As the 2024 Republican National Convention kicked off in downtown Milwaukee, a group of anti-Trump and anti-GOP organizers began showing conservatives how unwanted they really are.
Self-proclaimed anti-fascists, pro-Palestinian protesters, LBGTQ advocates, communists and more gathered blocks from the RNC headquarters at Fiserv Forum for “March on the RNC 2024” on Monday afternoon.
Attendees at the event exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com that they were there to highlight their disagreements with the Republican platform and to make Republicans feel alienated less than 48 hours after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to take Trump’s life.
“I hate the Republican Party, I put it that way,” Anthony, a Milwaukee-area attendee, told DailyMail.com exclusively.
Pressed on what he hates most, Anthony said the party stands for capitalism, adding: “The majority of the people in the country are not on its side, it is anti-human.”
Ray, a communist, showed up at the ‘March for the 2024 Republican National Convention’ to protest against Republicans and their capitalist agenda. He revealed that he has been a communist since he was 16 and that he has hopes for a red revolution in the United States.
Anthony shared that he was a communist and his comrade and fellow attendee, Ray, joined him on the march to spread the word about communism and criticize the Republican Party.
“I personally want the dictatorship of the proletariat,” Ray told DailyMail.com. “I want socialist revolution.”
When pressed about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Ray was nonchalant.
“I shed no tears for Trump, but I think the attack was a completely unprincipled attack.”
Then, without expressing any remorse for what had happened, he admitted that the assassination attempt failed because it was carried out under the wrong circumstances.
“We’re not in a position right now to make that kind of killing work,” Ray said.
A protester appeared in an orange jumpsuit and a Donald Trump mask at the event.
Ray’s friend Anthony is also a self-proclaimed local communist who wanted to make Republicans feel unwelcome in Milwaukee.
Hundreds of protesters turned out for the event, many of them seen in the shade of trees as temperatures during the march reached the 80s.
Another attendee, Lapis, a self-proclaimed communist from the Chicago area, said she was against both Trump and Joe Biden despite the event being explicitly anti-Republican.
“We’re out there with a lot of beautiful people standing up to fascism, standing up to the horrors of this country, and we’re here to say: No to fascism, Trump, no to genocide, Joe, the whole damn system has got to go,” Lapis said.
‘So what we are saying is that we need and demand a revolution to bring about a new way of life, a fundamentally different system, a real revolution to overthrow the system of capitalism, imperialism, and replace the United States Constitution with the Constitution of the new socialist republic in North America.’
“Regarding the incident at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, we say it was wrong and we do not support or condone it,” Lapis said, quickly adding: “There is no further comment.”
Trump had no shortage of detractors at the event. Volunteers were plentiful, handing out signs attacking the former president for attendees to take home.
Other organizers distributed political literature to recruit support for Gazans, the Communist Party or transgender rights.
Inside the RNC, attendees enjoyed cool air conditioning and excitement over Trump’s newly elected vice president, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio.
“My personal motivation for coming here is simply to protest against the RNC, particularly the Republican Party over the last few years, the last half decade,” Julian told DailyMail.com.
“With former President Donald Trump, they have really set aside their traditional values of American conservatism and simply joined forces with a con man to promote their own political agenda.”
“I hope this demonstration shows that people still think American democracy is worth fighting for,” Julian continued.
Julian attended the rally against the RNC to express his displeasure with Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party. He says Trump has degraded the party’s conservative standing.
An event speaker offers remarks on LGBTQ rights advocacy
Organizers handed out signs to attendees reading ‘Stop Trump and racist Republicans’
He condemned the attack on the former president in clear terms.
“Of course, political violence is never acceptable in any democratic society,” he said, sounding a different tone from the communists. “This is not how we resolve our differences.”
There was also a large pro-Palestinian contingent at the event, many of whom had traveled to attend the anti-Trump march.
“I joined the Free Palestine contingent, we came here by bus to protest against a lot of different policies that the Republicans have hinted at in the past in the rhetoric that they are pushing during this current campaign,” another protester, Liz, told DailyMail.com.
‘The white supremacist rhetoric that the Republican Party has long espoused is exactly what caused many things, including the war in Gaza.’
“That’s what causes the incarceration of black and brown people,” he continued. “And that’s why I’m here with my caucus.”
After listening to speeches for about an hour, the event began moving toward the Fiserv Forum, though they were stopped well before reaching the RNC when police prevented them from getting too close.
Activists gather at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee to protest Trump
Event organizers had been negotiating with the city for weeks to decide whether the march route would be allowed.
Over the weekend, the city and organizers reached an agreement that allowed the march to go ahead as planned on Monday afternoon.