SANTA MONICA — Left-wing organizers refused a request to recite the Pledge of Allegiance during a “Resist Trump” meeting on Sunday sponsored by MoveOn.org to plan protests against the President-elect.
The pledge was rejected because it was “not on the agenda.”
Karen Siegemund, chair of the American Freedom Alliance, stood up and asked if the pledge could be recited before the discussions began. “Perhaps we have a veteran in the room who would be happy to lead us to the Pledge of Allegiance?” Siegemund asked.
Voices could be heard saying, “Oh God” and “no” from various parts of the room.
A man named Gene, who was leading the meeting, said, “I’m sorry, but just to keep this meeting moving. I, personally, agree with you. I’m a recovering Republican and I agree with you. However, I’m going to rule that motion out of order simply because it’s not on the agenda.”
The meeting continued normally after that and Siegemund exited the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, where the MoveOn.org-sponsored event was held.
Sunday’s meeting was held for volunteers who oppose President-elect Donald Trump to meet and organize ways to “resist” him and his incoming administration.
Key topics of discussion were immigration, Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and planning upcoming rallies.
Some of the women in attendance were also planning to fly to D.C. to attend the Women’s March on Washington rally the day after Trump is sworn in as America’s 45th president. Almost one million people are expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on the National Mall and security is going to be amplified.
The march is set to be one of America’s largest protests. Other rallies are also planned to coincide with the Women’s March, including one known as the “Pussyhats” march. Women will reportedly be wearing knitted, pink hats that have pussycat ears on them during the protests.
A flier from the event points out, “We love the clever wordplay of ‘pussyhat and ‘pussycat,’ but yes, ‘pussy’ is also a derogatory term for female genitalia. We choose this loaded word for our project because we want to reclaim the term as a means of empowerment.”
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