Protest focused on saving democracy
Had it not been for a cold and messy post-snowstorm evening Tuesday, between 300 and 500 protesters might have participated in one of more than 600 nationwide rallies themed “Nobody is Above the Law,” a cry from Indivisible Columbia NY-19 to impeach President Donald J. Trump.
Still, the 50 people who showed up with signs and chants of “Dump Trump!” sent their message to U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-19, loud and clear.
The protesters wanted Delgado to vote in favor of the impeachment articles. Delgado already announced Sunday that he will do that very thing.
The U.S. House of Representatives debated Wednesday on whether to move ahead with Trump’s impeachment proceedings. Republicans, in their fashion, stalled, cajoled and played for time, all while denouncing Democrats as being politically motivated and denying all-but-irrefutable facts brought out in testimony during the House Intelligence Committee’s public impeachment hearings.
The small but vocal crowd was orderly and focused, not the howling mob that Trump concocts as trying to oust him. Protecting democracy was the order of the day. Rally organizer and Livingston Democrat Pam Kline was right when she said, “Democracy is a participatory sport.”
“No one is above the law,” said Hudson 2nd Ward Alderwoman Tiffany Garriga, summing up the theme of the protest. “For some reason [Trump] thinks that he is Superman. We have to show him we are super people. We have to show him we have the power.”
Hudson Mayor-elect Kamal Johnson called Trump a symptom of a general malaise spreading over the entire nation.
“Any symptom is any subjective evidence of a disease,” Johnson said. “That is what we’re seeing now...the disease of the presidency. The disease of leadership.”
Hard as it is for some Republicans to believe, Trump has lied, reversed his position a hundred times, made blatant racist and sexist comments and fanned the flames of hate. His reactionary policies will directly harm our economy and threaten U.S. alliances around the world. Delgado already said he will vote for impeachment. The protesters Tuesday reinforced the message that Trump’s flouting of the law has to stop.
