“Vote! Vote! Vote!”

Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, the single word was chanted by thousands Saturday during the “No Kings” rally in Colorado Springs. The chant is part of a perceived threat to democracy that has largely been denounced by the Republican Party, who disparaged the protests as “Hate America” rallies.

In June, an estimated 5 million people gathered in 2,100 cities across the nation. Organizers said the crowd in Colorado Springs in that event numbered about 5,000. They say it was noticeably larger this time around.

Held at America the Beautiful Park, organizers estimated about 12,000 to 15,000 people gathered to peacefully protest. As they marched from the park to the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, many of them chanted “This is what democracy looks like!”

Signs such as “Resist Fascism” or “Defend Democracy” were held high among the crowd of faces, some of which were covered. Others wanted to stand out, dressing in animal costumes, a Bob Ross outfit and other vibrant costumes that have emerged from protests in Portland, Ore., as a sign of resistance.

Saturday’s protest is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House.

“This one definitely feels bigger (from the last). It feels more critical. Like there’s an energy of people who feel like, ‘We have to do something,'” said Martha Higgins.

Dressed in a frog costume, the 57-year-old was there with several of her friends to protest. She said the energy at the rally was different from the first because more people are “fed up.”

Like many others at the rally, Higgins said that people need to take steps outside of just protesting if they want change to happen.

A group of the very few counterprotesters at the rally shared their perspectives. While there were not many, some trucks flying Trump flags drove around downtown as protesters marched.

One of these trucks was filled with a group of teenagers, who were booed and jeered at when they stopped in the street. The driver was seen smiling and gesturing at protesters while stopped.

“We just wanted to let them know that we really support Donald Trump,” said 17-year-old Hayden Hett. “We need to say our side of it. We have the right to protest, as well.”

Coming all the way from Woodland Park, the group of four got in their truck and drove down after hearing about the protest on the news. They drove around the area for about an hour, claiming people were yelling at them and giving them “rude” gestures and comments.

Hett and his friends said the comments showed how immature Democrats are, adding that people were angry for “no reason” and that change wasn’t necessary.

Rally organizer Shawn Stewart-Maddox said people from all walks of life and political parties attended the protest, stating that people who normally would never be together are uniting under the movement because they are scared of losing their country to fascism.

“This coalition is the entire gambit,” she said. “It is just a cross-section of this nation … these protests have shown us that picture of the average American more than any other event that I’ve been involved with.”

Voices from the protest

Some military veterans who attended the protest said they were concerned about Trump replacing top military leaders with people who are loyal to him, sending National Guard troops into cities and the removal of the members of the media from the Pentagon earlier this week among other issues. The crowd included a strong showing of veterans, sporting hats, shirts and flags reflective of their service.

Some younger veterans working for Department of Defense contractors were fearful about sharing their names because of the risk of getting fired, but they shared similar concerns to older retired veterans.  

Sharon Busby, who served in the National Guard, said removing top Pentagon officials who may be unwilling to stand up to the president threatens the nation’s democratic freedom. 

“When you got sycophants who do what he wants, we’re in trouble,” she said, of Trump. In the early days of his presidency, Trump removed Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 16 months into a term that typically lasts four years.

But Busby said she hopes that the nationwide protests could encourage Republican members of Congress to stand up to Trump. 

A Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, Ron Bobo, said he is concerned about Trump sending National Guard troops into cities and the potential for those actions to escalate. Guard troops were deployed to Washington, D.C., but so far federal courts have so far blocked the deployment of Guard troops in Portland and Chicago.

“I enjoy living in a democracy and I don’t know if the next generation is going to have that,” said Bobo, who said he is a registered independent and fiscal conservative. He was among some veterans at the protest wearing a shirt that said: “All gave some. Some gave all. One had bone spurs. Veterans against Trump.” BoBo enlisted in the Navy at 17 and served on an aircraft carrier. 

In the short-term, Bobo said he hopes the decision to remove the Pentagon press corps can be reversed with enough pushback from the public, in the same way that talk-show host’s Jimmy Kimmel’s firing from ABC was reversed.

Several people addressed Saturday’s rally, including local school board candidates and the family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre. All of the speakers talked about the importance of protecting democracy and what the community can do to take steps to get more involved to make a change.

“The change we seek will not come from the top, and we cannot afford to keep waiting,” Seth Palmer Harris, an organizer and member of the Colorado Springs chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, told the audience. “But don’t worry, change will come. It’s just that there’s only one place it can come from, and that is from you.”

What the GOP is saying

In a statement sent to The Gazette, 5th District U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank said, “I have consistently supported the American people’s First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and express their views.”

Other local politicians did not respond to The Gazette’s request for comment.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana called No Kings a “hate America rally” that is for the “Antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists” during a press conference on Oct. 10. He has doubled down on those comments since.

His statements echo many of his colleagues.

“This is the furthest thing from a hate America rally,” Stewart-Maddox said. “We live in a nation where we aspire for greatness, and that is incredible … we want to aspire for greatness for everyone that lives here. We want to follow the Constitution, and we want a just and equitable world for all of us.”

The Senate Republicans X page claimed in a post that Democrats refused to reopen the government before their “radical base descends” on Washington, D.C., to protest the administration. They added that American families are suffering so that Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York can appease far-left activists.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News on Oct. 13 that he expected millions of protesters to be “part of antifa, paid protesters.”

