Sandra Sweeney of Orlando, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Thomas Jefferson’s words When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty, said she came to the protest because she resents that tax payer money is being used for the military parade in Washington, D.C. “My dad was in the Army. I salute the Army,” she said. “But not for the president to have a birthday party.” 

Don Wise, a Vietnam veteran, said he was disgusted by the deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles for the protests, calling it “another effort to detract from what’s happening in the country."

"There’s no agreement with China, the Ukraine war is going on and on, Gaza is a disaster. He is a disaster,” he said, referring to Trump.

Patrick Bailey, a veteran from Orlando, said he took an oath as a military officer to support and defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

“Trump and MAGA are domestic enemies,” the 75-year-old said. “This country is for Americans. We fought against fascists. We are not fascists.”

Keith from Winter Park who did not want to give his last name, said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. But the Jan. 6 Capitol riot made him pay more attention to a wider array of news sources. “The Republican Party going more fascist has actually flipped me back to where I was when I was 26 years old, to being a Social Democrat,” he said.

Rusty Collins of Orlando was sitting in the shade, his long gray hair covered by a keffiyeh, his beard in a beard band. He held a sign that read, “Not a paid protestor. I hate Trump* for Free.” He said his conscience brought him to the protest. “I’ve got kids, grandkids. They’ve got to live with this," he said. "I don’t have much longer, but they do. Everybody has to do what they can. Sometimes just showing up is enough.” 

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State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, who helped facilitate the protest, said coming together to speak out against injustice was "affirming."

"We’re fighting a lot of these battles in the state legislature, and of course we’re fighting them on the national level. It can be really frustrating when you don’t have the numbers in these chambers," the District 42 Democrat told VoxPopuli. "But when you come to the streets, the neighborhood and you see, Okay, we are not alone. We are not the minority.”

School Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents District 6, was also at the demonstration with one of her daughters. She was toting a sign that said, “Ban the fascists, Save the books.” She said she came out because “I care about saving democracy … and it’s time to stand up.” 

The protest featured a number of speakers with emcee Obsidian Tiburón keeping things on schedule. An Orlando activist and member of the Florida American Indian Movement, Tiburón said they came out to join the broad collection of people opposing Trump’s fascism.

“First he came for the immigrants," they said, "then he came for the trans people and he’s coming after everybody else, the disabled; everyone that he thinks no one is going to give a fuck about."

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Altesse Aurum spoke about being a Black, trans woman who had recently been told that after 12 years in the Air Force, her service, while commendable, was no longer needed. “While they may have removed me from service, my service from this nation can’t be taken away,” she said, adding, “The only way to defend democracy is to participate in it.” 

Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, a longtime community organizer, told VoxPopuli she wasn’t originally supposed to speak but got asked last-minute. She told the crowd that she came to the U.S. with her mother when she was 9 from Colombia where political assassinations were not unusual. She became a citizen when former President Obama was running for office. She urged the crowd to push Orange County leaders during the budgeting process for housing and education. She got the crowd chanting, “Money for homes and education, not for jails and deportation.” 

Later she told VoxPopuli that she’s infuriated by the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants. “They use the word alien. How dehumanizing is that? As a way of distancing people from each other. I’m here because I believe in this country, I believe in what it means to be a citizen. I believe that this country was made of immigrants and I want to do everything I possibly can to organize a community to prevent it from going to hell.”

A few counter-protestors attended. Kaitlin Bennett from Liberty Hangout made an appearance to interview protestors and immediately faced heckling from the crowd that gathered around her. A few Trump supporters took pictures, video-recorded speakers and protesters and attempted to disrupt the speeches. But if organizers noticed a  situation looked like it might get dicey, they led the crowd to chant, “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” as a de-escalation tactic.  

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A young man wearing a red hat that said, “Trump was right about everything,” had it knocked off his head during a verbal scrum, but it was quickly returned to him without incident. Another Trump supporter carrying a large Trump flag, was met by protestors, many with signs held high to block him from the crowd. Still, he told WFTV, when asked, that he was unafraid to be at the rally. 

“We responded peacefully,” organizer and de-escalator Matthew Grocholske told VoxPopuli. “We made sure that those folks eventually did leave and did get out safely without any injuries.”

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Norine Dworkin contributed reporting to this story.