NORTHAMPTON — It started with a passing conversation on Pleasant Street a few days before the city was flooded with humanity, part of the massive nationwide No Kings II protest of Donald Trump’s authoritarian presidency and the implied dictatorship therein.
“Wait til Trump sends the Guard here,” warned the big guy by the crosswalk. “This place won’t know what hit ’em.”
Trump will send troops here? To Paradise City? You think he’s even heard of Northampton?
“He might after Saturday,” said the gentleman known only as Brian, disappearing into the alley across.
Saturday
The protest at Pulaski Park, a mostly merry, fist-thrusting, drum-pounding statement in full-blooded color, was called in part over Trump’s ordering federal troops into big Democratically-controlled cities to put down what he insists are violent antifa-infiltrated uprisings threatening to blow up our way of life.
So the question is begged. Could the National Guard march on Northampton?
“Little ol’ Hamp? Preposterous,” said George Kohout of Leeds, just finishing his shift with Friends of Northampton Trails. “’Course, Northampton does have a reputation a lot bigger than its size. Trump could make an example of it, yeah … but I won’t lose any sleep over it,” he laughed.
“Could it happen? Sure, of course, absolutely,” said Evan Johnson of Worthington. “It would certainly be inspirational, I would imagine. The politics of the town clearly do not jibe with them; Smith College doesn’t make them happy at all.”
“Not a chance,” said Caleb Rounds of Northampton, putting his tuba in the car. “Not til he’s run out of big cities, anyway.”
“Maybe,” pondered his wife Margaret, putting away her accordion. “If we don’t get him outta here in a couple years he’ll be sending troops everywhere.” The brightly-clad couple, members of the Expandable Brass Band, had to leave the rally early.
“Not enough visibility here,” said Mary Ellen Burke of Conway. “Trump wants the spectacle— maximum media coverage.”
“If he did there’d be a pretty big pushback,” said husband Tom. “He’ll be attacking the mayors and elected officials, the icons of the blue states.”
Like many, Burke fears that the dwindling of services under Trump will do more harm than soldiers in the streets. “Anyone who lived through the Depression knows how bad things can get,” he said.
Occupied
“I would hope not but I try not to get my hopes up these days,” said Lily Schaefer of Northampton. “I wouldn’t be surprised if troops come to Boston. Massachusetts has made it clear what we stand for.”
“I don’t think he can send troops to all the places where people are resisting — he doesn’t have enough troops!” laughed Kathy Downs of Northampton, adding, “He’s breaking America and it’s not OK.”
“I don’t think anyone needs to be sent anywhere, across the globe,” said Rick Paiva of Northampton. “That’s our future, our young people. Trump’s making it worse, making it miserable for everybody, not safe for anyone.”
The president’s incursions into various Democratic cities will backfire, many believe.
“I guarantee he’s gonna have trouble in Chicago — someone might get killed,” said Easthampton’s Jim Flaherty. “I don’t think Northampton is on his list. Even the cops in Northampton have signs,” he laughed.
There were several “If-antifa-were-real-I’d-join-it” sentiments scattered throughout the crowd and identifying oneself as anti-fascist was clearly something to be proclaimed, not shied away from.
Retired educator Jeff McQueen of Amherst took a break from the action and rested on a Pulaski bench with his NOT A SIGN GUY BUT GEEZ placard at his feet. “We walked here, with hundreds of people streaming out of all the neighborhoods, down all the side streets, just wonderful.”
As to the question: “Yes, yes, in a performative way. What Trump’s been doing with the troops is what he’s been doing with politics generally, trying to exercise power and test the limits of the court system,” said McQueen. “Though highly unlikely, you could see military here, maybe in response to, say, a position one of the colleges might have taken. People would take to the streets, but not violently … violent uprising is not possible in America because we’ve totally militarized the police with modern technology.”
“We’re in a bubble here,” said Northampton’s Joanna Nix, locking up her bike. “If a tree falls in Northampton does anyone else really hear it?” she laughed. “But we still have to do it, we still have to show up. This is our city. We’re Americans like everyone else.”
“It feels so safe here, but then again it felt pretty safe in other communities too,” said Nix.
“I was wondering if there’d be some (military) here today,” said Easthampton musician and podcaster Tom Sturm. “I was thinking of bringing gas masks and potassium iodide. You see all these crazy things; it’s hard to even know what’s real. It could be real here tomorrow.”
“Anything’s possible at this point,” said partner Sandra Ginsberg of Haydenville. “But what Jim McGovern said: ‘Massachusetts fights back!’ Our mayor’s gonna fight back. That gives me hope. We have a strong community. That’s what’s keeping Portland going and it’s the same with us.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot today, if you tried to shut this down what would happen,” said Maeve Dzablinski, 12, of Northampton, there with sister Claire, 10, and mom Caryn Brady. She said some of her friends were scared to come downtown today because of rumors that ICE was arresting people and that protesters were out of control. “But if you’re brave enough to come out, you see that this is real, not some rumor on TV.”
“You see a lot on TikTok but this!” said Claire. “I feel so proud of us, so many people out here working hard, even if they don’t feel like it.”
Lot of politics at the dinner table? “If there’s something in the news we talk about it, sometimes we can get really into it,” said Maeve.
“Before Trump was elected, Claire begged me to do something, and we went to Pennsylvania to canvas door-to-door,” said the mom.
“If we keep fighting back we won’t have to worry about losing our right to vote when we get older,” said Claire.
“I am ready to make a change!” cried her sister.
Fear of troops clamping down?
“Mostly I’m aware of our relative privilege and I haven’t felt personally afraid yet,” said the mom.
What put most of the protesters in the streets to begin with was the treatment of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, at the hands of ICE.
Northampton is also a sanctuary city, pledged to provide safety for any community members at risk of an ICE roundup. Not a single word of that is Approved By Donald J. Trump.
“I try to live by faith and not fear,” said the Rev. Anna Woofenden of St. John’s Episcopal Church. “We need to love our neighbors. Showing up is one way we do that.”
“I don’t think he would send troops but I do think we’ll see some ICE activity,” said Northampton’s Maria Garcia. “It does keep me up at night. We have a small immigrant community and I worry about their safety. People start to lose hope and are isolated. And then you come out and see you’re not alone. A lot of people think like us. Uplifting.”
But will it bump Northampton a bit higher on Trump’s list? Is today’s Chicago tomorrow’s Elm Street?
“It’s unimaginable,” said Northampton talk show host Bill Newman. “But many things happening today were unimaginable six to nine months ago. If Trump is successful, from his point of view, in Chicago and other cities, it might be appealing to extend his reach to every hamlet in the country.”
Note: The above conversations took place mere hours before Trump released the AI fighter jet video of Himself in the cockpit releasing oceans of excrement onto the heads of protesters below.
After that, very little is unthinkable.
Bob Flaherty, a longtime author, radio personality and former Gazette writer and columnist, writes a monthly column called “Chance Encounters” in which he writes about our neighbors going about their daily lives.