I have lived a good part of my life in Toledo, and in Tucson, where I presently live with my wife, Mitch. Our two sons graduated from Maumee Valley Country Day School, a wonderful school that I headed from 1994-2005.
I have always been an activist. I have supported civil rights and human rights in America. I campaigned to reduce nuclear weapons and eliminate female genital mutilation around the world. I have spent most of 2025 organizing protests against President Trump in Tucson, as others have in Toledo.
It has been a noteworthy year of protests in our country. It started with the TESLA protests, then HANDS OFF (3 million protesters), NO KINGS 1 (5 million) and NO KINGS 2 (7 million in 2,700 locations). NO KINGS 2 was the largest one-day demonstration in U.S. history.
People ask why are we, Mitch at 78 and me at nearly 84, organizing protests at our ages.
Our two fathers and one mother volunteered to serve in World War II. My mother, an actress, entertained troops at USO clubs and in particular, the Hollywood Canteen. They took great pride in defending the world’s oldest continuous democracy and, like our parents, we will fight to preserve it.
It is our belief that Donald Trump is moving at a rapid pace to change our democracy to an autocracy, “a system of government ruled by one person with absolute power.”
At this time, the legislative branch does his bidding. The rubber-stamping Republicans control both houses of Congress and their members on the whole (Marjorie Taylor Greene is a recent exception) have yet to challenge his most egregious and, some say, corrupt actions.
Extraordinarily, the Supreme Court, the interpreters of our U.S. Constitution, has held that the president is above the law, giving Trump a free rein. Fortunately, the district and appeal courts have issued more than 200 rulings or orders that have partly or wholly blocked Trump’s initiatives and executive orders.
What holds our democracy together, its keystone if you will, is the implementation of the Rule of Law. If a president removes guardrails that protect against corruption, the chances of corruption happening, that is, breaking the law, are high.
In his first days in office, Trump illegally fired 17 non-partisan inspectors general, whose duties include investigating corruption and fraud in the government. He fired the head of the Office of Special Counsel at the Department of Justice, the agency that protects whistle-blowers from retaliation for disclosing wrongdoing in the executive branch. It is interesting to note that Trump’s personal wealth has almost doubled to $7.3 billion since taking office.
Trump showed a marked disdain for the Rule of Law when he pardoned (let us never forget) convicted seditionists and felons who attacked and injured members of law enforcement on January 6, 2021. Since then, he has pardoned people who were convicted of bribery, tax evasion and fraud, including a number of drug dealers, and a gang member serving several life sentences for crimes, including murder.
Most recently, Trump pardoned the former Honduran president who was convicted by a jury of peers and sentenced to 45 years in a federal prison for drug trafficking that flooded our country with an estimated 4.5 billion individual hits of cocaine. Apparently, quid pro quo and loyalty, not mercy, is what motivates Trump regarding pardons. Some say, as with Trump’s constant lying, all presidents do it. Historically speaking, Trump is in a league of his own, no other president comes close.
An essential part of keeping a democracy healthy is a free press. The press have been intimidated and have been called the “enemy of the people.” Journalists worry about their safety as Trump encourages a climate of hostility towards the media. Many in the press are standing firm, and we wish more law firms and universities would do the same.
These are a few of the reasons why we and so many other Americans of all stripes are protesting. As the new year starts, we are putting our energy (what we have left!) towards winning the midterms, despite every effort by Trump and his enablers to rig the election. We know we are on the right side of history in defending our Constitution and saving our Democracy. We hope Toledo Free Press readers, particularly those of you on the fence, will join us in this fight.
