Day 126: The Resistance Reaches Belgium
Thousands of people — by some estimates over 12,000 — took to the streets in Belgium to protest Donald Trump’s arrival in Brussels. If that doesn’t sound overly impressive, ask yourself how many times you’ve considered marching in the streets when a foreign leader appears on U.S. soil? Or how many Americans even know who Brussels’ king or prime minster are.
While the American president is an office known to many around the world, rarely do citizens of a foreign nation band together so vociferously to protest their arrival.
According to CNBC:
“Marchers carried colorful flags and banners inscribed with slogans such as “Fight Donald Trump and his billionaire friends” and “stay out of our hole,” a reference to an interview Trump gave last year in which he described Brussels as “like living in a hellhole right now.”
Attendees criticized Trump’s seemingly pro-war agenda and his ignoring of more critical needs, such as aiding the poor.
One grandmother’s feelings about Trump were crystal clear: “Trump is a dangerous man,” said Malika Bali, a 62-year-old from Brussels who was protesting with her granddaughter. “He doesn’t like foreigners, he doesn’t like women and he is not welcome here.”
Another said, “He called Brussels a hellhole and yet he comes here like a conqueror.”
An enthusiastic octogenarian was thrilled by the turnout. Omer Mommrerts, 84 and hard of hearing, declared, “I see young people and that’s why I’m happy. It’s not one generation or one group. It’s inter-generational, inter-cultural. All kinds of people.”
Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles away, Barack Obama got a different kind of greeting from a raucous crowd in Berlin, Germany.
126 days in, 1336 to go
Follow us on Twitter @TrumpTimer
