STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Nearly 1,500 Wood River Valley residents turned out Saturday morning at Hailey’s Hop Porter Park to protest America’s slide towards authoritarianism.

“Most of us would rather be hiking and down at the lake, but we’re here today because we need to be here,” said Army veteran Richard Stoppel. “Every day is an assault on democracy—the President doesn’t even give us a break on Sunday.”

Ninety-two-year-old Ted Schwerdtle, who spent the last six months in hospice, exercised his right to protest with his daughters Amy Bingham and Elizabeth Schwerdtle, tucking a sign that said “Americans Against Oligarchy” in his suspenders.

One woman showed up wearing a king’s crown. Others wearing red, white and blue carried signs that said “It’s a democracy, not an aristocracy,” “If there’s money for a parade, there’s money for Medicaid,” “Fight Truth Decay,” “World Cup is on Public Land,” “Silence is not Golden--Fight for Democracy” and “Speak Out While You Still Can.”

Kaz Thea, who emceed the event, noted that the design of the American flag was ratified 250 years ago to the day. The blue stands for perseverance and justice, which seems fitting for those who’d come to rally, she added.

Thea listed a multitude of ways the Trump administration has usurped the Constitution, including deporting people without due process, withholding money already allocated by Congress, firing thousands of worker without cause, including dozens of Forest Service employees in the Sun Valley area, holding back funding from public schools that don’t acquiesce to their demands, defunding Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security and deploying federal troops to Los Angeles without a governor’s request.

“And now public lands are on the chopping block again. Mike Simpson has fought to keep public lands in public hands. We cannot chop away our public lands.

The administration has started feeding real-time data to ICE, targeting people in grocery stores and places of work not because they are criminals but because they’re not white, she added.

“The Trump administration is waging lawless assault on our freedom and democracy. And we are gathered here to flip the script.”

The Hailey rally, whose attendance were nearly double that of April’s Hands Off! Rally, was one of 16 held in Idaho and one of more than 2,000 held nationwide, although some rallies in Minnesota were cancelled following what Gov. Tim Walz said appeared to be a politically motivated assassination of two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers in their homes.

Rallies also took place outside of the United States in countries like Canada, Mexico, Sweden, France and Germany.

Kim Vilcapoma Aranda, whose grandfather came from Peru to work as a sheepherder in the 1970s, gave a powerful poetic speech in which she referred to Sen. Alex Padilla being tackled at a Homeland Security press conference after asking a question.

“He said, ‘If this is how they treat a senator, imagine what they’re doing to cooks, farmworkers, day laborers.

“We don’t have to imagine. We know….” (see Aranda’s full speech in today’s Eye on Sun Valley story, “We Don’t Need Kings—We Need Each Other).

Retired attorney Russ Daggert called Trump a mad king who has fought to dismantle every check and balance, attacking judges, law firms, universities, the media and even scientists.

“Our democracy is under assault and it’s been happening quickly within four months. Our mad king is having a big Soviet-style birthday party in D.C. There are a lot of big tanks rolling through our Capitol, and that’s a little jarring because it’s not what we do… (One) general said it’s the kind of things that dictators do. But all restraints are off in the second term and today he got his big parade like Putin or Kim Jong Un. Some of us are okay with cake and maybe balloons. He demands tanks.”

Sending 5,000 troops into the nation’s second largest city is a red line, he added: “In this country we don’t use military on our own citizens….he’s trying to incite violence because it would allow him to declare martial law. We are the world’s oldest democracy. Next year we celebrate 250 years of democracy—now is not the time to break that streak.”

Sarah Leidecker, who just graduated from Sage School, told the crowd, “We’re not here because we hate this country. We’re here because we love our country.”

And Katheryn Caldaniz and Camille De La Cruz, the two youngest speakers, told the crowd, “We are good citizens—we work, we pay taxes. We the people need to work harder to save democracy and not to get kicked out.”

Daphne, who grew up in Canada but is now an American citizen, told listeners that “it is not okay to threaten my home country. You ask why we’re not deported? I’m a little tan but still white.”

Cathy Reinheimer, who worked for Trump in Trump Towers in 1985, cautioned the crowd that her former boss is running on neo-reactionism, also known as “the dark enlightenment.” It turns democracy towards serfdom, she said, with the CEOs of tech companies ruling the land.

Bill Hughes noted that Idaho’s Congressmen own everything the President does: “The largest casualty in this country has been the truth.”

Deb Silver the Blaine County Democrats Chairperson, encouraged those in attendance to reach out every day to Congress and to run for office.

“Today we march, but tomorrow we need to persist.”

Before the crowd spilled onto Bullion Street marching in a massive line that stretched from the park to Main Street, Cliff Cunha finished the rally with a song he’d written:

“No Lords, no kings and the ruin you bring. Your perpetual lies are a criminal thing.

“You have no values and you have no shame. The only plan is personal gain.”

“No Kings!” the crowd shouted, as he followed with “With their bullies and their hacks.”

No Kings!” as he sang “Deportations, violent acts.”

“No Kings! “No habeas corpus or rule of law. It sucks to be led by one with deep-rooted flaws.”

DID YOU KNOW?

The 5 Calls app offers five talking points a day that concerned citizens can call their representative about.