50501 Protest in Salt Lake City, Utah

The putative leader has no clothes, Salt Lake City edition

I've been at a loss for words not a few times while we've been full time travelers by what's happening in the U.S. politically, specifically, policies happening because of the election and re-election of Donald Trump.

If our life on the road appears to be generally blissful and joyful, generally it is just what it appears.  We are not on vacation, but we are in a position to do vacation-like things as often as we want. There's mundane day-to-day living stuff too, but we are happy with the choice we made to travel without a home base.

So, with all the chaos being created by the current administration and their toady minions in Congress and the Supreme Court, we also feel a grave obligation to speak out, to let our voices be heard now.

We don't stream cable news shows. Ever. We, until recently, read two newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times. Now, only the Times. We have a subscription to The Atlantic.

We exchange ideas about the state of the U.S. and world daily with each other. What's happening today in our country reminds me of the growing up in the 60's when many of the policies being attacked now were settled, sometimes not so peacefully because of the intransigence of our government to the will of its citizens. 

I read various Substack contributors, including Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, Slow Boring, Judd At Popular Information, Letters From An American, The Weekly Dish, The View From Rural America, Art Cullen's Notebook, and Chris Geidner at Law Dork, to name a few.  I also continue to follow Kyle Whitmire and John Archibald in Alabama.

And Melanie started following the 50501 Movement early on and, because of that, we've gotten out to be among like-minded citizens who also don't believe that the wholesale dismantling of government is normal, who don't want oligarchy, who don't want theocracy, who value our civil rights, the rule of law, and who are angry with politicians who are unresponsive.

Our own representative in Florida won't show up in person for Town Halls, instead choosing to communicate via telephone Town Halls.  Like many of President Trump's toadies, he's just another coward.

We've now attended four 50501 protests: two in Tucson, Arizona, one in Everett, Washington and the most recent one in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Photos below are both mine and Melanie's from the Salt Lake City protest of April 19, 2025.