In response, Stewart-Maddox said all who took part in organizing the protest in Colorado Springs were volunteers.

“If there’s such as thing as paid protesters and organizers, I am owed a lot of back pay. I do not know anyone in the past 35 years that I’ve been doing things like this that has been paid to protest or paid to organize events like this,” she said.

Several protesters also carried signs that stated they were not paid to be there.

During a speech on Wednesday, President Donald Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that he heard “very few” people were going to be at the protests.

“But they have their day coming up, and they want to have their day in the sun,” he said.

Before the first No Kings in June, Trump said, “I don’t feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved” to a room of reporters.

The organizers

The brain behind Saturday’s rally is Stewart-Maddox, a 55-year-old woman who’s lived in Colorado for four years and has worked with various political campaigns and organizations, including global environmental advocates Greenpeace, for over 35 years.

A mother of two, Stewart-Maddox said she was a stay-at-home mom but has started dedicating most of her time to the political scene because her kids have grown up.

By her side was 67-year-old Tom Howes, a Colorado Springs resident who moved to the city to attend Colorado College back in 1976 before pursuing a career in teaching at the Cheyenne School District, where he taught third and fourth grades for decades.

Like many of his colleagues, Howes said he wasn’t very politically involved until recently, but he did help start the Guardians of Palmer Park in 2009 to maintain its “beauty.”

“It’s just average, everyday people. It is everyone from students to retired folks to everything in between,” Stewart-Maddox said. “It’s all people who are concerned about what is happening. We have people who are organizers that have actually never been to a protest before this year.”

Part of a group of about 12 organizers, the group was dedicating over 40 hours weekly for the past several weeks to plan the No Kings in Colorado Springs.

Short for “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement,” 50501, along with the group Indivisible are the main two national organizations behind the movement.

Stewart-Maddox joined 50501 in February after being invited to a meeting while she was at a small protest, and she said her involvement “snowballed” into a leadership position just by showing up and putting in the work.

Howes said he had a similar path, noting he became the lead safety marshal for the chapter after showing up to a meeting that was talking about escalation training, in which he has experience.

“It’s all very informal. We meet over Zoom and occasionally get together, but there’s no formal structure. It’s not like a business or anything like that. It’s just more like a club,” Howes said.

Their work involves communicating and coordinating with the dozens of organizations and coalitions involved in the No Kings rally to create concepts for what the event could look like while also figuring out ways to promote it. It also includes creating fliers and posters for weekly gatherings, such as a protest at the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 25.

With inspiration from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., nonviolence has been the first priority since Day One, the co-founder of Indivisible wrote in an op-ed published on MSNBC.

Stewart-Maddox said their chapter in Colorado Springs has been doing that by pulling together a team of 50 safety marshals trained by Howes and veterans within the organization to ensure people stay safe and peaceful.

Like the first rally, marshals were seen in bright neon safety vests guiding people along crosswalks, instructing people to stay off the street and chanting along with protesters.

Howes said a lot of the job boils down to knowing how to deescalate.

“Some protests that are often featured in the news where (protestors) are violently or angrily confronting the police — that’s not our style. If we are told to disperse, our job is to help the crowd disperse,” he said. “(But) we can’t force anyone to do anything because we are there as advisors.”

Marshals communicate through radios and a private and secure communication service called Signal and will alert each other to possible situations that could turn violent.

Howes said utilizing their bullhorns and chants that pull crowds together are some of the ways they can deescalate a situation.

Ira Cronin, a spokesperson from the Colorado Springs Police Department, said in an email that organizers have been in touch with police and their liaison officers. He added officers were on regular patrols in the greater downtown area.

Organizers also put together a medic team composed of doctors and nurses in case medical assistance was needed.

What happened at protest?

Despite national ties, Howes said local organizers had the freedom of shaping the protest however they pleased, so long as they stayed peaceful and abided by the rules and regulations within their city.

After renting out the space, organizers planned several events at America the Beautiful Park.

Aside from the speakers, there was music and four specialized workshops for eventgoers. Over a dozen booths were also set up for organizations such as the El Paso County Colorado Progressive.

Stewart-Maddox said the workshops were intended to be informational and steer people into taking further steps outside of protesting, and she hopes the various booths and organizations there will also be a way to get the community more politically involved.

“We (had) somebody come out to talk about canvassing and how to go door-to-door for political campaigns,” she said. “Every organization has a different focus, so we hope to connect people to those organizations, and they’ll be able to start doing things the next day.”

The rally dedicated about an hour and a half for protesters to interact with the workshops and booths while listening to the speakers before the march to downtown started. There was also three food trucks and a kid zone filled with multiple activities.

Funding for the rally has come out of pocket or through donations, Stewart-Maddox said. Organizers use their own money and have raised an estimate of $3,000 to cover costs.

Most of the money was put toward paying for parking and renting out the park itself, Howes said. Every organization that’s planned to come also brought their own stuff.

Organizers never wasted an opportunity to find free stuff, using cardboard found off the street for signs and banners and donations from people, Stewart-Maddox said.

“I am just blown away by how many people were there, and we had no major incidents,” Stewart-Maddox said. “I am just astounded (by) that.”

Gazette’s Mary Shinn contributed to this report.