Hundreds of Thousands Protest Trump on Bay Area "No Kings" Day

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

The BART trains to the San Francisco parade were packed like New York City rush hour subways in the 1960's. It took half an hour get through the crowd in the 16th and Mission station. At the exit someone was distributing sheets with Rapid Response Network Hotline numbers for when you see ICE agents.

It looks like the nation might be waking up to the menace. There is more good news. Trump's military parade was pathetic. On the reviewing stand, the members of Trump's cabinet of clowns were introduced like talk show movie stars. Most marching solders were unarmed though some carried ceremonial wooden rifles. Lots of marching bands, Trump must have liked that. The crowds were sparse and it rained off and on. Maybe there is a God after all! If Kim Jong Un or Putin had been subjected to a similar display of their military might, their respective generals would have been executed.

The San Francisco No Kings march was enormous, perhaps three hundred thousand people. Starting on 19th and Dolores they marched to the Civic Center. One sign said "here is your parade." While many signs characterized Trump as a murderous Nazi racist, others mocked him. One, in the form of an Amazon for sale item for a pump, asked "why treat a manhood problem with a $45 million parade." Answering Trump's accusation that protesters were being paid, one held a sign assuring the world that he was there hating Trump for free.

Meanwhile, the horrors continue. The Gaza genocide and Netanyahu has attacked Iran. Trump did not want Netanyahu to attack Iran, hoping instead to make a "deal," perhaps a Trump resort and hotel in Tehran. But Netanyahu has long concluded that Trump is all show biz, cares only about making a splash, then losing interest. Seeing no actual foreign policy from the US, he has felt free to attack Iran.

Netanyahu does not want Iran to get the bomb not because it would be a threat to Israel, since Israel also has the bomb, but because it would provide Iran with the means to deter Israel. Netanyahu does not want to loose the option of ever attacking Iran.

As regards Ukraine, Putin is telling Trump to go fly a kite. But he calls Trump on the phone, chats him up for fifty minutes and wishes him Happy Birthday. This makes Trump happy and feel important. So all is well.

While Trump continues to inflict suffering on many people, his incompetence might be what can ultimately save the country. Just like the tariffs adventure and deportation schemes, he looses interest when things get complicated and messy. He has paused grabbing immigrants in hotels and farms. Stephen Miller, his Adolph Eichmann, will not get his 3000 Jews Latinos a day.

If opposition to Trump solidifies with the kind of mass action we saw on the 14th, the dawn might, just might, appear.

See all high resolution photos here.