Apr 8

Apr 8 Highly Effective

Demonstrations, Donald J. Trump, Performance, Parades, Protest, Public Declarations

Today’s late afternoon demonstration against Donald J. Trump’s war on Iran may have been the most effective demonstration in the history of all mankind. I left the demonstrators on Upper Wacker, across the river from Trump Tower, at 4:30 PM. Within 90 minutes, Trump had called off his plans to bomb Iran back into the Stone Age by destroying all its power plants and major bridges. He had planned to commit genocide by wiping out an entire civilization. Just over 100 demonstrators changed the course of history by demanding peace as they stood in Chicago’s Federal Plaza, and then marched within eyesight of that incarnation of evil that juts upward above the river where the Chicago Sun-Times was once printed each day.

Of course, I am being facetious. Trump had no idea that anyone in Chicago was demonstrating against his juvenile assertion of masculinity. Yet, just maybe the many demonstrations taking place across the country since the start of the war will cause those in Congress to consider to deny Trump additional funds for his war.

The demonstration adhered to the tried-and-true formula. Several people on the Far Left spoke out against Trump, often giving impassioned speeches. Recalling the halcyon days of the Sixties, a member of Chicago’s Black Panther party spoke. Of course, he called for Black Power, but then proceeded to call for a dozen other powers, including White Power at the end of his list, with a good-natured smile and chuckle added for good measure.

Under CPD escort, the demonstrators then marched north on Dearborn until they reached Wacker Drive. At that point, Trump’s magnetic aura pulled the marchers toward his signature tower. I was walking with a member of CPD at that point. I said to him, “The worst thing Trump ever did was put his name on that building.” I got a laugh, but my observation is spot on. Virtually every demonstration in the city either ends at or proceeds along Wacker, so the demonstrators can stop, face the building, and recite catcall chants.

The man who had the microphone announced that some Iranians were demonstrating in the plaza outside the Wrigley Building. He then proposed that the group join those demonstrators. After snapping the obligatory image of the demonstrators with the word “Trump” emblazoned on Trump Tower behind them, I made a beeline across the Michigan Avenue Bridge, so that I would be in position when the anti-Trump demonstrators arrived minutes later.

The anti-Trumpers never arrived. The man behind the mic incorrectly assumed that those demonstrating in the Wrigley Building plaza were anti-war. Anything but. Chicago’s Iranian community may be divided over who should lead Iran if the mullahs fall, but the community is fully onboard with Trump’s war. In assessing whether there has been regime change in Iran, Trump and JD Vance’s claims are both incorrect and irrelevant. We will know that the Iranian mullahs are no longer in power when Chicago’s Iranian community celebrates in the streets.

When I arrived at the Wrigley Building, there were 10 to 15 demonstrators. The anti-war demonstrators never joined them. Someone may have realized that the people in the Wrigley Building plaza were not Peaceniks. I, of course, was disappointed, because I had already calculated that the arrival of the Peaceniks might produce some tension-filled photographs.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]