It was cold and windy on Feb. 17. Nevertheless, several hundred people showed up in Trenton for “Not My President’s Day,” part of a nationwide protest.
Demonstrators tended to be older, perhaps reflecting protest experience from a previous era.
I spoke to over 50 individuals, representing about 50 towns, asking, “What motivated you to come out in this Arctic weather?”
A Hopewell woman said: “I am so fed up with the way things are going, with the illegal actions by DOGE accessing private information. Furious!”
A couple from Bordentown said they were there to protest the administration’s attempt “to reshape the Constitution and the government.”
A Bordentownian woman said, “Acting collectively makes a difference.”
Similarly, a man from Lebanon Township said he was “Appalled by everything. At least I am doing something.”
“I’ve got to do something,” agreed a woman from Pennington.
A Trenton woman said: “I’m a political scientist.” Echoing a group chant, she said: “This is what democracy looks like. I am using my voice.”
A man from Hopewell said: “I am here to be heard.”
Women’s rights was a recurrent issue. “We have to fight for my nieces, my mother and my sister,” said an East Windsor woman.
A Cherry Hill woman said: “I’m here for my family, for human rights. My daughter deserves better.”
Fear was another persistent theme. One Ewing resident said he was here to “Save democracy. A lot of scary stuff is going on.”
A Flemington woman said she was “terrified by (President Donald) Trump and (Elon) Musk.”
A Robbinsville woman said: “I am enraged when I am not terrified.” Similarly, a man from Princeton said he was “enraged at lawlessness in the federal government.”
A woman who had driven from Fort Lee said: “I care about the future. I did not vote for Musk!” Another Bergen County woman said: “I have a small child, and I am worried about his future.”
A woman from Teaneck said: “New York was closer, but I felt my town needed representation here.”
A traveler from faraway Vineland said: “I’m here for social justice. It’s my civic duty.”
A resurrection of royalty was a repeated theme. An East Windsor woman wanted to “show support for democracy in the face of a king trying to run the country.”
“No Kings! No Musk,” exhorted a woman from Manahawkin.
A woman from Monroe said: “People are not seeing that a dictatorship is being created. They are closing the Department of Education. They are destroying brains.”
A civics teacher from Cedar Grove said that he came to “support the Constitution, to act against a threat not even the Founders foresaw. Real patriotism supports the Constitution.”
A Burlington man objected to a “felon president who is crushing allies, embracing adversaries, and placing us on the edge of the dissolution of democracy.”
A Cranford man called the president, “The biggest traitor since Benedict Arnold.”
An impassioned woman from Bridgewater said: “My grandfather left Italy to escape Mussolini. I’m here for my ancestors.”
A man from Lavallette was distressed by “how apathetic everyone is. We need a general strike.”
A Long Beach Islander said he came to “stand against billionaires, to support workers’ rights.”
Some folks cited religious motives. One Trenton man said: “I’m a Quaker. This administration is against everything I believe in.”
A Princeton student said: “I am a Christian. The mission of the church is to oppose this kind of behavior.”
Focus was as much on Musk as Trump. A South Brunswick man said: “Every level of the Constitution is being violated. I fear a Musk takeover.”
A Ewing man said he was horrified that “the presidency has been abdicated to Musk. Deport Musk!”
A Montclair man said: “Government can’t run this way. We can’t have this extremism.”
One Somerville resident said: “Trump is a puppet of Musk, infiltrating agencies of government. It’s a massive conflict of interest. Under the guise of cutting waste and fraud, they are really getting rid of programs they don’t like.”
A Metuchen man said: “Nobody elected Elon. Government tools and data sets are disappearing. We have to do something.”
“They are turning the country into an oligarchy,” said a woman from Jacobstown.
A Tinton Falls couple, both veterans, said: “We don’t like what’s going on. They are circumventing our rights. We need to stop the slide of democracy into authoritarianism.”
Practically everyone In the crowd was carrying a sign, some sententious, some funny, ranging from “Hate Never Made Democracy Great” to “So Bad Even Introverts Are Here.” One sign just read, “Nope!”
There were no speakers, no politicians, no celebrities. Just people eager to chant and, at one point, sing “America the Beautiful.”
