Veterans Hold Anti-Trump Protest in Des Moines
And Minnesota Governor Tim Walz rallies Democrats at Roosevelt High School...
It was a day for Democratic resistance to the Trump administration in Des Moines on Friday. I had seen on Facebook that there was going to be a veteran’s protest against the Trump Administration’s actions—in particular those against veterans—at the Capitol, and then I planned to join the crowd at Roosevelt High School to hear what Minnesota Governor and former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz had to say.
The veteran’s protest was attended by a loosely organized group of about 100 people. There was no apparent leader, and veterans rose to speak as the spirit moved them. Later at the Walz event, a woman overheard me tell someone about the protest, and she told me that these events were happening at Capitols across the nation and that one had also been held in Iowa City, and that the crowd there was large.
There was lots of vitriol shared about Trump and Musk, Governor Reynolds, and the entire Iowa Republican Congressional delegation. Aside from Trump and Musk, most of the rage was centered on Senator Joni Ernst and Congressman Zach Nunn.
One young woman, maybe a teenager or in her early 20’s spoke, telling us something like, “I’m not in the military, but I’m a military brat. My Mom served and gets her treatment at the VA. I knew my Mom’s Social Security number before I could spell my middle name.”
These veterans have served their country and know that the Trump administration and the Iowa Republican leadership are failing them, the rest of the nation, and the world.
Above is a disgusting image. An insult to our flag and our nation.
I talked to a man holding this sign about why he was protesting. Below is the transcript. My questions are in bold. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the correct spelling of Van’s last name.
Say and spell your name, please.
V-A-N Van Garmon.
And why are you here today?
I'm here to protest the whole mess of what's going on right now. It's not just veterans, it's the whole democracy that's going on. It's run by draft dodging cowards and I was a draft dodging coward. So I'm as big a hypocrite as just about anybody here.
And did you serve?
Yes, I was drafted 1970-71 and I was a combat veteran. And the VA's taking care of me right now very nicely and my hats off to the VA...
And are you from Des Moines?
Yes.
Okay, so tell me a little bit more about—it's veterans issues—but it's more than that to you. It's far more than veterans issues.
It's the whole framework and the foundation of what this society is built on and the misleadings and the lies and the hypocrisy and again, I am as big a hypocrite as anybody. But it's dangerously out of control and it's dangerously impacting, and it's impacting everybody. Good, bad, in between, left, right, conservative. It's impacting everyone in so many ways that it really shouldn't be impacting.
Do you have any suggestions as to what the American people should do?
My suggestion would be just be aware of the people that's standing next to you and don't listen to everything that comes at you from every spigot that is out there. Just listen to yourself first before you start joining up.
pause
Fifth mechanized and I was also in the 101st Airborne after that. And I have Parkinson's-Plus disease plus some other injuries that keep me from functioning at 100% but you got to keep fighting what's going on right now because everything is so screwed up.
Where were you at in that photo? (I pointed at the photo to the right above).
This is on a hill down below is Khe Sanh. And I don't know if anybody remembers where Khe Sanh is, but that was a bad place. He then pointed to the group photo at the bottom. And this is near the Laos border and then this is in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone, and that's where I spent most of my time.
Van is right. It’s impacting everyone. 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.
The man on the left’s cap says “Make Orwell Fiction Again.” The man on the right’s shirt says. I.W.W. with the symbol of the Industrial Workers of the World. The lettering at the bottom says: The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.
The sign in the lower right says: To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American Public. —Theodore Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918.
President Teddy Roosevelt was with us at the Capitol, and also at Roosevelt High School. We could use trust busters like Roosevelt now. He would call out Trump and Musk as the con men and thieves they are and run them out of town.
Walz was fantastic. He was here because Republicans are, for the most part, too cowardly to hold real town halls. And if they won’t, he will. Bernie’s on tour too. You can watch the Walz event or read a transcript here. The crowd was energized, and they were ready to fight, just like the veterans protesting at the Capitol. The New York Times called the Democrats at Roosevelt High “frustrated and furious.” The Democratic Party needs to figure out how to harness the energy. The answer isn’t just to sit back and “play possum” until Trump fails as some leading National and Iowa Democratic leaders suggest. Neither crowd is willing to sit back, nor should they.
People at the protest at the Capitol and the Walz event want to fight Trump and Musk. Work to stop them. Do you hear that Democratic leadership?
One quote by Walz really stuck with me: “The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you're overreacting. You're not, you're not. You're not.“
Zachary Oren Smith with the Iowa Starting Line interviews House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst.
