Pro-impeachment rally in front of Flint City Hall, Dec. 17 (Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson)
By Jan Worth-Nelson
Though Flint is 600 miles and a ten-hour drive from Washington, D.C., about a hundred supporters of impeaching President Donald J. Trump congregated in front of City Hall on a the cold Tuesday night to shout out their arguments on the eve of the historic vote.
Doug Kaylor of Gaines (Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson)
Doug Kaylor came in from Gaines, where many of his acquaintances are Trump supporters, to join the rally.
“If the people in the streets don’t protect the Constitution, everybody’s freedoms are going to be gone,” Kaylor said, brandishing an”Impeach Trump the Skunk” sign.
“This is not about politics — I could care less about whether you’re Democrat or Republican…this is about the Constitution. We don’t need to have foreign countries interfering in our elections. ”
“Everybody wants to talk about the Second Amendment,” he added, “but they don’t want to defend the rest of the Constitution. The thing is, everybody’s got to respect the whole Constitution — otherwise there’s not going to be anything left.”
Robert Arnold, who said he was born and raised in Flint, commented, “This is about the soul of our country. Today President Trump said what the Democrats in Congress are doing is illegal and unconstitutional…but there is nothing further from the truth.
“I am not wanting to share my elections with the Ukrainian, the Chinese — I don’t care who you vote for, I want your American vote to count,” he said.
Arguments for the Constitution were prominent at the rally (Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson)
“We want to support the Democratic congresspeople on their vote tomorrow, and especially the Democratic congresspeople who are putting themselves on the line to do this, like Elissa Slotkin, ” said Mary Whaley, a longtime Flint resident now living in Fenton.
“I’m here because I read the Mueller Report,” Wendy Whitson of Swartz Creek said, at the rally with her sisters Nancy Sinclair and Ellen Brisbin. “If you’ve read that you know this isn’t just about Ukraine.” She said she was happy there was a Flint rally, since she couldn’t make it to the Lansing event.
Patty Warner of Flint said she attended the rally “To support all liberals and thinkers! We want to get rid of Trump and Pence and the whole bunch of them — and then start over.”
Bundled up “impeach” fans Sherry Hayden, Robert MacDonald, Patty Warner and Mike Keeler (Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson)
“We can’t take our democracy and our elections for granted,” said Flint attorney Robert MacDonald. “We’ve got a situation here where we have hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money used as a bribe to foreign leaders to infiltrate our elections. That is grounds for removal, right there.”
Frank Amrhein of Flint turns around the MAGA theme (Photo by Jan Worth-Nelson)
“This president is a disaster, an affront to everything that we hold dear,” Woodside Church pastor Deborah Conrad said. “I really appreciate that this administration has finally torn the veil off of how democracy has failed an awful lot of people over the decades and centuries. So I hope this is a call for a whole new way of doing business.”
The Flint rally was part of a nationwide “Nobody is Above the Law” effort expected to draw hundreds of thousands of participants in more than 500 locales, including every Congressional district. More than 20 progressive organizations banded together to organize the rallies and for a push to support impeachment.
“It’s just good to be among friends,” one Flint rally participant said, snuggling up into a thick woolen scarf. “These days you just don’t know who you can talk to.”
Trump supporter Scott Stone participating in the Dec. 17 exercise of democracy (Photo by Tom Travis)
After the initial publication of this story, EVM learned that five Trump supporters arrived at the rally following the EVM reporter’s departure. They stood across the street and hoisted several pro-Trump banners.
EVM reporter Tom Travis, who had been at the Flint City Council meeting inside city hall, came out to interview the Trump supporters.
Holding a white pro-Trump flag, Timothy Peacy said, “I support any duly-elected president. I like the direction he’s taking the country, especially the unemployment rates among the minorities.”
Asked if he thought impeachment would hurt Trump’s re-election in 2020, Peacy replied, “No, this strengthens it. From what I pay attention to, there are more Democrats walking away from the Democratic Party because of what’s going on — they see the shame.”
Another Trump supporter, Christopher John Whaley, said, “Joe Biden did exactly what Trump is accused of doing. [See this November article for information pertaining to this claim]. They’re uneducated–they don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t have one American flag in that whole crowd.”
He continued, “Democrats aren’t for the working man no more–they’re for the illegal alien. The Democrats want to give insurance to illegal aliens. It’s just wrong.”
EVM Editor Jan Worth-Nelson can be reached at janworth1118@gmail.com. EVM Staff Writer Tom Travis can be reached at tomntravis@gmail.com.
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