On Nov. 1, at 12 p.m. in frigid weather, dozens of Delawareans crowded the town square. While surrounding a statue of the president this city is known for, they cried out for their perceived failure of democracy as cars passed and honked in support of the demonstrators.
However, this is not the first time this display has been seen. Since the massive coordinated No Kings protests on Oct. 18, protestors from Delaware have gone to the same place every Saturday to participate in the No Kings protest. The main goal of these demonstrations is highlighted in the name, No Kings, which expresses a fear and opposition to the perceived growth of power of both the executive branch and the wealthy elite underneath the current Trump administration.
While their overall goals are the same, the protestors cite different concerns causing them the most agitation.
“My biggest concern is the gradual deterioration of our rights,” Delaware resident Bill Baker said. “Sending the National Guard in cities and the whole thing about the government shutdown. Now Trump wants to get rid of the filibuster. They could pass anything they want without the ability to filibuster, that’s my biggest concern right there.”
Others are more anxious over America’s political system as a whole.
“[My biggest fear is] that what we know matters to democracy will not be able to survive,” Delaware resident Tony Marconi said. “I think that Trump is a tool for the powers that be that want to see things happen, and that’s billionaire backing, that is extreme corporate greed.”
Another worry involves the availability of accessing the truth.
“The real problem to me is the lack of truth and access to true information in our society, there’s so much propaganda out there and we aren’t filtering through it,” said William,* a protester who requested anonymity. “And [Trump] has normalized that.”
The fear of corruption at the state level went hand and hand with the agitation that some protestors had with the federal government.
“For years, even the FBI has said we have the most corrupt statehouse in the Union,” William said. “The gerrymandering map, will [Ohioans] ever have free elections again? Is democracy already dead? Is there nothing to celebrate on July Fourth next year?”
Opposition to these concerns are not central to state and federal governments, but has also expanded to the local level.
Protests in Delaware reflect what is happening at the state and national level also. “I think it has spread to Delaware and the local level, last week they took a count of us, over two thousand,” Baker said.
“It’s not just Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, there are places like Delaware and Lima,” Delaware resident Scott Fisher said. “I think that what the American government is doing is bad, not only for the entire country, but also for localities such as Delaware.”
Differing views saw past controversial political figures as principled compared to the current administration.
“Always before, Richard Nixon, he respected the court’s decision. This guy doesn’t, he doesn’t respect anything,” Baker said.
This outlook that America is worsening was painful for the demonstrators.
“It’s not the United States I grew up in, that’s not the America I love,” the unnamed protester said. “And that’s heartbreaking.”
One of the specific practices of the Trump administration that made many of the protestors enraged enough to demonstrate was the management of the federal bureaucracy.
“The downgrading of all of our agencies, the fact that they are not functioning,” William said. “The ones that protect the people, the EPA, FDA, CDC, NASA. All these institutions that are set up to protect the people he’s destroyed. And it’s not the people’s government anymore.”
Other fears over the bureaucracy involve the strengthening of parts of Homeland Security.
“Oh you’re brown or black, let’s put you with ICE and then we’ll sort it out,” Marconi said.
This sentiment is continued along with fear of the increase of federal control across the Americas in general.
“We think that America under the Trump administration is headed in the wrong direction, the tariffs, the bombings of boats in the Caribbean, the ICE activities in American cities, and the sending of national guard to places where voting is taking place,” Fisher said.
During the demonstration, many protestors compared the current administration and subsequent political right to a fascist regime.
“If you look up the definition to facism, and you look up Project 2025, I challenge anyone to tell me the difference,” William said. “And that’s heartbreaking, that someone who has grown up as a patriotic American their entire life sees their country falling apart and descending into facism. That’s not hyperbole, that’s really what it is. Trump is just acquiring, for some reason, a cult about him that likes him. But the people I really fear are the people in his cabinet who are straight following Project 2025 and who are Nazis….If you think of veterans day and the veterans day parade, my dad and father in law fought in WW2 against the fascists, they are ANTIFA, literally ANTIFA because they fought in WW2 against the fascists.”
This sentiment is continued by concern for the specific groups that are seen as being targeted by the administration and its supporters.
“[Many] people that voted for [Trump] did so for their own sake, they’re ok with racism, they’re ok with xenophobia, they’re ok with misogyny, and they’re ok with anti-trans anti-lgbtq people,” Marconi said. “They thought their personal grievances were more important than keeping democracy in place. They want to hear one thing and one thing only, I give myself over to this party. I didn’t understand it when I studied the Nazis, and I continued my education on that front. And quite frankly, I see it as people who have no sense of personal worth, they instead think they are being dumped on by everybody else so they’re gonna get back at that. I feel sorry for them.”
While interviewing protestors, many were shouting to passersbys to vote in the approaching elections in order to facilitate change; however, others felt that peaceful change was impossible.
“I think it’s going to take national strikes and/or revolution to change [increased executive power],” William said. “At this point, our democracy is non-functional. I think we need people on the streets here, instead of 100 of us, we need 30 [thousand] Delawareans here, and we need to take back our government.”
Overall, many are just fearful for the country they have lived in for so long.
“I’m scared. I have a 6 year old granddaughter. When she gets to be a teenager, I hope she is living in a decent environment for welcoming all people,” Marconi said.
*name has been changed to protect individual’s identity
