U.S. protesters who once chanted “No to Trump” now urge people to “Vote”

【Financial News, New York—Correspondent Lee Byung-cheol】“Voting is our power.”
Washington Square Park in Manhattan, New York, on the 17th (local time). People streamed beneath the Washington Square Arch, near New York University (NYU). Black signs reading “Trump Must Go Now” waved throughout the area, and an image also appeared of the Statue of Liberty punching President Donald Trump in the face.
With a little over two weeks until the U.S. midterm elections, anti-Trump protesters took to the streets again. But the rally’s central message that day was “Vote.”
The event was VoteFest, a rally to encourage voting organized by the No Kings camp, an anti-Trump civic movement. Its aim was to channel the existing street protests into a campaign to get people to vote in the midterm elections.


The speaker who drew the strongest response that day was the Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the United States’ leading Black civil rights activists. Sharpton declared, “There is someone in the White House who is under the illusion that they are a king,” adding, “We are all coming together—Black and white, Latino and Asian, and LGBTQ people—to declare that there are no kings in America.” He stressed, “We will not have our right to vote taken away, and we will not have our rights taken away.”
Sharpton also took direct aim at economic issues. “If all you care about is making money from cryptocurrency, whether gas prices go up or not, then the cost-of-living problems ordinary people face won’t matter to you,” he said, adding, “We will vote in two weeks.” Then he shouted, “The No Kings movement will take the crown off your head and return it to the people,” prompting attendees to chant, “No Kings.”

Messages urging people to vote rang out repeatedly at the rally. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams mentioned his four-year-old daughter and said, “We have to leave our children a better world than the one we have now.” He urged people to take action, saying, “Some people ask what they would have done if they had lived during the civil rights movement of the past. What matters is what you are doing now.”
Williams repeatedly asked attendees, “What do you have in your hands?” before stressing, “Right now, we have a ballot and the right to vote in our hands. Voting won’t solve every problem, but it is a tool we must use to move forward.”
The rally had a festive atmosphere, mixing political anger with satire. One participant wore clothing in the colors of the Stars and Stripes with the words “No Kings” on it, and held a large sign reading “Liberty.” Others wore costumes satirizing the wealthy and underscored the importance of voting with the ironic message, “Don’t vote. Everything is fine just the way it is.”
A person sitting on a park bench held a sign reading, “Trump thinks he is a king.” Slogans including “No kings since 1776” and “Get Trump out” also appeared at the rally. A woman in her 50s who asked to remain anonymous said, “I came here because I oppose Trump’s policies,” adding, “We’re all unhappy.”
The participation of Korean Americans also stood out. Representatives of an immigrant-rights organization affiliated with the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, a Korean American organization, unfurled a banner reading “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Now.” Jennifer Reingold, a co-chair of the event, said, “We aren’t here because we have special connections. We’re ordinary citizens, but we came together because we think we have to act.”
She urged people, “Pass this message on to five people today, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote early, and vote with a friend.”



[email protected] Correspondent Lee Byung-cheol Reporter