“This is what democracy looks like,” read a sign on State Road 100.
Demonstrators by the hundreds in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach this morning peacefully but loudly, festively and–for Flagler County–massively transformed major intersections, a bridge overpass and a 1,000-ft. stretch of State Road 100 in Palm Coast into the largest anti-Trump protests to date.
The size of the protests surprised even organizers and frequent participants, two of whom, after attending every protest this year on State Road 100, said today’s was more than double any previous one.
Long planned under a “No Kings” theme ahead of the $45 million military parade the president is throwing to himself this evening in Washington to mark his birthday and the Army’s 250th, the demonstrations’ messages spilled into expressions of dismay, disgust and fear about anti-migrant sweeps, assaults on courts and other democratic institutions, reversals on the rights of LGBTQ people, and in one case in Flagler Beach, a cry against environmental desecration.
“It’s not about being right,” read the sign Flagler Beach’s Carla Cline held up for an hour within sight of the bridge she famously prefers not to cross, peace signs dangling from her ears, “It’s about having rights.”
There was also humor: “Alexa… Change the President,” a sign held up by a cyclist with a toddler on Palm Coast Parkway read. There were many “RESIST” signs, some of them the length of cars, some of them rainbow-colored in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.
The Flagler Beach protest started at 9:30, in tandem with the protest at the Palm Coast Parkway bridge over I-95, the two combined drawing a little over 100 people (some 40 were at the overpass). But the four protest locations combined drew 1,000 to 1,200 demonstrators, the largest at Old Kings Road and Palm Coast Parkway, where organizers said some 600 took part, and in front of the Target shopping center on State Road 100, where at least 500 to 600 lined the highway.
At its peak the Target protest stretched 1,000 feet, from the shopping center entrance close to the AT&T store to the southeast corner of 100 with Belle Terre Parkway, the throng of demonstrators thickening as you walked west to such a point that they lined almost in rows, several deep, as they rose over the ditch. Demonstrators brandished signs, flags–some of them upside down, some of them melded with the Mexican flag–and gestures of victory and raised fists.
But for an errant counterdemonstrator or two on foot, the contras were limited to passing cars, to bird-flipping, to a few cuss words or admonitions (“get a job!”) and a few accusations of “communists.” One car passenger just held out a red “make America great Again” cap as she drove by. One man who identified himself only as George, standing across the street from the Target demonstration, held up an “ICE Tip Line” sign, with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s phone number to pass on tips about suspicious individuals. He said he was there to counter the throng on the other side.
There were no reported incidents or confrontations behind passing gestures. The Flagler Beach Police Department and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office patrolled the areas of the demonstrations in patrol cars or, on State Road 100, with a pair of cyclist-deputies, hardly interfering with anyone except on rare occasions, cautioning demonstrators not to move into the line of traffic.
For all the throngs, a surprising number of people interviewed would not provide their name out of fear of being targeted: Flagler County remains, after all, a solely red county where all but two or three of its 37 elected offices are held by Republicans, and where Trump won with 64 percent of the vote last November.
In Flagler Beach, a demonstrator was walking through the crowd with a large American flag, upside down. “I took the oath to the Constitution four times in my professional career,” the man, who would identify himself only as D., said. He’d served 24 years in the Navy and the Coast Guard, and another 13 in the federal civil service. “We are in a crisis, and that’s why the upside down flag.”
He cited as an example the “Big Beautiful Bill”–the president’s omnibus bill that includes extending and expanding tax cuts and cutting social services like Medicaid and food assistance, among numerous other provisions. He cited “the lack of humanity in dealing with the crisis” at the southern border–meaning the migrant influx at the Mexico-United States border.
“While there is and was and has been a crisis on the southern border for a long time, the way it’s being handled is not American. It’s not what I support,” D. said. He was protesting with a friend by his side. “When you read the Bible, that is not Christian,” she said, before specifying which part of the bible: “When you read the New Testament portion of the Bible, Christ didn’t treat people that way.” She would not provide so much as the first initial of her first name.
“I’m fearful for us losing our democracy. With this administration, everything they do leads to the road down toward dictatorship,” said a protester who identified herself only as Nicole. She wore a USA shirt. “For instance, when they handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla yesterday–he’s a senior senator–and threw him down on his stomach and handcuffed him for asking a question at the Homeland Security whatever press conference. That was wrong. The other side is saying that he was belligerent and he was yelling and screaming, and that was not true, because it was all on video. And then I thought the whole thing was to go after the immigrants that posed a danger to our society, you know, the drug lords. But that’s not the case either, because they’re showing up at Home Depots and places of religion and schools and taking people off the street that have been in our nation for several years, working and paying taxes on their families. That’s not the America that I know.”
Sayre Berman, a board member of the Flagler Beach Democratic Club, which organized the demonstration in that town, said when she moved to town last July, she was told there were no Democrats in Flagler Beach. “I’m very happy to show fellow Democrats that that is not the case,” Berman said. “This is not a small group. Given I think the fear that Democrats have shown in the recent past to show their opinions.”
