Intro by Megan Seling
By the time it started to drizzle on Saturday afternoon, the crowd at Seattle Center was tens of thousands of people deep. The crowd roared with cheers, applause, and cowbell when the afternoon’s host, OneAmerica’s Immigration Advocacy Manager Soumyo Lahiri-Gupta, announced that the rain wasn’t going to silence the people.
There were an estimated 90,000 demonstrators crowded onto the lawn in front of Fisher Pavilion, and ringed around the inside and outside of the International Fountain. There were signs and balloons and costumes as far as the eye could see—from Climate Pledge to MoPop—with a constant slow-moving river of new arrivals flowing up and down the east and west sides of the park as more and more attendees tried to file into the Seattle Center to get a glimpse of the scene.
And it was a scene, more absurd than angry in the best way possible. People were pissed—and thousands of them held signs saying as much—but if there’s anything to learn from Saturday’s No Kings rally, it’s that Seattle isn’t the city turned to dust that Trump has been yelling about for years, a city that burned to the ground in 2020 only to be rebuilt by MAGA-hunting, America-hating Antifa anarchists.
We’re weirdos, but we’re not warlords. Taking a cue from Portland’s brilliantly goofy move to prove just how not-war-torn the Pacific Northwest is, Seattlites came dressed up as axolotl, dinosaurs, squirrels, sharks, chickens, frogs, unicorns, and, of course, Saint Rat. One person, dressed as Lady Liberty, chased around about a half dozen ICE lice with “due process” insecticide. The bugs, wearing impressively detailed lice costumes and ICE uniforms, writhed and wiggled to their “deaths” on a giant copy of the Constitution while onlookers cheered and laughed.
Across the park volunteers carted around wagons, passing out free water and snacks, while some folks (okay, me) stopped to buy a Shishkaberry because nothing says American Enemy more than exercising your right to demonstrate while freely chomping down rainbow sprinkle-covered strawberries on a stick.
After speeches from guests that included Jaelynn Scott of the Lavender Project, King County Council Member Girmay Zahilay, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, it came time to march. That’s when pure chaos ensued. Just kidding. The tens of thousands of demonstrators and amphibians politely poured out of the Seattle Center towards Westlake Center via Fifth Avenue. They danced and cheered and chanted their way out of the park for more than an hour.
Here are some photos of how the frog, flag, and rat-filled afternoon unfolded.
I want to call out that yesterday KIRO NEWS reported that only several hundred protesters showed up.
What’s that misinformation about. (From someone who was there)
How could you miss “MAKE WAY FOR THE KING!”
so Many TERRORISTS!!!
so LITTLE Death
and Destruction?
it’s
almost
like this
‘They HATE America!’
Crowd is not All it’s cracked up to be
and’ll NEVER make America Great again
like djt’s MAGAts did for Cadet Bonespurs
during his Nurembergy Rally
on January 6
I don’t go to these anymore because I don’t see what outcome the protests advance. It seems like mostly people come and enjoy themselves, then go home with a sense that they’ve done something impactful. But they haven’t. Instead, all this positive energy gets wasted. People go home satisfied and feel less need to take actions that have actual impact.
That’s a whole lot of paid protesters!
@4: Awwww look who is dutifully repeating this administration’s talking points!
@4 If that were true then these protests/rallies would eventually lose steam, as people realize they’re just “wasting energy” and having no “actual impact.” Instead they’re getting bigger.
@4 If what you say is true, then why do you suppose Trump, other leading Republicans, Fox News, et al. spent weeks trying frantically to depress the turnout and cast the organizers as terrorists and criminals? They know, even if you don’t, that mass protests build mass movements. They foster morale, enthusiasm and community among their participants and facilitate the growth of activist networks and connections between them. They show socially isolated people they aren’t alone and encourage them overcome their loneliness, fear, and/or despair. They force the broader public to rethink the derogatory image of the “left” fostered by the right-wing media (and the less overtly hateful but unsympathetic corporate media). They signal to those in power that increased repression will be met with increased resistance and that they’d be wise to at least scale back their ambitions. (I’m sure that’s a very incomplete list of what No Kings is accomplishing but hopefully enough to make the point.)
Our Dear Notcrazydem stays home when there are rallies and listens to his favorite Huey Lewis and The News song, “Hip To Be Square” on an endless loop.
Fight the Orange Man. Don’t worry about the massive Gas Taxes that are pushing working people into poverty. Orange Man bad.
