Demonstrators start to gather for a "No Kings" march and rally in West Jefferson, NC on Saturday, June 14. Approximately 1,000 people attended the event. (Photo: Rob Schofield/NC Newsline)
Ashe County in far northwest North Carolina would seem like an unusual place for a large and energetic protest march – especially one that targeted the actions of a recently elected Republican president. Like the counties around it, Ashe has long been a GOP stronghold. In last November’s election, the 16,000 or so county residents who voted favored Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by 44 points.
And so it was that, on a sunny and warm morning this past Saturday, an out-of-town visitor was surprised to encounter an energetic crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered in picturesque downtown West Jefferson (population 1,346) to participate in a “No Kings Day” rally sponsored by an array of progressive advocacy and organizing groups.
The event, of course, was one of more than 1,500 that took place across the nation in response to Trump’s decision to hold a large, Putinesque military parade in Washington to commemorate his own birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
News reports indicate that, with a few notable and frightening exceptions in which pro-Trump counter-protesters attacked “No Kings” demonstrators, the overwhelming majority of the demonstrations were peaceful, and even celebratory.
That was certainly the case in West Jefferson, where organizers made a point of kicking off the event by publicly thanking local law enforcement officers for helping to arrange for permits and offering protection to marchers as they took part in a 30-minute-or-so walk though some of the town’s main streets. Demonstrators were also urged not to engage with a handful of Trump supporters – a few of whom shouted epithets from nearby sidewalks.
Like many other anti-Trump demonstrations, the West Jeff event featured a dizzying array of causes and scores of creative, often humorous, signs. Attendees expressed their anger at the national immigration crackdown and the arrest tactics being employed by ICE officers. Other marchers blasted cuts to education, healthcare, clean energy and voiced their support for abortion rights, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ equality. Many, not surprisingly, directed their anger directly at Trump and his autocratic pretensions.
But if there was an overarching, unifying, and most heartening theme to the event – one that helped draw together a broad and somewhat unusual group of political bedfellows – it was the simple idea that our nation is and should remain a constitutional democracy.
This fact was made especially evident in the presence of numerous military veterans who drew cheers and handshakes from progressive demonstrators – many of whom likely held differing views on some matters of American foreign policy, but who also shared a commitment to the U.S. remaining a nation of laws and due process.
This included veterans like James Jones, a retired veteran of the Gulf War and current National Park Service employee who addressed marchers proudly about his service in repelling Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein. While it seemed likely that many attendees – which featured a goodly number of seniors – may have held different views and memories about the wisdom and ultimate impacts of the Gulf War and the U.S. involvement in Iraq that followed, Jones drew loud applause when he described his service as part of a long and rich American tradition of resisting dictators and fascism.
Jones also made a point of sharing and describing a tragic situation that occurred on a cold, dark and rainy night during the war in which several of his comrades were lost to mistaken friendly fire while attempting to erect a temporary structure that was to house Iraqi prisoners of war. Their heroic sacrifice, he said, was emblematic of the kind of commitment to justice and the rule of law, rather than loyalty to any single leader, that are and should always be – even in times of war – the true hallmarks of the American military.
Jones’ remarks were echoed by U.S. Airforce veteran John Parsons, who attended the event with his wife Val while still looking trim and fit in the old uniform that he had worn while serving as a B-52 crew member decades before. When I asked him why he was there, he cited the need to stand up for “due process and the Constitution” to which he had sworn an oath while serving.
And it was in the presence and comments of these two men and several other vets in the crowd that one could sense one of the most encouraging aspects of the No Kings movement, and indeed, the first few months of the second Trump presidency.
Donald Trump clearly has the support of many Americans – a maddening percentage of whom appear ready to acquiesce, sheeplike, to his embrace of a brand of dictatorial one-man rule. But as a thousand or so ordinary Americans in a small town in western North Carolina and millions more across the country demonstrated Saturday, he also has a very obvious Achilles’ heel in this quest – the opposition of a diverse and even larger group of his fellow citizens.
These Americans may disagree on a lot of policies and priorities, but they’re united on one basic principle: that the United States is a nation of laws that no individual is above. And if Saturday is any indication, this is not a principle that Trump, try as he might, will ultimately succeed in destroying.
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