In a protest largely ignored by the corporate media, thousands of workers and young people surrounded Macomb Community College (MCC) in Warren, Michigan Tuesday, where President Trump delivered a fascistic rant to mark his first 100 days in office.
Based on photos obtained by the World Socialist Web Site, the crowd protesting Trump was substantially larger than the crowd listening to the would-be Hitler. This demolishes the picture presented by the media of Trump as an invincible colossus.
Protesters began assembling outside MCC around 4 p.m. and lined the streets on three sides of the campus. On 12 Mile Road alone there were close to 1,000 protesters, mostly working class, and most from the local Macomb County area, which had voted for Trump in the 2024 election.
While the rally had been called by a coalition of Democratic Party-aligned groups, including 50501 and Friends of Bernie Sanders, there was no evident presence of Democratic Party officials or delegations from trade unions. A number of workers who spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters expressed anger and dismay that United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain had endorsed Trump’s tariff policy.
There was intense anger over Trump’s policies. For some, this was their first ever rally. Others said they had been at previous protests. A few said they had earlier supported Trump but thought his policies had gone way too far and were threatening constitutional liberties.
Melissa, a former store manager who now works for Door Dash, said she heard about the protest on the news and came down because, “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
She continued:
I believe that Trump’s fear-mongering and exaggeration of immigrants is affecting communities in many ways. I think he’s trying to fear-monger and brainwash people that immigrants are bad.
It’s sickening the things he is saying about immigrants. They’re hiding, they’re scared. I know so many people that are hard working. I’ve traveled to Orlando with the kids and I never experienced anything but kind, hardworking people.
If you look it up, undocumented immigrants pay almost $100 billion in taxes. Last year, I think, they paid $97 billion. That’s just taxes. That’s not counting what they put into the economy. That’s just undocumented immigrants.
It doesn’t make sense for Trump to fear-monger these people, but MAGA just loves it. It’s terrible. It’s divide and conquer.
She added, “Elon Musk is getting $8 million a day for Space X.”
Asked about Trump’s plans to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal and especially his plans to annex Canada, she said, “I go to Canada all the time. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing. It’s mind-blowing. He’s a tyrant.”
Commenting on the dismantling of healthcare, science funding and education, Melissa added:
Money can do evil things. Trump’s got Elon Musk in his back pocket. They feel like stealing money from kids’ education, from the veterans, from the seniors. That’s our money, taxpayers’ money. And they are going to go for Social Security too, according to what Trump is saying.
Melissa continued:
Whenever a man claims he was sent by God, he is trying to convince someone he is their way to heaven. It’s a huge form of brainwashing that is not supposed to be in America. That’s why we have the separation of politics and religion and freedom of religion.
An MCC student said:
The feeling was it was nice to see so many young people involved. An older woman came up to me to say it was so nice to see young people here.
There was a mix of people involved. All agreed that what is going on is terrible and needs to be stopped. It focused on all working class people fighting against the capitalist class and big money.
There was an umbrella of people fighting on different issues, but all fighting against fascism.
I think there are more people protesting than inside at the Trump rally. The crowd only filled up less than half the room. My guess was there were less than 500 people there. The president of the Untied States and they couldn’t fill up half the room? Bernie Sanders had 10,000 or more when he came to Michigan.
I saw people leaving the rally. He started speaking at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. people were trickling out. It wasn’t because it was winding down. He was still speaking at 7 p.m.
Kathy, another younger attendee, said she had been motivated to attend by the ongoing genocide in Gaza. She told the WSWS:
I just graduated recently. I couldn’t stay silent when the supposed liberal party (Democrats) wasn’t saying anything. Even at one of his most recent rallies, Bernie Sanders never said the word “genocide.”
I want people to speak on the real issues.
She noted that “both sides are in support of war and genocide. It’s all about capitalism and for profit, none of it is about people.”
A young disabled veteran spoke about the cuts to veterans’ benefits and healthcare. He said:
I think it is asinine what Musk is doing. I was medically discharged from the military. As a veteran myself I rely on Veterans Administration benefits. I get my healthcare from the VA. If I didn’t receive that I would be in a worse position.
Asked about building workplace and neighborhood committees to defend immigrants, he said, “100 percent, I think we should.”
An automotive engineer who spoke to the WSWS said he and his wife had been involved in protests from Detroit to Lansing, showing their opposition to the Trump administration. He said:
In my opinion, he has pretty much destroyed the world economy. The games he’s playing, I have no confidence in. I don’t think he even understands what the hell he’s doing. That’s my opinion.
He’s a lawless individual that wants to think he’s a king. He’s no king. He’s not my president, to be honest with you. I wouldn’t stand behind him on anything that he does.
Speaking on the role of the Democratic Party, he said:
I am disgusted with the Democratic Party. Don’t tell me somebody’s waiting in the wings, because we don’t see it. They’ve done nothing to oppose him.
He added:
Then they bring this idiot Elon Musk in there to just do a chopping block on the government employees, with no concern for their welfare. Let’s just fire them, get them out. Who cares how the government works after we’re done? That’s how I believe he’s treated this whole thing.