My Experience: April 19 Protest in W. Caldwell, NJ, Sign Pic [View all]

First, here's a pic of my sign:



As you can see, I printed it on my computer and taped it to my sign board. It is the same content as my April 5 one, but improved. I had quite a number of comments on it, even though a "Fuck Trump" sign was probably easier to understand.

For example, a woman came over to me and asked about the lawsuits and I was able to explain to her that our NJ AG is one of 16 Democratic AGs who regularly and routinely file lawsuits against trump when he comes out with his idiotic "executive orders."

Another woman crossed the heavily trafficked street from the other side (no small feat in NJ), and said, "Thank you. I've watched what Matt Platkin is doing and he is a BAD ASS." She was smiling and all the people with her were, too. She said she crossed the street just to tell me that.

We love a good bad ass in NJ, especially when it's kicking trump.

Number of people

It was a big protest. People were lined up both sides of the major thoroughfare for at least a mile, maybe more. Sometimes it was 8-10 people deep. Almost everyone had a handmade sign, but some had been ordered from Etsy. Hey, I understand. Making a sign that holds up is a good bit of work.

It is fun, though, to look at the signs of others and strike up a conversation with people. In the group I was in, we were conversing through the entire protest, which took 2 hours. The young woman next to me had a sign with a lot of pictures on it and she explained that it tied into a movie popular with her age group and that she hoped to reach others in her age category with this approach.

Counter protestors, supporters

There were trumpers who showed up. Not a lot, but they obviously they had read about the location on the internet and came out to show support for slobby. The only one who actually got out of his car looked like that murderer who killed two people about a week ago. Really strange looking guy carrying around a gigantic flag with "trump" on it. Some young kid walked up to him and said, "You know, you're just a pig-fucker."

Most of the trumpers just stayed in their car and yelled at us as they drove down the street. I would say I saw about 12 in the nearly 2 hours I was there. They were mostly young guys in SUVs who would shake their fists and yell "Trump." Some had signs, though, that they taped on their car. Another used some kind of white spray to write "Trump won" on his side windows. Sadly, these protestors were mostly driving beaters. Everyone else in this area was in a new SUV and I can't count the number of convertible Mercedes, BMWs, and Audis I saw. I would say about 80% of all passing vehicles honked their horns and did a thumbs up or other supportive gesture. The vast majority of people were supporters.

The absolute funniest supporters to me, though, was this SUV full of 5 little old ladies who looked to be about 85 years old. They drove back and forth, back and forth, tapping their horn and waving at the protestors. After standing there so long, I had to start leaning up against a telephone pole and I thought, you know, I may follow their method next time.

Another older guy cracked me up. He didn't have a sign but was showing his support by attending. Again, I'd guess around 82-85. At one point when the SUV I mentioned above with the young guys yelling at us went by, he said, sort of nonchalantly, "One of these days a guy like that is going to try to kick my ass." He continued, "But I'll be ready for them. I'll give 'em a run for their money."

I could hardly keep a straight face.

Another counter--well, almost counter protestor--was this guy in a Mercedes convertible. His well-groomed wife was on the passenger side, the side nearest to us. This guy actually slowed down and yelled some trump stuff at us while shaking his fist. But his wife was smiling warmly at us and gave us a thumbs up. All this without him noticing.

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I didn't take pics 'cuz I lost power on my phone but I'll be looking for clips at youtube and if they are from W. Caldwell, I will edit this post and add it. I've been watching youtube and more and more clips are showing up when I use the search term " nj 50501 protests."