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Hundreds converge on Freedom Park to oppose Trump, declare ‘No Kings’
Former U.S. Army officer Paula Clements addresses the No Kings rally in Freedom Park in Edwards on Saturday.
EDWARDS, Colo. — About 350 people gathered at Freedom Park in Edwards Saturday morning as part of the nationwide “No Kings” protests against the presidency of Donald Trump, who is participating in a massive, expensive and unprecedented peacetime military parade in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army.
Following a moment of silence for two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers gunned down by a man disguised as a police officer early Saturday morning, Paula Clements, a former U.S. Army officer who now lives in Eagle and works with Vail Eagle Indivisible, fired up the crowd with an impassioned speech:
“I served in the U.S. Army,” Clements said. “I wore the uniform, not for a president, not for a party, but for a principle that the power of this country belongs to the people, not the powerful. And yet today we face the government behaving like a monarchy, cracking down on dissent, undermining free speech, defying the courts, enriching billionaires and staging a military parade in D.C. not to honor service, but to project fear. Not to celebrate democracy, but to center Trump in a show of authoritarian force.
“We will not be intimidated,” Clements added. “I didn’t serve this country so that one man could exploit our symbols, fire the watchdogs, gut oversight, enrich his cronies, and pretend that he rules us. I served so that every citizen, no matter their zip code, skin color, sex or paycheck, has a voice. Today, I say this as clearly as I can: ‘There are no kings in America!”
The crowd roared its approval before starting a lengthy, slogan-chanting, sign-toting parade to the main roundabout in Edwards, with a stream of cars honking approval in this largely blue rural resort county that’s home to nearby Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas.
Ken Sortland, 80, a former police officer on the Front Range who moved to Vail decades ago, worked in construction for many years and is married to a Latina, was straight-forward in why he came out to protest Trump:
“Because we need to let our government know how the people feel,” Sortland said. “And we think that the young people are being affected by what’s happening in our government right now. If we take away their freedoms, we take away their ability to get Medicare and ability to get school, we’re going to destroy our country for years to come. And they’re the most affected, not most of us. Protesters here are older, but it should be the young people here.”
Kyla Wolffe, a young student from Eagle County, agreed her generation needs to stand up: “I’m here because I believe the youth should be really adamant about the political things that are happening right now. I am a student in ecosystem science and sustainability so my main focus is definitely with the environment and I want to make sure that generations to come can enjoy the outdoors just like I can.”
Her friend Bella, who asked to not have her last name used for safety reasons, agreed that more young people need to rally against Trump: “I was kind of surprised about the lack of young people here. It’s kind of our demographic to be very liberal and anti-Trump, but it’s just a very scary time with a lot of rights being taken away from people right now that deserve to have them. The constitution’s not optional. It’s not a suggestion. There’s honestly so many topics to talk about: Queer rights, the ICE deportations, global climate change issues. Kind of just here to protest all of it. All of things he’s doing that are putting those rights at risk.”
The crowd in Edwards was mostly older and mostly white.
Sortland, the former cop and construction contractor, said the lack of Latinos protesting on Saturday (Eagle County is more than 30% Hispanic) did not surprise him.
“No, they don’t want to get out. They don’t want to make waves. In fact, their whole lives are that way. They don’t want to make waves. They just want to work and make money. That’s the way I’ve seen it for years,” Sortland said. “I’ve worked construction, police and I speak some Spanish and a lot of my workers were from other countries and they were good workers and they do not make waves.”
Sortland said the lack of immigration reform is a political decision.
“I tried for four years to get [a worker] legal [status], did all the paperwork, everything. And the government gave me too much trouble and made it difficult. They made it easier for people to walk across the [border],” Sortland said. “I don’t think anyone in this country’s opposed, even among Democrats, to removing people who have committed serious crimes. Those people should be deported, but people who have been here for 10 years or so, like the Dreamers and other things, we should work to get those people legal, not to kick them out.”
Nadia, a woman of color who was handing out water bottles with a friend to protesters and asked not to have her last name used for safety reasons, said speaking out as a Latino, with military and ICE agents aggressively in the streets these days, makes her nervous.
“It’s definitely a concern. But I feel like I’m a Colorado native. I’ve been here my whole life,” Nadia said. “We’re both small people in this large conglomerate of everything that’s happening. We’re just trying to live our lives and make it through and get back to some sense of normalcy.”
