By Lucy Komisar
March 31, 2026

Are you old enough to have marched in a protest when the major issue for Americans was the war in Vietnam? Way back in the 60s. Did the signs mention LBJ but not Vietnam or the war? How about a march against U.S. aggression in Iraq decades later? Just about Bush but not his war in Iraq? I still have a bumper sticker with the French tricolor and the slogan, “I drink Bordeaux and I vote.”

Was there something missing in the “No Kings” marches? Why don’t we want Trump? Is it only ICE? Or no health care. Rotten domestic policies? Is there not a genocide going on in Gaza? Is there not a war in Iran that already promises to create world-wide depression and hunger? Not to mention death from bombings and famine?

There were attacks on rapist Jeffrey Epstein. Why not on mass murderer Bibi Netanyahu?

But maybe the problem is that this was a Democratic Party event, not an anti-war event. Or why would a woman be there with a sign promoting Dan Goldman (networth $250mil from Levi Strauss & Co. fortune) for Congress in my Greenwich Village district? Goldman represents Netanyahu, not me.

Remember that Biden supported the Israeli genocide with arms. And that Chuck Schumer who leads the Senate minority has not attacked that policy. Is there a reason the organizers wanted this to be about Trump and not Gaza or Iran? See Bombing Iran for Greater Israel a sequel to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Maine Senate candidate in Dem Primary Graham Platner to Chuck Schumer: “You need to stop having a problem with the illegal wars we have been starting simply because of the paperwork that wasn’t done properly. You should be against them because they are fundamentally immoral, unethical, and illegal. We should have absolutely no discussion about funding them. Wars that are killing people for the benefit of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, those wars should not be waged, period”

Based on an insider comment that makes a lot of sense, the goals appeared to be “Get Out the Vote for the Democrats in November.” One commenter I read said: “No Kings, except when the DNC tells us we don’t get to choose the presidential nominee.“

So millions came onto the street to oppose authoritarian Trump regime, but the DNC organizers made sure they did not organize for anything real. Just vote Blue.

Some photos of the masses of people opposed to the authoritarian Trump regime tell what they care about. Oppression of immigrants. Harming Americans by a corrupt killer medical industry. But also killer attacks on Gaza and Iran.

Clear there is a massive movement against Trump and his political supporters. Will the till now supine Democrats understand that the people who stayed home in the last election don’t care about “Trump lite”? That they voted against Kamala’s support of the genocide in Gaza?

So here is what I saw on Saturday. Time to see if it opened the eyes of any Democratic pols.

The lead gatherings: unions, health care and I joined DSA, Democratic Socialists of America, which had turned out to be the most important popular political organization we have. (We know the Dems and GOP don’t count- they represent their donors.)

Millions came onto the street to oppose authoritarian Trump regime. But in spite of the DNC, can they create a movement?

Part of that movement should be based on trade unions. Here were some. The culture workers: Musicians Union Local 802, the largest local union of professional musicians in the world. They play at Broadway shows. (Center is union board member Bud Burridge) and IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. As I passed, Local 802 did a terrific brass band rendition of “Study War No More.”

And of course a massive majority of Americans wants national health care but are stymied by the medical industry that owns the Congress. SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, represents 2 million members in healthcare, the public sector and property services. They were chanting, “This is what democracy looks like!”

Some photos of the masses of people opposed to the authoritarian Trump regime tell what they care about. Oppression of immigrants. A lot of signs about ICE. Only a handful of posters and U.S. warmongering attacks on Gaza and Iran.

And look at the first one. Her only problem with Trump’s war of aggression against Iran is that it didn’t get the approval of Congress! The second obviously non-official by an immigrant who can’t spell Israel. And one linked the threat of WWIII to Epstein, not the pusillanimous members of both parties in Congress.

Of course there were other hand-made signs against the war by people who looked like they marched protesting wars against the people of Vietnam and Iraq.

But perhaps the most important was this, in which one marcher pointed a finger at Congress!

It’s clear there is a massive movement against Trump and his political supporters. Will the till now supine Democrats understand that the people who stayed home in the last election don’t care about “Trump lite”? That they voted against Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s support of the genocide in Gaza?

Photos by Lucy Komisar.