Protesters of President Trump during USMA graduation
WEST POINT – Hundreds of protesters demonstrated at Thayer Gate and Garrison Landing Saturday as President Donald Trump, wearing a MAGA cap, addressed about 1,000 cadets at their commencement at Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy.
Under mostly cloudy skies, with occasional rain and sun, and early chilly temperatures, demonstrators provided a coordinated approach with signs and banners calling for citizens and Congress to support democracy. Many held printed signs that read: Go Army – Defend Democracy.
More than 100 protesters gathered at 7 a.m. at Thayer Gate, hours before the 10 a.m. address. A small group of demonstrators stood at Stony Lonesome Gate as parents waited patiently to drive in. Some commencement attendees indicated support for the protest with smiles and thumbs up; others showed disdain as they raised their middle fingers and cursed the demonstrators.
Michael Sussman, Democratic candidate for Orange County executive, attended the demonstration. In a Facebook post, he focused on demonstrators’ simple message: “No kings, not then and not now.” He said that many graduation attendees expressed their support. In referencing this Memorial Day weekend, he said, “I yearn for a peace-making nation which prevents the tragic loss of life we see all around us.”
The sloop Clearwater sailed back and forth on the Hudson River at Garrison Landing across from West Point. Some 20 kayakers with American flags and signs of protest floated around the landing. A large sailboat displaying a banner with an image of Trump and the word “unfit” in bold, capital letters joined the flotilla, as it repeated the scene from Trump’s appearance at the 2020 commencement at the academy. At that time, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died under the knee of a white police officer, and the subsequent protests, Trump told the cadets to remember the legacy of soldiers, including those who fought the Civil War to “extinguish the evil of slavery.”
A spirited crowd at Garrison Landing waved homemade signs and cheered the flotilla. Folks at an information table gave out badges reading: Resist – If not you, who? If not now, when?
Flotilla protesting President Trump at West Point
Flotilla protesting President Trump at West Point