I asked Konfrst to address the significance of the Walz visit, and the concerns of the veterans I had met at the Iowa Capitol. Below is the transcript. My questions are in bold.
Tell us a little bit about the significance of Tim Walz's visit today.
It is a really great opportunity for Democrats who have been itching for ways to get together and find hope again. It's a great opportunity for them to do just that.
People, Democrats want this. They want the Democratic party to move forward. They don't want them just waiting for the Trump effort to fail. So, this is part of that.
Yes. I think that what's important is that Democrats are hungry for someone who's going to come in and take action, and help us take action and Democrats are ready to fight. And so we don't want to sit back and watch what's happening in Washington happen. We want to try to stop it, and try to limit the damage as much as possible.
And what's special about Tim Walz?
Tim Walz is... he might as well be from Iowa. He's just an Iowa guy. He is down to earth. He's authentic. What you see is what you get. And I think that's what Iowans and frankly Americans hunger for. It's just somebody who's going to be honest. He's kind and he knows how to make communities like ours grow.
I was at the capital at noon today and about 100 veterans were there and they were to protest the Trump administration and the Reynolds administration and all of our elected Republican officials, and they were angry. They were very angry. They had a lot of anger that they expressed in particular at at Senator Ernst. Would you speak to those veterans? They want, they're demanding action. Would you address them?
Yes. I would be happy to. You know, I'm the daughter of two veterans, two Vietnam veterans, and what is happening to our veterans is disgraceful. The fact that Joni Ernst, a veteran herself, is sort of abdicating her responsibility when it comes to fighting for veterans, what's happening with VA cuts, things like that. You are seen— our veterans in Iowa, you are seen and you deserve better.
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Dr. Bob, thanks for plugging the vets. I did two years in Vietnam on a three year hitch with the Army. One tour and two extensions to be exact. I turned 19 on the flight over and before it was over for me, I turned 21. When I got out, we were the whipping dogs, even in Iowa, where Governor Ray was still in charge. We got sacked by the legislature that ended the tiny few points for Veterans Preference in hiring by the state because it was unfair to women, but now that women are a large part of the military, it hasn't been reinstated. So, now suddenly we are the ground troops for democracy! The same people who stuck our asses out as kids to do what our country asked of us, even as draftees, though most of us in Vietnam had enlisted. We had no money for school and no deferments! Those who did, are often the ones' who voted for Trump, or worse, didn't vote at all! We are carrying the torch, and sure as shit, the public will burn us with the same torch before it is all over! Yet, as Billy Joel wrote in his song about Vietnam, "We will all go down together!" because we are brothers in arms, and will stand up to any SOB that is attempting to end anyone of us! We can argue every side of an argument, and get mad as hell with each other, but in the end, we will defend each and everyone's right to do just that! Anyone who wants to silence any one of us, or all of us, will find their way into hell, and we will happily lay down our lives to help with that travel plan! We take care of our own, and many of us know personally who "our own" are! Those who have been shorted their entire lives and now are being robbed by the same people, in many cases, just like Trump, who found ways to avoid putting their ass on the line for their country. They used any opportunity to avoid the draft and a chance to get their asses killed, maimed, or injured. I can bet, that in that little crowd at the Capital you didn't see any uniform wearing Legionnaires or VFW officials! Those of us from Vietnam learned our lessons from the ones' who abandoned us first, our supposed "Comrades in Arms" who decided we weren't really in a a foreign war, so we weren't "eligible" for membership in their eyes. The Legion was almost as bad, their assumptions they made spoke volumes, if something came up about drugs or illegal substances, the first people they looked for leadership was us! They didn't want to touch it as subject, and of course we knew so much more about it! When the Iowa Memorial to the guys who died in Vietnam was being built, I was on the County Commission for Veterans Affairs for Linn County, and we were charged with helping raise money for that memorial. One of the larger Legion Clubs was in Marion, Iowa and they refused to contribute! That poster you showed with trump kissing up on the flag, speaks volumes for many who would do the same simply to look the part as being "patriotic" but when the rubber meets the road, disappear!
Thank you, Bob. I will be in Clarion tomorrow at the Pizza Ranch with Kyle Kruse and Ryan Melton to assist with local organizing in Wright County. You are welcome to tag along, certainly would welcome area veterans.
I was at an event yesterday in Ft. Dodge with rural county Democrats. Rita Hart was there. I spoke of how important the rural counties are, and how important the LGBTQ community is to Democrats. I hope Ms. Hart heard me loud and clear. I won't back down.