Among the similarities of the 1,800 or so people taking part in the third No Kings protest in Aurora on Saturday, one quality really stood out: so much potty mouth.
“Donald Trump doesn’t give one s*** about people struggling to get by these days,” one woman with perfectly coiffed silvery white hair said as her friendly smile turned into a terse quiver while she talked about the president, his team and supporters.
She offered no apology for the profanity.
One very demure and clearly patient woman, walking slowly up Havana Street in the hot sun, did quip, “pardon my French” after she said that “for all I care, Trump can just f*** himself” before both Republicans and Democrats “impeach his fat ass” for the final time after the November election.
“He’s a stupid and sadistic asshole,” the woman’s pal chimed in, sporting a cheerful spring outfit and a demeanor right out of a Hallmark movie.
Almost everyone I talked to Saturday made it very, very clear, they’re “done” with asking people nicely to reconsider supporting a president who erupts vast quantities of obvious and contradicting lies. Every. Single. Day. Normally, several times a day.
There were plenty of folks who made clear this was not their first No Kings rodeo, having attended the two previous rallies at the intersection of South Havana Street and Parker Road.
But of the dozens of people I talked to Saturday, most of them were there for the first time, and many said they’d never attended a political rally or protest in their lives.
“Even (President Richard) Nixon wasn’t as corrupt and addled as Trump,” said a man who was waving a sign that said, “No Faux King Way.”
Many at the rally were older folks, beyond their 50s and 60s, and many were even far beyond that. There was no shortage of walkers, canes and portable chairs dotting the crowds of people chanting or waving all manner of signs as a seemingly endless river of honking horns and cheers from passing cars accompanied the near-festival-like event.
The crowd was thick with furrowed brows and shaking heads as protesters discussed among themselves the latest developments in the Iran War, the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, quackery instead of medical science, and, above all, the incessant lying.
While their prime complaints and worries about Trump varied from the loss of free speech to creating a nation framed once again by white supremacy, almost everyone carrying a sign or taking a moment to talk was focused on Trump’s threat to American democracy and the rule of law.
But the thing that struck me most of all among the folks I stopped to talk to in the several-blocks-long line of protesters chanting, waving and hoisting signs from Parker Road as it wrapped around to South Havana Street, was the disgust.
Sure, everyone there made it clear how repugnant they believe Trump is, but their disgust was for the people who saw the same thing and either looked away, or worse, said they didn’t care, or even liked it.
“What is it” that makes them behave like that? a very exasperated Karin Bentley asked, holding one side of an American flag with a pal, whose protest sign read, “This is not a left or right moment. It’s a right or wrong moment.”
Bently hails from Heidelberg, Germany. She married a U.S. serviceman when she was 28 and moved here in 1979.
Expecting that some day she would want to go back, she instead became a U.S. citizen, a nurse and has loved the U.S., and Aurora, with a passion.
She said that Americans are losing the ability to think for themselves. They don’t question things that are painfully questionable. By turning away from traditional, trusted news sources, people are becoming insulated from reality and truth.
Her family made it clear to her as a young woman that’s exactly what happened in Germany as Hitler and the Nazis gained power.
“People just didn’t know what was happening” until it was too late, she said.
Aurora resident Kathy Groth said some people know all too well what’s going on, and they like it.
She said she thinks many Americans are regularly looking for a fall guy, someone to blame for just about everything they don’t like. She said Trump plays to many Americans who point the finger at “others” and “them” as quick and easy targets. They’re Americans who are driven by fear.
While most Americans, even when they’re stressed, roll out some sense of compassion and sympathy to underdogs when times are tough, there’s a small but vocal minority of Americans, running the country right now, who are charged with cruelty and indifference.
Her father was a prisoner of war during World War II, and he was tortured by his captors. He told her the government at the time silenced victims and the media from making clear how ghastly American servicemen had been treated.
She sees the same thing now, only worse. Millions of immigrants and Americans are being abused on all kinds of levels, and the government wants to divert and even suppress the news.
“There is no difference between that and the Nazis,” Groth said.
Her disgust was punctuated with a well-chosen assortment of four-letter words.
Only Connie Block offered no profanity with a shy smile and a solid grip on her sign pole for the sign that said, “It’s so bad that even the INTROVERTS are here.”
She’d never protested before.
“But I can’t stay home anymore,” she said. “I can’t let Trump turn this country into something it was never meant to be.”
Damn straight.
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Sounds like the constant comparison between Trump and Hitler and Nazis has really taken hold with many of the geriatric voters you interviewed at the rally. Democratic Party leaders were no fools when they and their think-tank mentors decided on using these WWII comparisons and repeating them over and over again non-stop. Unfortunately, this strategy has also led to much of the street-mob violence against Federal officers we have seen, and indirectly to the death of two American citizens. Did you ask any of them how they felt about that?
All while the left in Colorado want to give the Governor four seats on a smaller RTD board — and quadruple the signature requirements to get on the ballot.
Hypocracy straight up.
The one sentence that really resonated with me was, ” some people don’t question things that are painfully questionable.” This was definitely not the problem in the 60s! Which set a inquisitive mindset for me and caused me to read real, established, and verifiable news voraciously. This is the wonderful USA, where everyone may voice their opinion, and I respect that. What is definitely different is that people with disgreements can no longer voice them without epithets and respect. I recall having vigorous political arguments at the lunch counter and meeting with those same people the next day respecting and liking them for their obvious shared fervor. I knew people who were vigorously opposed to my viewpoint, who did so from an informed stance. I can’t say that anymore. My own brother sends me stuff from websites that trade in conspiracy theories consistently and he does nothing to prove the voracity of his claims. It’s very frustrating!