Here’s the entirety of Paula Clements’ speech from Saturday:
“My name is Paula Clements, and I served in the U.S. Army. I wore the uniform, not for a president, not for a party, but for a principle that the power of this country belongs to the people, not the powerful. And yet today we face the government behaving like a monarchy, cracking down on dissent, undermining free speech, defying the courts, enriching billionaires and staging a military parade in DC not to honor service, but to project fear. Not to celebrate democracy, but to center Trump in a show of authoritarian force. We will not be intimidated. I didn’t serve this country so that one man could exploit our symbols, fire the watchdogs, gut oversight, enrich his cronies, and pretend that he rules us. I served so that every citizen, no matter their zip code, skin color, sex or paycheck, has a voice. Today, I say this as clearly as I can. There are no kings in America. That parade doesn’t speak for the millions of Americans who believe in democracy. It doesn’t speak for the nurses and teachers and postal workers who hold this country together. It doesn’t speak for the scientists, the federal workers, the rangers who protect our public land and preserve our natural heritage. Not for profit, but for posterity. This administration thinks that it can sell our forests, our coastline, mine, our sacred lands, and silence our scientists, all to benefit a few fossil fuel billionaires with private jets and no conscience. Let me be clear. We will not stand for the sale of our public lands. These Lands don’t belong to oil execs. They belong to all of us, to the child on their first hike, to the tribal nations whose histories are rooted in these landscapes to the next generation who deserves clean air, clean water, and wild places. When you attack our national parks, when you gag federal scientists, when you silence whistleblowers, when you gut climate research and hand public lands to mineral conglomerates, you’re not leading. You’re looting. But we’re the stewards and we’re the protectors. I stand today, not just as a veteran, but as a citizen of a planet in peril and I will not be silent while corrupt leaders dismantle, the agencies meant to preserve life, liberty, and the land that we love. We’ll protect the EPA, the national park, the USGS and every public servant who chose to serve this country, not with a weapon, but with data, policy, conservation, and truth. We’ll stand up for science, for evidence-based decisions for climate justice because real strength means telling hard truths, not hiding them behind executive orders and corporate payoffs. Trump, Musk and their billionaire backers want to turn this country into a playground for the powerful. They want to race to the bottom on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself. They want to erase labor rights, break our unions, and deport American citizens under secret memos like Congressional note 2532. They’re not hiding their plans, they’re just bearing them under bureaucracy, hoping that we won’t notice, but we see them and we’re not backing down. Their weapon is fear. Ours is solidarity from shipyard workers in Poland to farmers in Central America, people have risen up against authoritarianism and now here in our own country, it’s our turn. This administration has already begun stripping protections from immigrants, women, LGBTQ plus people, journalists, shuttering diplomatic programs, and rechanneling foreign aid into detention and deportation. It’s a blueprint, a carefully crafted blueprint for autocracy. But we are the firewall. Our Constitution doesn’t say we, the ruler. It says we the people. They’re hoping we stay distracted, divided, and discouraged. But here we are, side by side, city by city, state by state, organizing, marching, voting, demanding, and refusing to let the machinery of democracy be replaced by a gold-plated throne. We’re not afraid of Trump. We are not corrupt like Trump, and we have not given up. Let me tell you what real strength looks like. It’s not tanks on Constitution Avenue. It’s a teacher on strike in Oklahoma, a nurse protecting patients during a pandemic. An organizer registering voters in Georgia. It’s immigrants and workers and veterans standing together and saying, you do not speak for us. This is not a partisan rally. This is a patriotic one. I believe in a future where every family has housing, healthcare, union protection, fair wages, and safety, regardless of race, immigration status, or religion. I believe that we’ll get there by organizing, by resisting authoritarianism in every form and by showing the world that the people still have the power. So let Trump have his parade. Let him wrap himself in flags and call it strength. At this time of autocratic breakthrough, we will meet it with a wall of truth, with the might of organized people power with a movement louder than his fireworks, and with the unshakable belief that democracy is worth defending. We’re American. We bow to no kings. Not in the streets, not in the courts, not in the forest, and not in the halls of power. We are here to safeguard American democracy at a moment when it’s under threat. We march today, not because we hate this country, but because we love it too much to let it fall. This land is our land. This fight is our fight. And this future, this American future is still ours to claim. No kings, no dictators, just us!”
David O. Williams
