Published on Monday, February 20, 2017 byCommon Dreams On President's Day, Mass Crowds Say of Donald Trump: 'Not My President

"While we acknowledge that Donald Trump holds the current title, the policies he's trying to put in place are not the beliefs shared by the majority of the people."

by

Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

 18 Comments

"We do not accept Donald Trump as our president because he does not represent us." (Photo: @ImpeachTrump/Twitter)

From coast to coast and many places in between, thousands of people are marking the occasion of President's Day by voicing their opposition to the policies of their current president, Donald Trump.

Major "Not My President's Day" anti-Trump rallies are taking place Monday in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, while at least two dozen offshoot events are planned for other locations around the United States.

"Donald Trump stands against the progress we have worked hard to enact," the organizers of the Los Angeles event wrote in their call-to-action. "He does not represent our interests. He was voted in by a minority of the American public but governs as if there's no resistance. But there is—and on February 20th, we will honor previous presidents by exercising our Constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest everything Donald Trump stands for."

An organizer of the Knoxville, Tennessee march, David T. Payne, explained to the local News-Sentinel: "Saying 'Not My President' doesn't mean we believe the election wasn't legitimate, what we're saying is he's not a man who remains a legitimate leader. He's a man who has shown dictatorial tendencies. He has shown disrespect for American norms, for the legacies for America, and for America's place in the world. That is not a president we accept or are willing to try and work with and that's why we're marching."

Nova Calise, a television production manager and one of the organizers of the New York event, told USA Today: "While we acknowledge that Donald Trump holds the current title, the policies he's trying to put in place are not the beliefs shared by the majority of the people. We do not accept Donald Trump as our president because he does not represent us."

But he does work for us, as Charles P. Pierce wrote Monday in a column for Esquire:

I do not feel compelled to respect a president any more or less than I respect somebody I hire to fix my roof or paint my house. Whomever gets elected works for me. As to the office, well, I understand how it is a single unifying figure within the government, and how he—again, theoretically—represents the whole country. But, in my lifetime, the Oval Office has seen coups, burglaries, and illegal arms sales planned. It has been the venue for criminal mischief and illicit canoodling. That it is also the place where the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were signed is the great paradox. But the idea that I have to respect The Presidency qua The Presidency is something that raises the hackles in my democratic conscience.

"Perhaps the best way to celebrate President's Day this year is to recognize what the office is—and, especially, what it is not," Pierce wrote. "We do not serve as citizens at the pleasure of the president. He serves at ours."

Rewire was live-streaming the New York protest:

OurRevolutionTV was also live-streaming from protests nationwide:

In addition to marches and rallies, a national coalition of artists called BAD AND NASTY (also known as Bad Hombres and Nasty Women) is promoting resistance-themed events happening all day. Find one near you here.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License