Berman added, “If there’s more and more of us, maybe the fear will lessen. I mean, we’re not going to be aggressive, we’re not going to be in your face. We’re not going to be antagonistic the way sometimes others might be, but just a natural assembly of like-minded people might show others: I don’t have to be fruitful. And there’s a whole bunch here like me.”
She had not heard yet–nobody had heard yet–of the assassinations of Democratic Party state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home in Minnesota, and the attempted assassination of another (and his wife), by a private security guard.
Flagler Beach demonstrators cheered to the rhythms of Deejay Driscoll and her Aztec war drum. The 22-year Military Police veteran had driven up from Ormond By the Sea with the drum “to help raise energy,” mimicking the sound of a heartbeat. “It’s basically to gather the warriors,” she said, though there was nothing aggressive about the sound, which might have been what Jonah would have heard from inside the whale’s maw.
Judson O’Neill, 17, and Caden Olsen, 16, both students at Matanzas High School, were also walking through the Flagler Beach demonstrators, but with a pair of “Repent”-type signs culled from scriptures (Matthew and Romans). They did not want to be mistaken for counterdemonstrators, exactly. “We’re just here to spread the message of Jesus Christ,” O’Neill said. “I know a lot of these people advocate for love and equality and things like that, and there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend, which is exactly what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And so we’re just here to spread the message of the gospel.”
O’Neil spoke with a self-confidence that suggests he’s just getting started in the public eye (and that he’ll likely go far if he presses on, his political savvy already glinting. Nevertheless he conceded: “I wouldn’t say I’m for what they’re protesting, but I’m not so far as to go and come out here and oppose it with the other side, right?” O’Neil said. “We knew that there’s a bunch of people gathered here, and so this is a perfect opportunity to reach a lot of people. Not that one side of the argument is right or wrong. They’re conservatives and liberals that both don’t know Jesus. So our job is to spread that message.”
Irwin Connelly, a Flagler Beach environmentalist, held up the sign about “The Real Steal” (of wildlife habitat). “From one vantage point, it’s to point out and object to the environmental policies of both Trump and DeSantis,” he said. “Right now there’s a huge, huge giveaway of millions and millions of dollars’ worth of assets, property, wildlife habitat being given to billionaires to mine and get the wealth out of, and we think that should stop. He’s undoing a lot of progress that has been made in the last 50 years.”
Eric McCabe of Delray Beach wasn’t here for the demonstration. He was walking on the sidewalk in front of the Compass hotel in Flagler Beach when he blurted out something about the protesters being communists. He was here for his daughter’s lacrosse tournament at the Indian Trails Sports Complex later. He comes from a military family, “so it’s a little, it’s upsetting to see people out there with upside down American flags,” he said. The back of his shirt showed the red states that voted Trump and the caption, “WE SAVED AMERICA.” He’s big on states’ rights, he said.
Charles Sears was among the oldest protesters. He is 79, originally from Kentucky and so, naturally, not unused to voting for Republicans from time to time, though he moved to Florida 43 years ago. He was in the Air Force for 27 years, several of those in Vietnam. He stood on a rise above the demonstrators along State Road 100, there being less space to stand below, and he looked at the crowd in quiet awe. He’s been coming to these demonstrations for months, but this was the largest by far that he’d seen. He was pleased.
He was also worried. He spoke in a soft voice, his vocal cords humbled by 79 years of work: “Republicans have gone crazy,” he said. “They’re not human. They don’t have any decency, and especially their leader. He’s a liar. He’s a rapist. He’s an extortionist. And he’s a felon. And he was elected, I don’t know why. I never used to worry about politics until he came along.” He wore a “Resist” sticker on his arm.
Right up against State Road 100, Steve Wheeler, 70, a veteran of the Signal Corps and of Vietnam, brandished a pair of flags–the American flag, and another American flag melded with the Mexican flag “in solidarity with Mexico,” he said. “ I’m not a happy camper.” He said he stood behind the legal immigrants. “I understand the illegal or the criminal element, but we stand behind husbands and wives with children going to school, producing, paying taxes. They are legitimately here. They’re not hiding anything. We’re against them going into courthouse, ICE going into courthouses, when [migrants] are there for business.
That’s why he brought the flags, he said. “But this flag is a democracy flag,” he said, holding the American flag. “This is not a fascist flag. This country has never been fascist, Nazi or anything else. We’ve never had a king.” He said he never used to be a voter “until Trump showed up.”
Vicky Spencer Haley has been an organizing workhorse of rallies in Flagler and Volusia counties. She was among those who organized today’s rallies. “Amazing day in Flagler County for No Kings Day!” she said when they were over. “People came out and showed their spirit. Officers were at every location doing their jobs and making sure everyone was safe. Every protester was peaceful. We appreciate law-enforcement for taking care of our community.” She reported a total of 1,100 demonstrators in the combined marches.
The protests in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach were a tiny part in a constellation of protests in all 50 states in cities and counties big and small, red, blue and purple, with some drawing tens of thousands and possibly more, as in Chicago, where the demonstration filled 10 downtown city blocks.
