DEAR EDITOR:

Amidst one of the most tumultuous weeks in U.S. history where we witnessed a president deploy troops to a U.S. city against the expressed demands of the state and local officials, a major escalation in the conflagration in the Middle East, and a political assassination, Trump’s big day finally arrived.

What transpired can only be described as a Greek comedy. His face foretells impending dread…

The parade in DC was forced to start a half hour early because of incoming weather.

But the real problem wasn’t the weather– it was crowd size.

As the parade began, news outlets on the ground all reported the crowd estimated to be 200,000 people.

The U.S. Army’s speaker system blared “Fortunate Son,” a famous song about the working-class people who are forced to go to war and lose everything while draft dodgers like Trump simply pay for a phony doctor’s note.

Trump basically used $50 million of our tax money to humiliate himself. Outside the 10 miles of tall fencing and concertina wire wrapped around DC’s public buildings, and the empty streets now degraded from 30 ton tanks, a nationwide rebellion was afoot.

More than 8 million people came out today for #NoKings in the largest single-day anti-Trump protest in history.

The thousands of photos and videos online from #NoKings are testament to how many millions hit the streets, how positive our energy was, how peaceful and organized we are, that no amount of right-wing disinformation could obscure the stark reality: that our movement has the Juice!

Today we found our voice. Today we found each other. Today we reclaimed our flag.

Today we birthed a great and mighty social movement dedicated to saving our democracy from the predator oligarchs who are robbing all of us blind, while they buy politicians and direct our rage towards oppressed groups, like immigrants.

Today was the day we begin to turn the tables, not just on Donald Trump, but on the billionaire takers who contribute nothing to our society but an organized system of wealth extraction and widespread deprivation, bolstered by a coin-operated fascist presidency.

“Rise like Lions after slumber. In unvanquishable number, shake your chains to earth like dew. Which in sleep had fallen on you — Ye are many — they are few.”

BETTS THORPE ADGATE

Cortland