The Paducah rally, by Berry Craig
The Jackson Purchase, Kentucky’s westernmost region, is Trump territory.
Even so, Four Rivers Indivisible, part of the national Indivisible group, regularly organizes protests in Paducah against Trump policies.
About 60 people braved sweltering heat and steamy humidity to show up at the city’s Noble Park for a “Families First” rally, the 18th protest Four Rivers has sponsored this year, according to Leslie McColgin, co-leader of the group.
They heard a speech from Dr. Ken Wolf, a retired Murray State University history professor. They chanted slogans like “This is what democracy looks like.”
They gathered alongside busy Park Avenue to hold signs and wave to motorists and chant. Those who honked and waved in support far outnumbered detractors.
Volunteers also lined up to flip cards that read: “SAVE MEDICAID” on one side and “STOP THE CUTS” on the other.
Leslie McColgin kicked off the rally by explaining that on Saturday, Americans nationwide were to unite in Indivisible-sponsored “peaceful marches, rallies, and actions to say: our families come first – not billionaires, not authoritarians, and not corrupt politicians.”
She added that “Families First actions will bring people together to collectively demand an end to policies that harm children, seniors, and our families. We reject the Administration’s actions that have gutted essential programs like Medicaid, FEMA, food stamps, school lunches, and more, all so a handful of billionaires can get tax giveaways.”
McColgin said Indivisible also demands “an end to the attacks on immigrant families. Giving ICE even more money means more raids, more babies separated from their parents, and more fear in our schools, hospitals, and communities.
“We are coming together to say in unity: our families come first.”
Four Rivers also conducted a food drive in conjunction with the rally. Non-perishable foods and supplies were delivered to Family Services of Paducah.
Ken Wolf said he wanted “to make the point that our democracy is slipping away,” adding, “I think most of you know that … ‘Slip sliding away’ as Simon and Garfunkel used to sing.”
He said Trump on his first day in office began his “attack on the republic and on the Constitution with executive orders, some of which were not legal, and with a whole series of actions. … We know our republic is in trouble.”
He praised Four Rivers for organizing rallies and protests. “There have been millions of people all over the country expressing their disapproval of … [Trump’s policies],” he said.
Wolf said he asks himself “Why hasn’t this had more of an impact?...Trump keeps traveling down his path towards a dictatorship, to be honest, and it’s a dictatorship designed by rightwing Republicans. They’ve been working on this for 20 or 30 years.”
He cited Project 2025, the ultraconservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term. “That is a plan, step by step by step, to make the president the only real power in the country, and since we have a Republican-dominated Congress that’s okay with them because they are scared to death of Trump.”
He said Trump is a master at distraction, calling for the Kennedy Center be renamed for First Lady Melania Trump and demanding the Washington Commanders pro football team change its name back to the “Washington Redskins” and the Major League Baseball Cleveland Guardians revert to “Cleveland Indians.”
Added Wolf: “This is all garbage while his Storm Troopers in ICE go around and pick up immigrants, probably half of which are here legally. … We know that racism is behind all of this,” that those being arrested “are people of color – people that don’t look like us. They are not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants and maybe a few Catholics.”
He urged his listeners to focus more on the Supreme Court, “the only thing that may stop Trump.”
He acknowledged that progressives argue that public pressure can’t sway the 6-3 hard-right high court majority. Wolf said that history instructs that the Supreme Court has changed its mind “when we the people protest and show that we are really angry, and we’re going to show that when we vote.”
Wolf said that in 2024, the court’s conservative majority “gave the president immunity on anything he did as an official action,” reflecting the Project 2025 claim that “everything he does is an official action.”
Concluded Wolf: “‘Save the Constitution’ could be our slogan.”
He proposed resurrecting the spirit of 1960s “teach ins” on college campuses “because most Americans do not regard the Constitution as something that is significant to them. It is an abstraction. Democracy is an abstraction.”
He thinks “there are more of us who care about democracy, who care about each other and who care about having a country that is in fact indivisible. … I hope in the next few months we can begin to turn this around – we just have to keep trying.”
The Jackson “Honk and Wave” by Virginia Meagher
A Honk and Wave was organized in Jackson, KY, by Virginia Meaghher in conjunction with MoveOn’s Families First Day of Action on Saturday, July 26, 2025. Several people congregated alongside Route 15 with signs supporting Medicaid and Food Stamps and objecting to tax cuts for billionaires. We got lots of honks and thumbs-ups in support.
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