If the West Bend protest Saturday against the policies of Donald Trump and Elon Musk is any measure of the nation-wide protest at noon Saturday, the collection of similar protests across the country amounts to a monumental display of frustration and anger by a large swath of American voters.
An estimated 400 hundred voters showed up at the northwest corner of the Main and Paradise intersection. They were there to express their pent-up disgust. Finally, they could vent their deep disappointment on where Trump is taking the country.
The outpouring of people carrying hand-made posters of opposition to the administration’s actions that reduced employees and programs across federal agencies stretched 100 yards north on Main and 100 yards west on Paradise. Their signs carried slogans like: “AMERICA WAS GREAT BEFORE TRUMP,” “STOP THE WRECKER-IN-CHIEF,” “TARIFFS ARE TAXES.”
Most of the protesters on the chilly day were Democrats, but there was a pretty good mixture of others as well, including the independents who swing the margin of victory in this very purple state of Wisconsin.
Car traffic was heavy at the corner and drivers honked as they passed by. A few gestured with the middle finger, but the big majority showed a thumbs up.
The nationwide protest was organized by a number of groups like Indivisible here, Women’s March, MoveOn, Working Families and Public Citizen. The 50501 group, which stands for 50 states, 50 capitals and one day, had a goal of 1000 rallies across the country and 500,000 protestors.
The decentralized model of protests worked effectively in West Bend and took place in more than 30 other communities in Wisconsin – from Ashland in the north to Kenosha in the south, from River Falls in the west to Manitowoc in the east.
Meanwhile, amidst a freefall in the stock markets in reaction to Trump’s blunderbuss attacks through tariffs on other countries, our president flew on Airforce One to Florida Friday to golf with his buddies. He has played about 20 rounds of golf in his first two and half months in office. The trips have been estimated at about $100,000 each for secret service detail, Airforce One, meals and lodging. One elderly, local protester said, “He should play golf 24/7; he can’t hurt the country while he is on the golf course.”
One group that stood out in the crowd was veterans, who wore caps of the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps. They were upset about his deep personnel cuts to the Veterans Administration that many rely on. They were upset by Trump’s pro-Putin posture in the Russian-Ukrainian war – in agreement with a majority of Americans. (The U.S. spends less than 5% of its defense budget on weapons and munitions sent to Ukraine.)
A previous protest occurred at a town hall meeting by Republican Rep. Scott Fitzgerald at West Bend City Hall. It drew about 100 people. The protest Saturday was much larger and much more vigorous.
One of the local organizers from Indivisible, a Democratic Party of Washington County member, Mary Ann Rzeszutek said the many RSVPs for the protest were heartwarming.
Former West Bend mayor Mike Miller and his wife Alice carried signs. He had never marched before, even during the 1960s. “I feel like a hippie,” he joked.
Additional protests are being regularly scheduled for weekends in West Bend and Cedarburg.
En route to his golf weekend, amidst a free-fall drop in the stock markets, Trump texted all in caps, “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL.”
How inscrutable is that? The protesters believe he is making America less great.
