Horrified by the state of the union, he’s an angry protester. But he’s also optimistic

I know many people who suffer from a chronic disease that gets worse every time news comes from Washington. Supporters of the current president of the United States may view this condition as a side effect of Trump’s derangement syndrome, but it is more like Trump fatigue syndrome.

Symptoms may include the urge to ignore a spell, put your head in a bucket of ice, or find another way to numb the senses.

But instead of looking away, some brave souls join the fight.

For example, Bert Voorhees.

I came across his name while reading coverage of Monday evening’s demonstration at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters railed against the bombing of Iran; This is the latest example of Trump acting as if he is king of the world and not accountable to anyone, including Congress, the courts, or the American people.

As missiles fly, civilians die and chaos spreads, Voorhees told USA Today The Iranian ayatollah’s violence against his own people did not justify US military aggression. According to Voorhees, it is American democracy that is under attack.

“If people don’t stand up and speak out about this right now, we won’t have a country,” said the resident of the northeastern San Fernando Valley. “So it’s time for people to get serious and take to the streets.”

I called Voorhees, a retired attorney and teacher, and we had a long conversation that continued over lunch the next day in Montrose. We are both in our 70s and we are both having a hard time aligning the country we live in with the vision we had as young men. Who could have predicted the years of bullying and name-calling, the pathological lying about a “stolen” election, or the rout of congressional and judicial opposition?

I admitted to Voorhees that I had completely misread the direction this country was headed when the first Black president in history took office in 2016. As a more diverse and tolerant population comes of voting age, I’m betting that old divisions will slowly become history and the United States will continue to move toward higher ground.

Stupid me.

Voorhees says she’s demonstrated hundreds of times, but immigration raids and now the war in Iran have kept her extra busy with President Trump. “If people don’t stand up together right now and speak out on this issue, we won’t have a country,” Voorhees said. “So it’s time for people to get serious and take to the streets.”

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Perhaps this was the naive wishful thinking of a parent who wanted their child to live in a more developed country, not one steeped in Neanderthal concepts about science, medicine, climate, and non-white immigrants.

To Voorhees, these are reasons to stir up trouble rather than lose faith, and she’s not alone. No king rally It was huge in greater Los Angeles. Home Depot civilian patrols They looked out for hard-working neighbors because “silence is violence.” whistle brigades They defend their communities.

Denise Giardina, a Huntington Beach bookseller and friend of Voorhees, works Home Depot patrols in her community and says planning various political actions is almost a full-time job.

“I have daughters and I wanted them to have more rights than I did, and I’m not sure that will happen,” Giardina said.

When Giardina needs a break, she goes for a walk; It’s a reminder that one protest doesn’t change the world, but small steps matter.

“Sometimes you can’t think about the end,” he said. “It’s just one step in front of the other. It won’t be the government that will save us. It will be the people.”

A crowd gathered at Los Angeles City Hall on March 2 to protest the bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Silver Lake graphic designer Roseanne Constantino, whose activism includes knocking on doors, sending postcards and making phone calls during election seasons, is on the front lines with Voorhees and shares her sense of mission.

“I mean, it’s a very privileged conversation for people to say, ‘I can’t watch the news, I’m numb, I’m overwhelmed, I need to speak up,’ because they can ignore it because they’re safe,” Constantino said.

“I find it to be like a gateway drug,” he added, “because even people who have never taken any activist action in their lives eventually find themselves at a protest and are encouraged by the sense of community, purpose, and expression of dissent, as well as the love of democracy.”

According to Voorhees, “democracy is a privilege,” and your participation doesn’t end with voting. “You have to make sure they’re doing the right things,” he said, “and that requires paying attention to them and supervising them. Politicians need to work for us.”

Voorhees told me that under President Obama, he took to the streets to protest when drones were used in targeted killings overseas.

“I am an equal opportunity activist, but we have never seen a person more determined to destroy democracy in my lifetime,” Voorhees said. “I called Reagan a fascist, and Reagan felt like a fascist until he met this man who was the head of the fascist movement in this country.”

I bet that the bombing of Iran by America’s first president, who promised to end rather than start wars, was a way for Trump to project his power in a weak time. Many of the president’s true believers applaud, but nothing seems to have been learned from past Middle East interventions that ended badly, and without careful consideration of what happens next, Epic Fury may be followed by Epic Quagmire.

Voorhees insists this was not just a show of force but also an act of distraction.

For example, from the Epstein files. From empty promises of lower prices for groceries and consumer goods, to low preference rates, to midterm election fears, the chaos of outlawed tariffs costing American merchants millions of dollars.

Voorhees was angry about all this, but she clarified one point.

Not demoralized.

More than 200 people protested the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. Protesters carried Mexican, Palestinian and Iranian flags at the rally organized by the Answer Coalition.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“The arc of the universe bends toward justice,” Voorhees said, “but it doesn’t do it consistently. There are retreats. Two steps forward, one back. One step forward, three back. We’re in one of those periods. … But we can get through it, and I believe in the long run we probably will.”

Minneapolis is the model, he said. When two innocent people were killed in immigration raids, the community came together to protest, forcing Trump’s forces to retreat and sparking a national debate about these brutal tactics.

“Minneapolis, along with humanity, stood up to this, and this is the future we want to build,” Voorhees said. “This is the future Martin Luther King Jr. always wanted. This is the beloved community. This is the ticket.”

On Saturday, on the steps of City Hall, “Who Bombs Jesus?” Voorhees, who attended an anti-war protest with a banner that read, said things will only change “if we get off the couch.”

“You can move forward with a heavy heart and head down, hand in hand with the people you care about, or you can move forward with a smile on your lips and dancing to a tune. Why not do that? All empires fall. All Kings and tyrants eventually fail. Sometimes it’s fast. Sometimes it’s slow. But that day is coming, and as the Twin Cities prove, love, even just, is stronger than hate.”

steve.lopez@latimes.com