{"id":530794,"date":"2026-01-20T22:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/530794\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T22:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:20:12","slug":"despite-frigid-temps-crowd-turns-out-in-chicago-to-protest-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/530794\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite frigid temps, crowd turns out in Chicago to protest Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaitlin Cordes and a group of moms gathered in a Lincoln Park living room last spring to figure out ways to stand up for democracy under what she called \u201cun-American\u201d attacks from President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Trump has scoffed at allegations<\/a> that he\u2019s a dictator, Cordes worried about his \u201cauthoritarian playbook,\u201d including using government powers to seek revenge<\/a> against perceived political opponents. So, on a kids\u2019 easel, Cordes brainstormed ideas to push back and co-founded Moms for Democracy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/a>, Cordes and about 150 others gathered downtown in freezing temperatures to continue to \u201csupport democracy and resist moves toward authoritarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want our children to grow up in a thriving democracy. We want our kids to grow up in a place where masked men do not roam the streets with guns,\u201d Cordes told the crowd, who bundled up in big coats and gloves. \u201cWhere we have a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Federal Plaza rally, protesters carried signs that read \u201cHands off Chicago\u201d and \u201cDefend Democracy.\u201d They chanted \u201cno hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here\u201d as wind chills dipped below zero<\/a> throughout the afternoon. Moms for Democracy organized the protest alongside Indivisible Chicago, a progressive activist group.<\/p>\n

Hundreds have taken to Chicago\u2019s streets in recent days to protest the Trump administration and its aggressive immigration enforcement<\/a> in Chicago and Minneapolis, including downtown Monday<\/a> and at the west suburban Broadview ICE processing center Saturday<\/a>. Federal agents arrested thousands<\/a> of immigrants, most of whom didn\u2019t have a criminal record<\/a>, and repeatedly deployed tear gas and pepper spray during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters march Jan. 20, 2026, around Chicago\u2019s Federal Plaza during a rally to support democracy on the anniversary of President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Tribune interviewed several<\/a> Trump voters who have expressed dissatisfaction with aspects of his leadership. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll earlier this month showed 42% of Americans approved of Trump\u2019s job overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois secretary of state and a likely candidate for Chicago mayor<\/a>, said never in his \u201cwildest dreams\u201d did he anticipate the \u201cdamage (Trump) would do to our democracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth my parents came to this country as immigrants, and when they came here, they had nothing, but they believed in the promise of America \u2014 that if you\u2019re willing to work hard, if you\u2019re willing to sacrifice and struggle, regardless of what your last name is or what you look like, that you have a shot in this country,\u201d Giannoulias said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what has always made us the greatest country in the world, and to see the destruction of ICE and the Trump administration is absolutely unacceptable, so we will fight back,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

He cited a recent lawsuit<\/a> from the state of Illinois and city of Chicago against the Trump administration as an example of local politicians willing to fight back. The suit seeks to bar agents from using tear gas without sufficient warning and making warrantless arrests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colleen Connell, executive director of the ACLU of Illinois, also encouraged members of Congress to reject a government funding bill if it doesn\u2019t include policies to curtail federal immigration agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congress will consider a routine annual funding package for the Department of Homeland Security unveiled Tuesday, or risk a partial shutdown Jan. 30. A growing group of Democratic senators and the Congressional Progressive Caucus say they won\u2019t support additional funds without significant changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, we cannot rely on the courts alone to save us,\u201d Connell said. \u201cIt is up to we the people to resist, to speak the truth, and we need to start by speaking the truth to our members of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Regan Lachapelle, the other co-founder of Moms for Democracy, the U.S. is a \u201cbeacon for democracy\u201d internationally, and that if democracy slips in this country it will weaken everywhere. She also wants to show her two children that democracy is a value they should protect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAuthoritarians use chaos to confuse, to make us feel scared, to keep us silent. They want you to feel like there\u2019s nothing you can do,\u201d said Lachapelle, of Lincoln Park. \u201cThey do this because they know that they are the ones that don\u2019t have the power.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kaitlin Cordes and a group of moms gathered in a Lincoln Park living room last spring to figure…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":530795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,10579,7837,5410,143592,5386,1818,409,235337,235338,277],"class_list":["post-530794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-protest","tag-democracy","tag-ice","tag-ice-protest","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-immigration","tag-indivisible-chicago","tag-moms-for-democracy","tag-trump"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115929758312647743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}