Idahoans rally against Trump. He responds with another crude tactic | Opinion

Thanks to another of Trump’s incompetent appointments, vaccines now have become a divisive force in America, with parents wondering if they should believe the rants of RFK Jr. about their supposed harmful effects. Last Saturday, right here in Boise, I feel like a got a shot of the most effective vaccine on the market, and it didn’t cost me a dime.

All I did was walk down to the Capitol, which in just a few months will be overwhelmed by Republican lawmakers who will twist and turn Idaho law to comport with whatever Donald Trump and white Christian nationalists declare to be the law of the state. On the second floor, Gov. Brad Little will once again give his impression of a governor who knows better, but who follows the dictates of the most radical cohort of the Idaho Republican Party that now reigns supreme in the state Legislature.

But last Saturday, I was vaccinated against the mountains of right-wing debris Trump has visited on Americans who still cherish a Constitution which limits the power of fanatics and fosters democratic norms that served Americans well until 2016. I was reminded that I lived among kinfolk who share a concern for our present state of affairs, but who still have hope and confidence that a better and more democratic day will dawn. Brothers and sisters, related not by blood, but by a steadfast belief in the goodness of America and what it has always stood for. What it has always represented to peoples across the world who envied American democracy, but is now threatened by the likes of Trump and his minions in Congress.

Boiseans and their fellow citizens from neighboring towns showed up at their state Capitol to shout down the racism, xenophobia and mockery of our constitutional government. They stood up to the violent, uncouth and vengeful ways of a president and his unrepresentative Republican majority in Congress. They stood up to a president who will go down in history as America’s worst, if judged by any historian’s standards applied to past presidents — when Republicans could still pass a civics test on the tenets of a democracy.

The No Kings crowd in Boise was estimated at 5,000, but statewide 23,000 showed up in communities across Idaho to show their allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, emphatically rejecting the presidency of Trump. Across the nation, there were around 2,700 events, attracting 7-8 million Americans.

As I stood among the thousands who took time away from their Saturday morning to show up and listen to music and speeches decrying our nation having fallen into the grips of this most despicable president, I felt surrounded by decent, law-abiding neighbors who respect the rule of law, the most precious commodity a democracy must have to survive the onslaught of autocrats.

Standing just a few blocks from Boise City Hall, where Mayor Lauren McLean and the City Council voted to fly the Pride flag, celebrating the diversity of the Boise community, it was my proudest moment. To thwart the work of locally elected city officials, the state Legislature passed a law limiting what flags could be flown on government property, and the Pride flag did not make the Republicans’ cut. That didn’t stop Boise with its commitment to inclusivity, so it adopted the Pride flag as a city flag, placing it within the legal limit of the law, at least until the white-hooded Republicans attempt further action to assure only flags they want are flown in Idaho cities.

Trump would prove why decent Americans would rally against his presidency just hours after the No Kings rallies, when he delivered his worst demonstration yet of just how depraved and sadistic his conduct in office has become. He uploaded a video showing himself flying a fighter-jet dumping feces on the protesters demonstrating against his presidency.

Once the video hit the Internet, it flew across the globe with distant media like The Times of India and Euronews running the story. America, “the land of the free and the home of the brave” as the final stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner declares, now diminished in size and stature by a man who is the smallest in both when measured by any moral standard.

Make no mistake about it. There are Americans who have been conditioned into believing that Trump is America’s savior as his ICE agents wreak havoc in communities and families across America. Trumpers somehow believe their lot in life is caused mainly by others, newer arrivals to America, who take jobs from them. They also accuse immigrants of a crime wave sweeping across America’s cities when the very opposite is the case. If there is a crime wave anywhere, crime statistics show it’s native-born Americans who are guilty. Immigrants and undocumented Americans living in this country for years are hardly the problem.

Looking across a sea of people at the rally, many of whom carried signs depicting their disdain for Trump, I was reminded of how America has turned on those least able to defend themselves as they take low-paying and often dangerous jobs American don’t want. A sign carried by a protester: “Inasmuch As Ye Have Done It Unto The Least Of My Brethren, Ye Have Done It Unto Me.” Jesus sends a message to evangelicals, white Christian nationalists and anyone who uses the Bible as a guidepost of the good life, but ignores one of the fundamental precepts of Christ’s teachings.

Another sign at the rally said it all. “First, They Come for the Immigrants,” a reminder that Trump starts with indefensible minority groups like Latinos. Then he goes after universities and free speech, a fundamental guarantee in the Bill of Rights. And then he goes after law firms who represented clients in Trump’s vengeful line of fire. And then he prosecutes those who prosecuted him.

Where will it all stop? Who’s next? We may not know the answers, but last Saturday proved that Idaho may be called a Red state, but there are plenty of blue-blooded Idahoans who won’t take Trump and his Idaho lackeys sitting down. They are not about to let him destroy our democratic way of life without making their case for “making America good again,” as one sign at the rally read.

As far as what’s next, I hope it’s more rallies as we head toward the 2026 midterm elections — our most immediate hope to stop the madness of Trump and a Republican Party gone rogue.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio, a regular columnist for the Idaho Statesman and a contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.