Veterans Against the Coup
And please join Spencer Dirks and I for a Substack Live "Iowa Revolution" podcast on Wednesday at Noon
I was honored to stand among approximately 100 veterans protesting the Trump administration at the Iowa Capitol on Friday. I wrote about it here. I had read about the event on Facebook, and it seemed to me that it was largely a grassroots, decentralized effort.
I was fortunate enough to talk to one of the veterans at the event, Van Garmon, who shared his story with us in my column. While I’ve never met Van before, he’s one of those people who once you meet them you feel like you have known them forever.
After my column was published, Van reached out to give me some more information. Turns out I should have dug a little deeper into how widespread the protests were. They were in every state capitol and on the mall in Washington, D.C., and they were called “Veterans against the Coup.”
Above is a video Van posted to YouTube. The speaker is Marine Mike Totten who did three tours in Viet Nam. Please watch it. Mike is a formidable man with a strong message who speaks for veterans and the rest of us as the fascists Donald Trump and Elon Musk impose authoritarian rule.
Trump and Musk are ending lives and livelihoods, not just here, but around the world where the death count climbs as Donald Trump and Elon Musk work to make billionaires even richer. There is blood on their hands. Buckets of blood. Swimming pools of blood. Lakes of blood. And it’s on purpose.
Totten says “We need to do something now!”
Yes. No matter who we are, we can all do something. We can write and call our elected officials, we can share our thoughts with friends and relatives, finding comfort in those we trust. We can go to town halls whenever Republicans have them and express our opinions. Those town halls are becoming fewer and fewer as Americans express their anger. We can donate to progressive groups and local Democratic candidates, write letters to the editor of newspapers, and more. Protest if you are so inclined. Tell our Democratic leaders sitting on the sidelines to do something. Thank those Democratic leaders who dare to fight for us.
Most importantly, be safe. Take care of yourselves and those around you.
Know that you are not alone. There are millions of us. And as soon as many of our Republican friends, family, and neighbors who have been lied to by Trump, Musk, MAGA media, and Republican leaders, recognize what’s happened, there will be millions more. They have learned and will learn more.
Please show them some grace and welcome them.
I take comfort in knowing that Mike Totten, Van Garmon, and all of the veterans who attended Friday's rally at the Capitol in Des Moines have our backs.
As do the hundreds if not thousands of veterans in the video below at the anti-Trump protest on Friday outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Let’s stand with them and fight in any way we can.
I do this. You do you.
The tattered flags in this photo that I took on the east side of Des Moines reflect our tattered nation and state to me.
My friend Spencer Dirks and I do a podcast about politics (surprise!) titled “Iowa Revolution.” He does all the preparation, and I just show up. This week we thought we would do something a little different and do a Substack live event for all subscribers to Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture and Iowa Revolution.
The Substack live event will begin at noon (CT) this Wednesday, March 19. You will get an email that gives you the link to join us when we first go live.
If you like it, we’ll do it again and maybe make it a regular feature.
Thanks so much, and as is the case with all I do, it will be free for all subscribers.
Please consider sharing this post, and upgrading to a paid subscriber if you can afford it.
My content will always be free, as for over 60 years the words of Simon and Garfunkle in their 1964 song, “The Sound of Silence” have influenced me, “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls,” and I’m not going to paywall them out should they be interested in my writing. My favorite version is by “Disturbed.”
I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled The Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun! I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
Here is the Zoom link for this month’s Office Lounge for paid subscribers. It’s always held on the last Friday of the month at noon, except for November and December. I hope to see you on March 28.
Many of us who are Veterans, are gone, not from bullets and bombs, but from Corporate poisoning by Agent Orange, something that was denied for years as our fellow vets died in a thousand different ways, while disability was simply denied. Others died as a directly from lack of counciling for PTSD by committing suicide. Those who remain are survivors of untold disgraces by the public who simply didn't care, it was easier to blame us for what was policy coming down from Washington, while as warriors and support people, we had one job, to make it to the other end of our time in Vietnam and save each other! So, here we are, in the midst of an insurection, and no one seems to know what to do? Well, when the chance to do something was right in front of the Congress they chose not to. It wasn't about Democrat or Republican, it was about the rule of law, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! They had the guts to impeach Nixon, and he was gone! They could have impeached Reagan over his carrying on war in Central America, but by the time they got to their findings Reagan's mind was toast, but they should have laid it all out and shown what kind of a despot he really was, it might have slowed down the deteriation we see today. These Congressmen and even the President, swear an oath to defend the Constitution against all others foreign and domestic, it is the same oath we as veterans swore to. Obviously, they are all abandoning that oath! We, however, still abide by it! They are OUR REPRESENTATIVES, and if money is being represented and not us, they need to be gone! If they can't find a way to remove this traitor and his lackies, they all should be gone! I'm sure some would call that insurection, I, however, call it a "correction" for the failure of people to understand the truth that they are violating the rule of law by not acting and supporting the Constitution of these Unoted States of America!
I would like to personally thank the veterans (I hope they all now subscribe to your substack). Veterans know when our country is undermined and our future sabotaged. People often right about what veterans fought for. Veterans have the megaphones to shout about Trump/Musk destroying democratic safeguards.
I am not a vet---my dad and 4 uncles were all in WWII. As a lawyer, I represented veterans in trying to obtain VA benefits. I was always proud of this use of my bar license.