Donald Trump, meet SLO County’s resisters | Opinion
A parade of politicians spoke at Saturday’s anti-Trump, “Hands Off!” protest rally in downtown San Luis Obispo, but from where I stood at the back of the crowd, a bad egg was the center of attention.
More specifically, Mark Turner’s work of art — a three-dimensional sign of Donald Trump’s head emerging from a broken egg — had folks traipsing after Turner, asking to take photos. Permission was smilingly granted.
It was that kind of a laid-back day; people were stoked to be around like-minded folks on a sunny day in a beautiful city.
If it was a bit too hot, a little hard to move and nearly impossible to hear the speakers from the back of the crowd, no one was complaining — except about Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
That’s what the national day of protest was all about. To let the world know that there is, indeed, a resistance movement and it will not stay silent.
Hands off ... almost everything
The crowd skewed older, but all ages were represented.
Jamie Jacobson, a 12-year-old Los Osos middle-schooler, was there with his parents.
He carried a sign that said, “If I behaved like the president, I’d get detention.”
The sign was his mother’s idea, but Jamie — who says he knows “a lot” about Donald Trump — approved.
Hundreds of protesters carried handmade “Hands Off” signs that spoke to the issues most important to them.
Hands off our courts.
Hands off our bodies.
Hands off Medicare.
Hands off free speech.
Hands off the VA.
Hands off our parks.
Hands off wild horses.
Solidarity, validation, hope
The San Luis Obispo protest was one of hundreds throughout the nation; similar events took place in all 50 states and in some foreign capitals like London, Berlin and Paris.
It was an impressive display not only of resistance, but also of organization.
In San Luis Obispo County, Republicans — who at one point outnumbered Democrats, and still do in parts of the county — have generally been a beat or two ahead of Democrats when it comes to rallying their troops.
But that’s been changing; locally, the Democratic Party has become more cohesive.
It’s been paying off.
For example, when Republicans pushed through a gerrymandered map in 2021 that gave them an electoral advantage in three of the five districts, Democrats — along with independents and even some Republicans — fought it in court and ultimately won.
Saturday’s protest was a joint effort involving 50501 Central — a grassroots group that spearheaded the national day of protest — Indivisible San Luis Obispo County and San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party.
They pulled it off; there was even an unannounced visit from Rep. Salud Carbajal, who fired up the large crowd — especially when he called on them to “resist this ridiculous bulls--t.”
No one I spoke with was under any illusion that a day of protest would bring about instant change. Their expectations were more realistic that that.
“I’m hoping that it will be peaceful, and that we’re noticed,” said longtime San Luis Obispo resident Christie Cutter. (It was indeed peaceful, and it was impossible to miss.)
A young woman in a Smoky Bear “resist” T-shirt who declined to give her name summed up what the protest meant to her in three words:
“Solidarity.”
“Validation.”
“Hope.”
As for the guy who made the Trump-hatching-from-an-egg sign, he’s hoping independents, nonvoters and maybe even some Republicans will finally wake up and realize their president is — like his sign says — a truly bad egg.
