Anti-Trump protesters stretch from City Hall across Ferry Street Bridge

Twenty-one hundred people signed up to protest Donald Trump in Eugene April 5. But from the crowds lining Coburg Road and the Ferry Street Bridge, it looked like they all brought a friend or two. Debbie Williamson Smith:

Debbie Williamson Smith: My name is Debbie. I am your host today. Welcome to the resistance! Look at you. Look at all of you. I am so proud of you for being here.

[00:00:38] At the last couple of events I’ve attended, I hear the same thing from everyone, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not alone.’ You are not alone. Look around. We are all with you, and together we are going to build community. We will be the change we want to see, and today we are going to learn from our neighbors, make new friends, and charter a path to building the local political power needed to fight what is ahead.

[00:01:20] Do you know that less than three months ago a young grassroots resistance formed? It was a brilliant idea and it spread rapidly on social media, and it was 50 protests in 50 states on one day. In just days, grassroots organizers without a budget, a centralized structure, or official backing, pulled off over 80 peaceful protests in all 50 states. These young organizers are getting it done. So please give a warm welcome to Huckleberry.

[00:02:14] Huckleberry: Hey everyone, so happy to see you all here. Can you hear me all right? All right, thank you. Hello, my fellow Americans. I’m amazed at how quickly this movement has grown and the solidarity I’m seeing in all of us. I see so many people of different ages, from different backgrounds, with different ways of life.

[00:02:46] Despite our differences, we are all gathered here today because the runaway power trips of Donald Trump and Elon Musk are hurting all of us. Their illegal, incompetent cuts to our institutions are threatening to destroy our nation’s resources for elder care, veteran care, basic public health, education, environmental protections, and consumer protections.

[00:03:22] Trump is attacking our most basic civil rights protections that have been in place for more than 50 years.

[00:03:33] He’s sidestepping checks and balances to bully our nation’s most vulnerable. He has turned his back on our allies, instead cozying up to violent colonizing dictators.

[00:03:53] He is treating protesters like us as domestic terrorists for simply practicing their First Amendment rights.

[00:04:05] And just this week, he has sunk us deeper into an unwinnable trade war and crashed our economy.

[00:04:16] Trump, Musk, and his club of billionaire vampires want to rule this country with an iron fist. They want us poor, desperate, uneducated, and easy to control. They want us all to be the peasants in their kingdom of oligarchs.

[00:04:41] Well, I have news for them. We do not have kings in America. This is a republic, not a dictatorship. We will not sit idly by while a reality TV con man tears up our Constitution and destroys our infrastructure just so he can give even more tax cuts to the richest of the rich.

[00:05:18] Each and every one of us is here today, despite our differences, because we know that what is at stake is more important than the things that separate us.

[00:05:35] And we are going to keep showing up and making our voices heard, but our responsibility doesn’t stop there. Today we ask you, talk to your fellow protesters, and connect with the organizations in attendance. We’re going to need to grow and strengthen our communities to fight this fight. And we can start today.

[00:06:03] We are building an alliance of passionate activist groups with varying causes, but who share one immediate goal: Save our country from this destructive executive overreach.

[00:06:22] Connect with a group whose mission speaks to your values. Reach out to them today and get to work. The best thing we can do for this dangerous, power-hungry administration is to be complacent, divided, and frozen by fear.

[00:06:48] Instead, I ask: Get to know your neighbors, join an organization, strike, boycott, and keep showing up to protests in numbers. Because when we stick together, no matter what gets thrown our way, American democracy will win. Thank you.

[00:07:21] Presenter: Thousands in Eugene protest growing authoritarianism. Whatever organization you join, share news and opinion with your community radio station. In Eugene, email news@kepw.org, that’s news@kepw.org, resistance radio for Eugene and the Upper Willamette.

Field recording by Todd Boyle for KEPW 97.3 Eugene PeaceWorks community radio. See the entire rally on Todd’s YouTube channel.