Protestors took to streets in front of the state Capitol Building in Trenton, after it was announced that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped down from his position at the request of President Trump. This announcement came on Wednesday, November 7, the day after the midterm elections, while votes were still being counted in many parts of the country.
The rapid response action called “Nobody is Above the Law” was prepared months in advance by the progressive organization MoveOn.org, ready to be activated whenever, or if ever, the president fired Attorney General Sessions or took direct action to stifle the special investigation into Russian election meddling being carried out by Robert Mueller.
Activists and progressive groups across the nation signed up on MoveOn.org’s website to receive a message to let them know if the day had come. That message went out on Wednesday, calling people to rally at Thursday 5pm. An estimated 40,000 people participated nationwide on over 900 protests, according to the Move-on website.
One of the roughly 100 protestors in Trenton, Mike Onofri of Bordentown said of the event, “It shows a commitment among citizens that if they can do that within 24 hours it goes right back to the revolution with the minutemen who were ready at moments notice.”
Julie Wilmot, a mom from Cranbury whose son, Ezekiel Wagner, goes to Mercer, was at the event. She told the VOICE: “Speak out. Be heard. Ask your representative to go to Washington and tell your story. Tell everyone you know to vote. Insist there is change. Insist there is redistricting in your legislative district. We can’t do this without the real voices of all the people making the decisions for this country. If you are sitting on the sidelines, you are not part of the solution.”
One of the Trenton rally’s organizers, Laura Zurfluh, a veterinarian from Cranbury, who serves on her local Democratic County Committee, and leads Cranbury’s Indivisible chapter, explained that local progressive activists have been planning for this for months, knowing that it might happen, having people make signs in advance and ensuring that they’re ready to move.
“It used to be that you read the news and you fume at your dining table. Now I read the news and I’m like ‘okay what am I going to do about it.’” Zurfluh said, as night darkened the sky at the end of the event.
Lisa Flythe of Lawrence, NJ, who was at the Trenton rally and is a member of Our Revolution Trenton Metro, a local progressive activism group that was founded two years ago, said, “So often folks can feel isolated in their beliefs, and by standing up with other like-minded people from across the metro area it shows ‘Hey! Yes.’ It also brings attention to the issue. In our busy lives sometimes it’s very difficult to understand when significant events are happening.”
Specifically, protestors expressed concern over the President tapping Matthew Whitaker to take Sessions’s place, a highly controversial choice since Whitaker has been a vocal opponent of the Russia investigation.
MoveOn.org’s mission statement for the rally reads, “Whitaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it. The Nobody Is Above the Law network demands that Whitaker immediately commit not to assume supervision of the investigation.”
Wilmot later added, “It’s really an opportunity for people to voice their concerns together and talk about solutions together. It’s a place for us to gather peacefully and try to redirect where this country is going.”
Indeed, many questions have been raised about the legality of Whitaker’s appointment. Whitaker, who was a former U.S. Attorney in Iowa, went on to promote hot tubs for a scam company that was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission, according to reports from Jon Swaine at The Guardian. Whitaker has not been confirmed by the Senate under the Constitution’s Appointment Clause.
The President’s reaction to the Mueller probe and his firing of former FBI Director James Comey have prompted many questions about a potential Constitutional crisis. Political blog fivethirtyeight.com describes this type of crisis saying, “The Constitution’s system of checks and balances sets the various branches against each other for the laudable purpose of constraining tyranny. However, due to partisan polarization, individual corruption, or any number of other reasons, sometimes the political institutions in these arrangements fail, sending the governmental system into a crisis.”
This aspect of the Whitaker appointment and of any future actions by the President to thwart the investigation was on the minds of the Trenton protestors.
As Protestor Lisa Flythe told the Voice, “The very foundation of our country is being undermined, our country built on our constitution. It’s the most important document in terms of how we organize ourselves as a legal structure.”
