On Friday evening, dozens of people from leftist and progressive organizations came together to demonstrate against a rally for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The protest came as both candidates waged a final push to win the swing state in the waning days of the 2024 election.
The groups taking part in the protest included Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR), Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Students United With Milwaukee, Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Many of the groups had also demonstrated in Milwaukee months before, as part of the Coalition to March on the Republican National Convention in July.
The protest took place at the corner of Highland Avenue and Vel R. Phillips Avenue in downtown Milwaukee — directly across the street from Fiserv Forum, where Trump supporters were lining up to see the former president in person. While speakers at the protest were anti-Trump, they made it clear that they were also opposed to many of the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president.
The protesters — who numbered around 50 to 75 in total — gathered as temperatures dipped into the upper 30s. They were surrounded by Trump-backers and vendors selling pro-Trump gear, who made their presence known through occasional booing and shouting. At one point, a Trump supporter wearing a suit and tie who had just exited a nearby bar walked up to a speaker, coming nearly face-to-face with him until another organizer inserted his body between the two. The Trump supporter eventually walked away.
The event was emceed by Alan Chavoya, outreach chair for MAARPR.
“The more we hear about hatred from Trump — the more of his bigotry, the more of their transphobia, the more of their xenophobia — we come together, stronger, better, and we will show them, even if we get four more years of Trump or four more years of Harris, it will be four more years of a militant, grassroots movement by the people, for the people,” Chavoya said.
Audari Tamayo, a member of FRSO, said in his remarks that “the best way to fight reactionaries like Trump and his supporters is right here in the streets.”
“That is where we help build the people’s movements that fight for real change,” he added.
“Everything that Trump stands for is detestable, and must be opposed,” Tamayo said.
Tamayo also condemned Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, noting that both Republicans and Democrats have offered nearly unconditional support for the bloodshed. “It’s beyond clear that there’s a two-party support for genocide,” he said.
Tamayo concluded by saying:
If this election cycle has taught us anything, it’s that capitalism is a failed system with nothing but rotten choices. … That system deserves to be overturned.
The next speaker was Allison Smith, a member of Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee.
“We recognize the persistent and growing threats of our rights and freedoms,” Smith said. “People like Donald Trump along with a reactionary Republican agenda continue to threaten our bodily autonomy, aiming to limit our access to contraceptives, abortion, and other essential reproductive healthcare.”
Smith noted that the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade resulted in Wisconsin reverting to an 1849 anti-abortion law, which banned the procedure outright in the state. Only through organizing did Wisconsin residents successfully flip control of the state Supreme Court, which recognized that the state constitution protects the right to abortion access in 2023.
“We gather here tonight to make our voices heard and to send a clear message: Donald Trump and those who support regressive policies are not welcome in our city,” Smith said. “We do not want a man with a documented history of sexual misconduct and disrespecting our rights roaming the streets of our community. We want to remind him and everyone else that we will not stand idly by when our rights were stripped away in 2022, and we will not be silent now.”
“Trump continues to promote a racist and sexist agenda that threatens the civil rights of marginalized populations, such as people of color, immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community,” said Leyna, a freshman college student who did not give her last name and spoke on behalf of SDS. “He continues to claim that the only people deserving equality are the rich and white.”
Leyna noted that Trump “wishes to abolish reproductive and gender-affirming care nationwide.”
“He wants to make the working class break their backs to allow the wealthy elite to continue living their cushy lives,” she added. “He attacks immigrants and their families, to continue building his ridiculous wall.”
With regard to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, “Trump has declared he will ‘finish the job,'” Leyna reminded listeners, adding:
[Trump’s] unwavering support for Israel is a disgusting example of a continued dehumanization of the Palestinian people. … We at SDS proudly stand with the Palestinian resistance, and demand a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
In addition to these demonstrators, other organizations, unaffiliated with this protest action, also descended on downtown Milwaukee to protest Trump. One organization called “Christians Against Trump” brought an inflatable golden calf that resembled Trump — referencing a lesson on idolatry from the Book of Exodus.
The speeches continued without further incident, although Trump supporters did persist with their occasional jeering. One man, dressed as the Joker, tried at various points to shout demonstrators down. Another Trump supporter criticized protesters’ signage for being too vulgar, despite the fact that Trump himself often spews vulgarities in his attacks against his political opponents.
The protest against Trump — and organizers’ promise to oppose undemocratic actions by any presidential administration — came as both political parties have been vying for Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes. Indeed, while Trump was holding his rally at Fiserv Forum on Friday night, Harris was holding her own event on the opposite side of town.
Polling in Wisconsin indicates that the race is a virtual tie, and that a victory will come down to either side’s ground game. A recent Marquette University Law School poll, for example, found that Harris was leading Trump by just 1 point, garnering 50 percent of support to his 49 percent — well within the poll’s margin of error.
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