Florida with massive ‘slap in the face’ for Trump: “Stand up, fight back. Stop the madman now.”

Florida – This weekend, “No Kings Day” protests took place in more than 70 cities across Florida. Many people termed it the state’s biggest act of resistance since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. From the very south to the northern Florida cities, the protests became more urgent, defiant, and determined.
The gathering in Florida’s capital started early at the Historic Capitol. The people in charge, who had been organizing for weeks, stressed the need for care because state and local officials had warned that they would crack down on dissent.
“We wanted to be careful, but we refused to be bullied,” said Claudia Sperber, one of the demonstration’s co-organizers. She described how the group prioritized safety training, aware of official statements promising forceful responses to any violence. But intimidation, Sperber said, would not keep them home.
Event organizers said that some 5,000 people showed up in Tallahassee. This number couldn’t be verified, but it was evident from the thick masses chanting and waving signs in the Florida sun. Chants bounced off the walls of the old Capitol, as groups sang songs like “Stand up, fight back. Stop the madman now”. Notable individuals in the crowd included Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, and Rick Wilson, one of the founders of the Lincoln Project. Both of them joined in the day’s calls for action.
There were police officers present during the protest, but there were no reports of violence or confrontations. This was despite tense rhetoric from officials, including a stern warning just days earlier from BC Sheriff Wayne Ivey that protestors disobeying law enforcement could face lethal consequences. But the event remained peaceful. There were only a few Trump fans in the crowd, and they were mostly ignored.

During the demonstration, news broke of the horrific shooting of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota. This made people all around the country increasingly concerned about the safety of protests. Still, the people who came were determined to stay, going through the formal program and hanging around on Monroe Street long after the scheduled end.
In St. Petersburg, where more than a thousand protesters spread out across three busy crossroads, the protests were just as passionate. People were angry and concerned regarding recent ICE raids and an increase in deportations. This showed up on hand-lettered banners and in conversations between strangers. Some people talked about the contentious military deployment in California last week, while others, like Neil Pajwa, were worried about how much more the military is getting involved in immigration enforcement.
“He’s using the military, which has almost never been used before. I think he’s setting himself up to basically be a dictator,” Pajwa said.
For a lot of people, the day wasn’t about making changes immediately; instead, it was about speaking out and not staying silent. One person said that Trump’s recent declaration to pause immigration raids in some areas was a planned maneuver. They called him a manipulator and said they were dissatisfied by changing policies and the difficulty of holding authorities accountable.
Not all of the anger was directed at the president; some protestors also blamed Congressional Democrats for what they saw as a lack of backbone.
“I’m sick and tired of having to hide under the sofa and that’s exactly what Congress is doing. That’s what everybody in a suit seems to be doing,” another resident said.
Even though there was a lot of tension in the air, most of the people that came seemed to be happy to be part of a community and to believe that public protest still matters.
By the end of the day, when the crowds had thinned and the chants had stopped, it was evident that for many people in Florida on “No Kings Day,” silence was no longer an option.