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On
April 5, 2025, as
cherry blossoms waned
and redbud trees were
limbed with their
violet pink buds, the
Steiny Road Poet
gathered a group of
poets with one composer
and one international
bicyclist to wade into
the Washington, DC,
crowd of over 100,000
protesting the chaos
Donald Trump has caused
in the United States
and the world. The
protest organizers, for
example Indivisible and
MoveOn.org, probably
didn't have the funds
to rent mega speakers,
let alone Jumbotrons to
broadcast what was
being said on the stage
of the Sylvan Theater.
The group was too far
from the stage to hear
the speakers, such as
Representatives Jamie
Raskin and Al Green.
Alternatively, the
group stayed put at the
base of the Washington
Monument looking toward
the Capitol building at
the other end of the
mall. Steiny snagged
two other poets from
the massive crowd, and
we all remarked on the
signs coming past us.
The overall message of
the April 5th protest
was Hands Off a
dizzyingly long list of
things that Trump,
Musk, and his people
were breaking.
Steiny's sign read: Stand
up for Due Process. You
too could be
Disappeared to El
Salvador. Steiny's
sign was matched by a
sign carried by a young
man from Portland,
Oregon: You can't
send all of us to El
Salvador.
Other favorite signs included:
What would Cory [Booker]do?
Hegseth was a DUI hire.
Ikea has better Cabinets…
Porsche=>Fast. Ferrari=>Faster. Tesla=>Fascist.
Cut Musk not jobs!
This is our Dunkirk, be the Little Boats!
Leaving the Washington Monument grounds, we paused
momentarily to chant these words with a large gathering led by a
drummer: No Trump. No Fascist USA. No KKK. As compelling
sonically as this chant was for Steiny, it raised questions. The
composer in the group had remarked earlier that there were few
Black people, and we certainly saw no hints of the racist Ku Klux
Klan, not even on protest signs.
With a little research, Steiny discovered that a legendary punk
rock band called MDC had coined this chant as follows: No
Trump. No KKK. No Fascist USA. MDC had been dogged by
Klansmen during their early gigs in Austin, Texas. In October of
1980, MDC's punk audience threw rocks at the KKK driving them
out of Austin. In early November 2025, MDC released their latest
album, a twelve-song recording entitled Mein Trumpf which
includes the chant. Their album title also connected the dots
relative to the protest sign Resist Mein TrumpF—a take on
Hitler's playbook for the Holocaust Mein Kampf.
Steiny heard that Black folks were advised by Black creators (e.g.
Rap artists) and activists on social media to stay away from the
April 5th protest because they would not be safe, and their
interests would not be well served. Senior news reporter Dejon
Campbell of Macon, Georgia, said, "Black folks already showed
up: '86% of us voted on November 5th. 92% of Black women.
Look at how everyone else voted. This time? It's your turn.'"
In all 50 states of the United States, peace prevailed. Certainly,
Martin Luther King would have approved.
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