As former President Trump’s motorcade passed through Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and San Francisco last week, hordes of MAGA hat-wearing and flag-waving fans lined the chic streets and coastal highways and cheered.
But when Vice President Kamala Harris, who grew up among community activists in Berkeley, went to a fundraiser in San Francisco that same week, a crowd of more than a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters chanted, “Shame on you!”
The disparate treatment — at least through street protests — has been increasing for months, amid a spring dominated by protests on college campuses. But the snapshot of love for Trump and anger toward Harris and President Biden has become more striking as the protests move to the campaign trail, especially in deep blue California, where a large majority of voters agree with Harris and Biden that Trump is a threat constitutes democracy.
Activists and political leaders in California and across the country point to a range of reasons to protest Biden, their potential ally, more than Trump, whom they see as a wannabe dictator.
Biden is carrying the burden of a position he didn’t face four years ago, and is facing a crackdown from some left-wing activists who think they can push him even further to the left. And while some protesters favor neither candidate, most have rejected Trump, whom they view as irredeemable.
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Support for the president remains high in California — Biden has a 20-point lead over Trump in the state, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. But Democrats nationally are concerned that the optics of anti-Biden protests could hurt the president, as many polls show him either tied or losing to Trump.
“What we’re all concerned about, of course, is: when it comes time for politics, can people reconcile with the fact that while Biden’s policy choices in the Middle East may not have been entirely right, they are still the best political choice is?” said Faiz Shakir, chief political adviser to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent. “And the jury is still out on that.”
Of course, protests do not equal votes. But anti-Trump California passion has been a powerful and persistent force on the left since 2016, leading to clashes counter-protesters that turned violent sometimes, drawing police presence, huge crowds and heads. Anti-Trump sentiment carried into Trump’s presidency and the 2020 election, even amid pandemic-era social distancing rules, fueling a coalition that defeated him.
“Donald Trump is rejected by large parts of his own party… They reject his failed leadership, his divisive rhetoric and his threats of political violence against protesters or anyone who dares to disagree with dictator Trump,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika. in a statement to The Times. “President Biden is now able to bring people together, even if they do not always agree.”
Some activists say privately that the violence at those events has deterred some activists from taking to the streets. And while many protesters on the left say they fear Trump’s return to office, many do not see themselves as affiliated with the Democratic Party. Their main goal is to change policy, not elect a president.
Yet many say a Trump presidency could jeopardize all their goals, starting with the right to protest.
The Biden administration’s position on the war between Israel and Hamas, which is fueling much of the anger among activists, is much closer to protesters than that of Trump, who has endorsed Israeli control of disputed areas and joined Israel has insisted on ‘getting the job done’. in Gaza.
“At some point this will bubble up. I don’t believe the protesters are saying, “We’re protesting Biden because we want Trump.” They already know what Trump is,” said the Rev. William Barber II, one of the country’s leading civil rights and anti-poverty activists who directs the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale University.
Read more: Biden vs. Trump: Where They Stand on Israel, the Palestinians, the Middle East
When Trump arrived in Newport Beach on June 8, Democrats in Orange County were too busy securing votes for the election to worry about being at the top of the ticket, said Ada Briceño, chair of the county party. Volunteers knocked on doors, praised Dave Min for Congress and attended an ice cream social for Tammy Kim’s mayoral campaign in Irvine.
Susan Hildreth, chairwoman of Rossmoor Democrats in the Bay Area, said her volunteers have also been busy writing postcards and knocking on doors for Central Valley congressional candidates like Rudy Salas. Her group consists mainly of people over 55 who are less likely to participate in protests, she said.
“We are fervently, fervently anti-Trump,” says Hildreth (72). The lack of Trump critics taking to the streets “may have more to do with the general age of this group than anything else. It doesn’t mean we don’t matter!”
Yet California Democrats had not completely neglected Trump. A few antagonists pushed their way toward the Newport Beach MAGA crowd along the motorcade, shouting “Happy Pride!” and cause some fuss. A banner hung behind a plane that read “Orange County votes for Biden/Harris 2024.”
In San Francisco, an inflatable Trump-style chicken decorated with black and white prison stripes was transported across the bay on a boat labeled “Alcatraz Prison Transport.”
Armand Domalewski, a 34-year-old data analyst, gathered a group of about 50 people across a street in San Francisco, facing hordes of Trump supporters, whom he said occasionally crossed to mock his side.
“There’s just a strange asymmetry between the parties,” Domalewski said, noting that both Democrats and Republicans have protested against Democrats. That reality “makes it very difficult, because both sides are protesting against us.”
Although he has attended many protests, last week was the first time Domalewski coordinated one himself — because no one else did, he said. The Trump supporters were apparently better organized. Vocally too. Some sang “Happy Birthday” in anticipation of Trump’s birthday. (He turned 78 on Friday.)
Even in 2020, Biden was never a movement candidate like Sanders or Trump, who held large inspirational rallies and raised small donations from die-hard fans; Biden also campaigned virtually to protect against COVID-19. And unlike Trump, who regularly uses violent language and incendiary images at his rallies, Biden has campaigned as a calming unifier.
“We didn’t see a fighting Joe Biden,” Shakir said.
Although Biden has governed as a progressive, “he is not by nature a populist who gives you the kind of emotional satisfaction of a cause, a movement and a mission,” Shakir said. His argument is competency and common sense, he added, which doesn’t work well in an arena.
Trump has been the driving force in politics for both his supporters and opponents. One of the largest protests against him took place in 2017, the day after his inauguration, when thousands of women gathered in Washington and across the country to denounce him and stand up for gender equality.
But the political group that formed in the aftermath of that protest, the Women’s March, has so far only endorsed candidates in local and state races and is rethinking its approach to confronting Trump. Street protests may not be the best strategy.
Trump “swore on day one that he would be a dictator, so we know he wouldn’t take the protests seriously. He would not take global human rights issues seriously,” said Tamika Middleton, the group’s chief executive.
But Women’s March could keep the focus on reproductive rights and women’s equality to avoid giving Trump a platform, noting that he has raised money and attention in adverse situations, including his 34 felony convictions.
Trump “enjoys the kind of attention of a women’s march against each other,” she said.
Biden returns to California on Saturday for a swanky fundraiser in downtown Los Angeles, featuring Hollywood elites like George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as former President Obama.
The Jewish Voice for Peace has already announced that it will greet his arrival with a protest.
Bierman reported from Washington and Pinho from Los Angeles.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