Oh yes, SeattleLove dear, those noble working people who struggle mightily to keep their tank full but are being pushed into poverty by the gas tax.
Surely you’ve been outside the Puget Sound Region, dear. Washington State is vast and varied, both geographically and climatically. It’s criss-crossed with roads that take us across mountain passes, from the Pacific Shore to the Palouse, and up to the Pend Oreille Country. Those roads are being traversed by those same working people, and their maintenance is finananced by that same gas tax that you wring your hands and fret over.
Even you must recognize that roads need maintenance. How else do you think we should fund that maintenance?
Ms. Vel-DuRay. You know that I always love your comments. They are knowledgeable and insightful–with a splash of spiciness.
Yet, I have to disagree with @11 comment. We have huge Gas Taxes. They disproportionately affect poor and working class people. And, Washington State roads have been rated the 47th worst in the nations.
So, we’re taxing poor people and still have shitty roads.
If we had amazing roads, I still don’t like that poor people are disproportionately paying for them. But, we don’t even have that.
That said, you have excellent hair.
It’s MRS Vel-DuRay dear. Please make a note of it. And thank you for the kind words about my hair. My Aqua-Net budget is higher than our mortgage payment.
So we have high gas taxes, and yet our roads remain in dreadful condition. You make those statements, but you have no solution to the conundrum. What is your solution? Less Roads? Toll Roads? Privatized maintenance?
I shall spend the day with my F5 button until I hear from you.
@8 Thank You, Ckathes!
Very Well Put! also Elucidating,
as per Usual. to have TWO Seattle
Treasures on one comment stream
my
oh My
how Fortunate.
Mrs. Vel-DuRay, my apologies for using “Ms.” I was trying to be polite and not make assumptions, but now I and The Stranger community knows. Thank you.
With regard to my solution. It’s fairly simple:
Despite a $7.2 billion transportation budget from Gas and other taxes which are supposed to be for highways, roads, and bridges, Washington spent $498.7 m in FY 2024 on “Highway Maintenance & Operations”. This $500m figure includes the bureaucratic overhead.
Therefore Washington spends less than 7% on basic road and bridge maintenance–out of it’s transportation budget. Most gas tax revenue is diverted to debt from overruns on old projects, bureaucracy, and new flashy projects, while critical infrastructure deteriorates — a clear sign of government mismanagement and misplaced priorities.
My solution: Shift resources to actual road and bridge maintenance. Take spending from 7% of the budget to 20% or 25%. Use Gas and other transportation taxes–that are earmarked for road and bridge maintenance–for their earmarked purpose. Stop misappropriating funds for other things.
Spend the extra funds are actual maintenance–not oversight, managers, and offsites. Hire more actual, physical repair and maintenance workers–Union, of course. Freeze manager and bureaucratic office workers
The above will make our roads much better and safer.
Elderly white-guilt Seattle libprogs lol
@10 Sell your obsolete gas buggy and get an electric or hybrid. Better yet, stop driving entirely or at least drive less and walk/bike/bus more. Your wallet and (I daresay) your waistline will thank you. High gas taxes are a feature of living in the PNW, not a bug.
Another important benefit of No Kings I failed to mention earlier (h/t Heather Cox Richardson): the size of the protests served as a reminder to those businesses kowtowing to Trump that the majority of their customer base may not be politically where they think it is.
CKathes, dear, unfortunately, going electric (which we have done, with an all-electric F-150 and a Ford Escape Hybrid, which sips gas) won’t solve the problem of our bad roads, given the ridiculously old-timey way we finance our highways, that both gas and EV vehicles use.
SeattleLove dear, I must say I’m disappointed. You came so close, and have so many good points, but does the “bureaucratic overhead” you fret over include the engineers who create the designs that those union workers work from? Engineers are not cheap, but outsourcing them to the private sector would be a feeding frenzy that would end up being much more expensive for the taxpayers. Or do you think that the “bureaucratic overhead” is just a bunch of clerks who were hired to staple things, and there’s no more staples.
Perhaps a much better way of helping those working people you are concerned about would be to completely reform our way of taxing our citizens? It’s just a thought. A thought that would also help those business who depend on those highways.
Mrs. Vel-DuRay. Glad you think I came close and made some good points. Thank you.
I agree with your point on ‘bureaucratic overhead’. I assumed there would be saving to be realized, however, the data does not inform us if those are engineers or middle managers with staplers.
My Net: Together we could solve this and I think you should run for Governor.