If President Trump thought that he could escape the thousands of protesters demanding action on gun regulations who descended upon Washington DC for today’s March For Our Lives by escaping to his Mar-a-Lago resort for the weekend, he was sadly mistaken.
The people of Palm Beach, so close to the site of the massacre in Parkland, were not going to let the president avoid a confrontation over gun regulation policy. Over 2,000 protesters were on hand to march along the route that Trump uses to travel back and forth from his temple of gilded opulence for tasteless people with too much money to his equally elite golf course.
Normally the Secret Service would opt to take an alternate route to avoid the protests, but, according to a report on Shareblue Media, the only other route is currently blocked by several thousand people at an unrelated event in West Palm Beach, so the presidential motorcade will have to go by the local March For Our Lives participants.
The local protestors are doing everything to make sure that Trump hears their message of the necessity for immediate action on an assault weapons ban, stronger background checks, and other common-sense gun regulations.
“They will have bullhorns. They are going to do everything they can to make their voices heard,” said Michelle Kendall, a local resident who helped secure permits for the event.
“He may not like to hear what we have to say,” Valerie Rangel, the 17-year-old student who organized the march told The Palm Beach Post. “I think he’ll get a really angry response from the crowd because a lot of people are angry that he allows groups like the NRA (National Rifle Association) to hold our lives hostage.”
An even larger crowd was expected at the site of the tragic shootings in nearby Parkland, with organizers there expecting as many as 30,000 people to attend. With over half a million people expected for the march in Washington DC and over 800 other rallies taking place across the country and around the world, the total number of participants could run into the millions.
For the protesters in Florida, however, the main objective will be to make sure that President Trump doesn’t ignore their message.
“You can run from the students in Washington,” said Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Terrie Rizzo, “but you can’t hide from us in Florida. We’ll see you at Mar-a-lago on Saturday.”
