They’re part of the country. It’s wrong.
BETWEEN THE LINES:Ben, who lives in New York City, explains why he came to protest at the Trump inauguration.
BEN:Why I’m here today is so that all of the supporters of him can see the opposers, and so they can least see that there are people who are willing to come out here and say, “No, we don’t support this, as many as there are that say we do support this.” So maybe they’ll think twice before they say that harmful thing towards that person or they commit that harmful act, they’ll twice about their actions.
BETWEEN THE LINES:What are you planning to do over the next few years. Are you going to remain active? And if so, what is going to be your focus?
BEN:My focus right now, ideologically, is on the environment because that’s what I worry about the most. Of course, we all know that he has promised to pull out of the Paris accords, and he is appointed someone to his Cabinet that’s the CEO of Exxon. So, things were already looking bleak before that. I think that’s what I’m going to try to keep at the forefront of my mind over the next four years because without a good infrastructure and without a good environment to sustain all of this, and to sustain all this debate, how much of it matters? That’s what I have to ask.
BETWEEN THE LINES:We next hear from Melinda of Frederick, Maryland. What’s your big concern about Trump.
MELINDA:Everything he stands for, the entire Trump agenda. The number one this is him and Pence trying to control women’s bodies, not even my husband controls my uterus. Neither will Congress, not the president, nobody will control what I do with my body. And then how they stand with immigrants. I’m half immigrant; my dad’s from el Salvador, my husband’s from Asia. Why does he want to deport us? Everything that he stands for is just not right. It’s not right.
BETWEEN THE LINES:And what is your plan for the next four years? How are you going to be active on these issues?
MELINDA:I’m just pretty scared, to be honest. I’m just worried and – people coming together, people just coming together wherever people can. That’s where I’ll be, fighting the Trump agenda, because we won’t be able to accomplish anything unless we stand together and fight.
BETWEEN THE LINES:That was a series of interviews with people from all walks of life.
For more about the the inauguration protests, visit womensmarch.com; Women’s March on Washington- National Page – Facebook page at facebook.com/events/2169332969958991; Disrupt J20 at disruptj20.org; Inaugurate the Resistance at answercoalition.org/protest_on_inauguration_day; Refuse Fascism at refusefascism.org; Degenerate Artists Against Fascism at facebook.com/DegenerateArtists.
Related Links:
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Selected interviews with Inauguration Day and Women’s March protesters, produced by Scott Harris for Counterpoint broadcast, Jan. 21, 2017 (46:50)
- The Resistance Starts Now Interviews with Inauguration Day and Women’s March protesters, recorded and produced by Scott Harris in Washington, D.C. Jan. 20-21, 2017
- “More Than 1 in 100 Americans Marched against Donald Trump Saturday, Say Political Scientists,” Yahoo News, Jan. 22, 2017
- “Women’s March against Donald Trump is the largest day of protests in US history, say political scientists,” Independent, Jan. 23, 2017
- “Crowd Scientists Say Women’s March in Washington Had 3 Times More People Than Trump’s Inauguration,” New York Times, Jan. 22, 2017
- “MSNBC Editor: ‘Women’s March is Revival of the Progressive Movement,'” by Anna Manzo, Between The Lines’ senior web editor, Daily Kos (GlobalHealing), Jan. 24, 2017
- “After the March: 10 Actions to Take in Trump’s First 100 Days,” Alternet, Jan. 23, 2017
- ” The Women’s March Succeeded Because It Spoke to Women’s Outrage,” The Nation, Jan. 23, 2017
- ” Washington Diaries: From J20 to the Women’s March,” The Nation, Jan. 24, 2017
- “Uplifting, Heartbreaking, Enormous Crowds at Women’s Marches Around The World,” Mother Jones, Jan. 20, 2017
- “We Asked Protesters What They Pledge to Do for the Next 4 Years ,” Mother Jones, Jan. 21, 2017