More than 1500 people gathered in and around Memorial Park in Wenatchee to take part in the nationwide “No Kings” anti-Trump protest on Saturday.
Some came because they were concerned about increasingly draconian Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions since Trump took office for a second time, and others because of cuts to Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Some were there to protest what they see as an alarming lack of checks and balances in government since Trump’s second term began and others were there to protest Trump’s decision to send Marines to a state that has said it doesn’t want them there.
For most, the decision to show up and protest President Trump and his policies Saturday was “all of the above” situation.
East Wenatchee City Councilor Matt Hepner is a Marine veteran who said he was there because the $45 million they spent on Trump’s military parade should be put to better use supporting veterans and their needs.
“There’s a lot of veterans suffering from lack of mental health, from lack of housing, you name it,” he said. “We need to be treating our veterans better and showcasing a parade is not the way to do it.”
I went and spoke with a number of people about why they went, and what they hope to accomplish by gathering in peaceful protest like this. You can watch the video with those responses above.
I also spoke with a couple of Trump supporters, including this man holding a sign that said “Mexicans for Trump” on one side and “Viva Trump” on the other. He was on the corner of Palouse and South Chelan Avenue near the park.
He declined to give his name and I wasn’t able to get a video interview with him, but I got an audio interview with him and you can listen to that here:
My Two Cents
In my experience covering marches and protests in the Wenatchee Valley for the past ten years, the only two I have seen that were bigger than this was the Women’s March in protest of Trump’s first inauguration back in 2017 and the first Black Lives Matters march after George Floyd was murdered by then police-officer Derek Chauvin in 2020.
It’s also important to recognize that this “No Kings” protest, like the others, was entirely peaceful.
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