Veterans “Act Now Keep Democracy Alive and Well”

WASHINGTON (03-16) – “Don’t let democracy die on our watch!” is the operative that brought concerned American veterans from across the country to every state Capitol and Washington to rally and march for accountability and to defend democracy. The date of the rally 03-14 was selected in reference to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution wherein it states that anyone who has taken an oath of office, civil or military and is involved in “…insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” can be removed from their office by a two-thirds vote of each House.

The National Mall was flooded with concerned military veterans, their supporters and family members all expressing deep disappointment and contempt for President Trump and his unelected co-president Elon Musk. The recent DOGE attack of mass layoffs against the federal workforce, many of whom are veterans, will include also include an estimated 83,000 workers at the VA. This unprecedented and egregious action against vets will result in a severe reduction of services, longer wait times and reduced access for care. This major sore point leaves many vets feeling abandoned and “pissed off at Trump and Musk.” While Musk has described the layoffs as “achieving efficiency” nobody at the rally was dumb enough to fall for it.
A disgusting issue raised, too, was the treatment of our vets who were foreign-born and have served in the US armed forces by putting their lives on the line for our nation, who after serving, have been deported. Currently, there are an estimated 45,000 foreign-born individuals actively serving who instead of having a path to citizenship for their service, will instead be rewarded by Trump with deportation after serving.
An article in The Hill reported that “The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied military naturalization applications at a higher rate than civilian ones. This is not just a bureaucratic failure but also a moral disgrace. A country that sends immigrants to fight its wars but refuses them the right to stay is a country failing to uphold its own values. How can we claim to honor service members on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, drape flags over their coffins and speak of duty and sacrifice when we discard them like they are disposable? ”
In opening the rally, MC Cliff Cash thanked the vets for their service and acknowledged their bravery and sacrifices then referred to Trump as “a five-time draft dodging Russian asset.” He went on to say that in protesting today, “Each of us is a drop of water; together we are a flood.”

Trump has been investigated since the 1980s for his ties to Russia, Cash said, and noted that Trump’s longest standing business partner is one “Feliz Sater” who is a Russian-born American mobster. “Donald Trump is a Russian asset and it’s never been more clear than now when we are seeing American foreign policy unfold as if Vladimir Putin wrote it himself, because he did. Donald Trump is not just an insurrectionist; he’s a traitor to this country.” Cash referenced his website donaldlovesvladimir.com web site for more information on the subject.

Both the organizers and speakers chastised Congress for not taking action to defend democracy that has been “hijacked by an illegitimate president and administration…(and) protected by a system unwilling to uphold our constitutional safeguards.” The vets have called on everyone in a bipartisan effort to “take immediate action to stop this authoritarian coup against the destruction of our democracy.”

John Bonifaz, president of “Free speech for People” spoke by video saying that Trump had “disqualified himself from holding office” by inciting the insurrection of January 6 to halt the peaceful transfer of power for the American government. “Anyone convicted of insurrection is forever forbidden to hold public office again.” He labeled Donald Trump as an illegitimate president, saying “We know this because three separate jurisdictions in this country looked at the merits of this question and found the same thing, that Donald Trump was disqualified. The Colorado Supreme Court, the Maine Secretary of State, and a case brought in Illinois all ruled that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection. In the end the Supreme Court found that states do not have the right to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in federal elections.” Something, he said, “Free speech for People” disagrees with.

Bonifaz went on to describe Trump’s abuse of power since taking office in January through executive orders by freezing funds appropriated by the US Congress along with his defying court orders in cases filed regarding the funds, including those affecting veterans. He noted that those actions, along with others, are “impeachable offenses.” Regarding Congress, he noted that Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was the only member of Congress that stood in defiance during Trump’s recent speech before both Houses of Congress.

Álvarez-Aranyos, founder of American Opposition, said that his organization “refuses to sit by and watch as our country is being dismantled from within. We are here today not just to protest but to demand action. Not to just speak, but to be heard. Not to just resist but to win. Because sometimes the enemies are foreign, but sometimes they are domestic. We are here because Donald Trump has already done what we thought we would never allow.”

“You can stand with Donald Trump, or you can stand with America. You can continue to cower in the shadows, or you can step forward and do what’s right. You can fight for your own career, or you can fight for your country. But you can’t do both!”

He proclaimed that Trump was acting not as a president, but as a king. “The attack on our press, the destruction of our institutions, the purge of civil servants… we are now watching our country being take from us in real time. He has given our enemies everything they ever hoped for, and he has done all of this with the support of his enablers in Congress,” who he described as “cowards who stay silent.” Informing everyone that: “We are launching a campaign to have every Republican join us in removing Donald Trump from office…by organizing ways that no opposition movement has ever organized before. The American people are more powerful than Elon Musk and we are more powerful than Donald Trump.”

Former Capitol Police officer with 16 years of service and J6 survivor, Harry Dunn, co-host of the podcast “Clean up on aisle 45,” spoke to the crowd saying that while driving in to the rally, he passed a lot of people with flags, and wearing military gear and that he had a PTSD moment because “The last time I saw everybody like this, they were beating the shit out of me and my co-workers at the Capitol.” Referring to the rally, he said this is what a day of love looks like and not what happened on January 6th that Trump refers to as a “Day of Love.”

Stating, “Veterans are the real heroes of our country,” and addressing his service working as a Capitol Police officer on J6 for which he received numerous medals and service awards, he said he “…would rather trade in all the awards and service medals I got for y’all not to know who the F%#k I am.”

“But you do know who I am and what we need to do right now is to have a lot of somebodies do something to save our country.” He continued, noting that “Congress failed us, the courts failed us. We need some people with backbone to stand up and get the job done” by removing Trump from office for his part in fomenting the violent insurrection on that day and his illegal actions since returning to the White House.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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