The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
Norman Rockwell, one of America’s greatest artists, would have had a great time last weekend in Wisconsin.
Portraits of Rockwell’s generation once celebrated America, from first haircuts to baseball games, Thanksgiving dinners and coffee at a diner. They were glimpses of America we recognized and identified with. Images that made us proud.
Last weekend I wondered what Rockwell would have seen in the faces of the 7 million – tens of thousands here in Wisconsin – who protested this President’s actions?
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What I saw were hundreds of worried people. A ninety-year-old in a wheelchair wielding a homemade anti-fascist sign. A young father carrying a toddler, a small American flag gripped in the child’s hand. All of them united in sending a message to a President lost in his own gilded reality.
Donald Trump – the man who would be king – reacted to this outpouring of concern by donning an AI crown and mimicking feces ‘bombs’ dropped on protestors. He wasn’t seeing the same thing I saw.
I felt especially moved by the older people we saw, clearly the most at risk. Thoughts of health care cuts in your 30’s are onerous enough. But if you’re in your 80’s, it could be the difference between life and death.
Yet it appears there’s nothing Trump won’t cut – cancer research, vaccines, food supplements, the list goes on- to help his billionaire buddies. And if that doesn’t work, Trump, always the grifter, will sell you a knock-off Rolex watch with his name on it.
Saturday, I also met a guy dressed like a banana who wanted people to know he was “Proud of America/Ashamed of Trump.” Like me, he saw a future that grows a little darker every time the President orders more troops onto the streets. Somehow, I felt safer in a crowd of bananas and grapes all chanting, “Hey, hey ho, ho, Trump’s gotta go.”
What Trump sees in his reality is anyone’s guess. He talks of cities as war zones. Last weekend a fellow journalist and I attended marches in Stoughton and McFarland. Neither town was geared up for battle. Just lots of people gathered who are frightened by what the future holds.
Thumbs up to the police as well. We saw a single McFarland officer in his squad parked well back from the protest. In Stoughton we didn’t see any obvious security for what seemed to me more like a rowdy PTA meeting than a simmering riot.
Back in 2020, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert hosted a “Rally to Restore Sanity” on the Capitol in Washington, DC. More than 200,000 people showed up to share their common fears about politics then. Fifteen years ago, Americans were beginning to understand fighting for our rights was critical to our future.
That day I stood next to a tall rabbit the two of us united by a sign pleading for sanity in government. We agreed then-and would likely now-that truth matters, civility matters, and science, a free press and the lives of everyone -including immigrants, legal or not- matter.
I look at that photo now as I did Saturday’s protestors and wonder if Norman Rockwell would also see what I do. Everyday people embodying the true values and hopes of America.
– Jerry Huffman is an Emmy Award-winning producer. Early in January, he will become a proud member of the seventy-something clan.
