By Mike McCombs and Jeff Evans
The Island News
Around 100 people turned out Monday afternoon, Feb. 10, in front of Beaufort City Hall to protest the actions of the Trump administration in its first few weeks.
The rally was organized by Carter Hoyt.
“If you’re as sick as I am thinking that Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott and Nancy Mace are going to care whether you call their office, I’m inviting you to join me at 4 p.m., Monday afternoon … in a protest in front of City Hall,” Hoyt said she told the 70 to 80 acquaintances she emailed. “And that’s how it started. Make your own sign, nothing profane. A lot of friends came back and said, ‘Can I invite other people?’ I said yes, as long as they understand about the signs.”
Hoyt made it clear it was not one particular group that organized the gathering, rather an “organic” collection of friends and individuals.
“I deliberately didn’t organize it through any group, not that I necessarily think that those groups are anything bad, but a lot of people don’t want to be on a list,” she said. “… I knew that they would feel more comfortable if they thought I was personally asking them than if they thought they were going to get on some … list.”
“People are just mad, mad. They feel like they have no agency, no ownership, but this is what they can do. Our legislative group isn’t paying any attention to us. They don’t give a crap about us,” Hoyt said. “They’ll do what this guy tells them to do. They’ll do whatever Trump tells them to do. And what I don’t think people realize is all this stuff he’s doing is just cruel, some of it unconstitutional, a lot of it illegal.
“And it is hurting our own people. I mean, what they’re doing to USAID is hurting our own farmers. Taking away the immigrant workers is hurting our farmers. What they just did today, cutting the Agriculture Department funding, is hurting our farmers.
“You saw what the President of Mexico said, ‘We don’t have to buy iPhones. We can buy other phones. We don’t have to buy American cars.’ So we’re creating a situation where we’re hated in the world for what we’re doing because we’re so damn selfish. So what are they going to do? They’re going to turn to other countries. And China is just thrilled about that. They’ll step in and say, Oh, we’ll help you.” So what do they think they’re doing. The whole thing is so idiotic. They’re ‘America First.’ That’s a joke right? … Everything about it is insane.”
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Jeff Evans is the publisher of The Island News and can be reached at 888-ISL-NEWS.
