No Kings rally

 Wayne and I made our protest signs and participated in the No Kings- Anti-Trump rally in Ogden.  These were held all over the country in response to Trump’s heavy-handed immigration tactics with ICE roundups and the spending of 40 million dollars for a military parade on his birthday to stroke his big ego.  WHAT?!?  It’s beyond me. Spend the money on people (veterans) not birthday parades.  That's not who America is-- a military parade is more a North Korean thing to do.

  Anyway.  It felt like a very patriotic thing to do and be a part of.  We took our American flag and joined the crusade. I teared up several times just as we were pulling into the parking lot. We heard speeches and watched cars honk for or jeer at the protestors. We got flipped off and called terrorists. Oh well-- we know who we are and that we are on the right side of History!   At the rally, we sang the Star Spangled Banner and talked to some interesting people around us.  We found shade, so that was a plus.  Wayne’s sign said, “Good people can no longer be silent.”  ( on the back side… 3 branches of Gov’t not just one.)   Mine said, “People matter, Democracy matters, the Constitution matters.”   ( on the back side…Dump Trump! ) We enjoyed the signs around us. People are clever. One sign said… “OH my heck… even the Mormons are here!”    One said, “I love my country, that’s why I’m out here sweating.”  

Of course, the MAGA's are saying that Trump is not acting like a king, but within 150 days of taking office.. he is definitely acting like a fascist. Here's what I see.... He's ruling by executive order, defying the Supreme Court, using the richest man in the world to unconstitutionally dismantle federal agencies and hijack appropriated funds which is the responsibility of Congress ( per the constitution, Congress has the power of the purse and is the branch of govenrment responsible for deciding how our federal funds are used), federalizing the national guard against the wishes of the state and weaponizing the military aginst US citizens, going after judges and the free press, the arts and educaion. ( A shortlist includes Harvard and Columbia,the National Institute of Health and the CDC, the Department of Education, the Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian, and PBS/NPR).

Truman wrote this about the Protest and protesting in general.  He was at the UofU protest.

 ONCE UPON A PROTEST. by Tru

Once upon a time in 2020,

I was living in Portland.

And when the protests hit,

we didn’t just march.

We organized.

Helmets.

Goggles.

Signal threads.

Night after night. After night.

It felt like a war zone.

Flash bangs. Tear gas. Feds in unmarked vans.

We weren’t just angry—we were in it.

And while we were getting chased through the streets,

I’d check Instagram and see people back home

at brunch.

At Target.

Planning road trips.

And I remember thinking—

How is your life still happening?

Because ours wasn’t.

____

At first, it felt like the whole country had woken up.

Even in Utah, people were protesting.

My own family was holding signs.

And for a second, I really believed—

Maybe this is the moment.

Maybe people won’t go back to sleep this time.

But they did.

⸻

Except in Portland.

And Seattle.

And Minneapolis.

We kept showing up.

And suddenly, we weren’t inspiring anymore—

we were “too much.”

People said,

“We already protested this.

Why are you still out there?”

Because nothing was fixed.

Because people were still dying.

Because performative rage isn’t the same as actual change.

⸻

And yeah—there were policy wins after 2020. Some cities did the work. Some departments shifted. But this protest right now? This isn’t about policy. This is about a man who thinks he’s above it. Who doesn’t want to pass laws—he wants to be the law. We’re not dealing with broken systems anymore. We’re dealing with someone who wants to be the system itself. That’s what No King’s Day is really about. That’s why we’re here. ⸻ And here’s what I’ve learned: The system wants us to protest. They want us loud. They want us visible. Because they’ve figured it out: Let them scream, and they’ll feel like they did something. Let them march, and they’ll go home thinking it mattered.

Because most people do. ⸻ They’ve turned protest into a pressure valve. Not a revolution. Just a release. And if we fall for that again— if we give them another tidy, weekend protest with matching shirts and clever hashtags— they win. ⸻ I’ve done the part where you show up and watch everyone else drift away. Where the gas still burns in your lungs but the group chat’s gone quiet. Where you’re still fighting, and they’re at a baby shower.

So I’ll say it straight: If you’re showing up this No King’s Day, don’t treat it like a moment. This is a threshold. And you’re stepping into something bigger than a single day. ⸻ We don’t need more people screaming. We need people staying. So if you’re here—be here. Fully. Loudly. Longer than they expect you to. Because this isn’t a repeat. This is the unfinished one. And this time, we don’t walk away.