Hundreds of people turned out in Tulsa to protest President Donald Trump on his 79th birthday prior to a controversial military parade scheduled for the streets of Washington, D.C.
Protests were held downtown and at the intersection of 41st and Yale in Tulsa, drawing a diverse crowd of people voicing various concerns.
Anita Long is a retired paralegal who spent her career working for a U.S. attorney’s office in Pennsylvania. She said she’s afraid the country is sliding into authoritarianism.
“Bit by bit, Project 2025 is being implemented, step by step, and Congress is not doing diddly squat to stop it, so the people are gonna have to stop it, and that’s why I’m here,” said Long.
Project 2025 is a blueprint written by the conservative Heritage Foundation for Trump’s presidency. It suggests radical changes to the federal government, including the elimination of merit-based federal employment in favor of loyalists and the destruction of institutions like the Department of Education.
A Project 2025 tracker estimates the initiative is 42% complete.
Downtown, protesters lined the sidewalks along Denver Avenue.
Chants of “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” echoed across several blocks. Many cars passed protesters with honks of support or signs of their own.
Carlos Garcia, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, called the Trump administration’s deportation policies “garbage.”
“The fact that they’re trying to deport most of the people [who are] basically the foundation that makes the United States go ‘round, it’s wild to me,” Garcia said.
Erica Watkins helped organize the downtown protest. An Army National Guard veteran, Watkins called President Trump’s military parade “propaganda.”
“It’s a vanity parade,” Watkins said. “It’s only about one person’s ego.”
There were some counter-protesters carrying Trump flags, including one man who carried an AR-15 rifle.
Boosters of the Trump administration say the president is decisively dealing with some of the country’s most pressing problems.
Demonstrations were held across the country, with organizers labeling the day as “No Kings Day.” Protests in Tulsa remained peaceful.
