Covering the military parade and a No Kings rally on the same day
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My colleague Frank Langfitt has covered the world. He was in Ukraine when Russia invaded in February of 2022. He was NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi and covered the civil war in Somalia. He drove a free taxi around Shanghai for a series on a changing China as seen through the eyes of everyday people and wrote a book about it. Now he reports for NPR.

as a roving correspondent traveling the country, focusing on stories that help us understand a changing America. Last weekend, he covered both the military parade that brought tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling through the nation's capital, as well as the No Kings protests, where people in dozens of cities across the country rallied against the politicization of the armed forces by someone they called a would-be autocrat.

It was a bit of a split-screen moment for America and for Frank. See, covering the two events last week on the same day gave him the same feeling he felt covering other countries. I felt kind of like a foreign correspondent in my own homeland.

Consider this. You could look at that day as an example of a divided America, a moment where our differences were placed in pretty stark relief. But maybe being in both places on the same day, you see something different. Today for our weekly reporter's notebook series, Frank Langfitt tells us about the people he met at the two events and the surprising thing he found. From NPR, I'm Andrew Limbaugh.

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It's Consider This from NPR.

To understand last week's split screen moments and how the 33 mile trip from one protest in Annapolis to the parade grandstand in front of the White House was like a journey between two different countries. We've called up NPR's Frank Langfitt. Hey, Andrew. All right. So what are some of the things that strike you as you think back about how you set out to cover both of these events?

Yeah. Well, you know, one of the things leading into the parade and the protest, you remember there was a concern, a fair bit of concern about violence here at NPR. We were even having conversations about safety for some of us who are going to go out and cover the day's events. But in the end, Andrew, both sides showed something that I think is kind of in short supply these days in the country. And that's restraint. You know,

You know, the people who organized No Kings, those protests against Trump decided not to rally in D.C. They knew that it could be misconstrued as a protest against the army and could have led to clashes. And the people who attended the parade, from what I saw, they were also restrained. Let me give you an example. I met a guy named Peter Salinger. He's 22.

He went to the military parade, but he went there to protest it. And so he was sitting on the lawn near the Washington Monument. He's holding this No King sign. And this is what he first told me when we talked. I don't think it's American to have a military parade that costs millions of dollars on a president's birthday. Well, why do you think it's un-American? I don't think we celebrate our presidents by...

by marching through streets and goose-stepping. Did people largely leave him alone? They did. Salinger also was savvy about it, Andrew. He wore this American flag bandana around his head, signaling his own patriotism. And afterwards, I was kind of curious to hear how the rest of the day went, so I called him. And he said there was a guy who hovered nearby, kind of like a guardian angel, looking after him. There were other people who gave him fist bumps. He did get some snide comments. And

And then Salinger shared this really interesting exchange he had. One guy comes up to him kind of pretty hot and angry, demanding to know who had paid Salinger to come to the protest. And this is how Salinger described it. I sort of said, you know, I'm just here exercising my rights to free speech. He understood that. He understood when I said that it was my right as an American to be there. I think that...

maybe appealed to some of his politics. And then he really settled down when I said that I worked in finance. And he said, oh, you know, my son works in finance. All right. Well, that's kind of funny that they both found some common bond in finance. Did that symbolize anything to you? Was that an example of, I don't want to be like Pollyanna, but like a sort of, you know, commonality between Americans? Yeah.

I think, and I agree 100%, Andrew, not to be a Pollyanna about this at all. But the fact of the matter is, this is a country where people on either side kind of demonize each other. And then when they actually see each other and they talk, there is more in common than they imagine. And people are not the people, you know, the people on the other side are not necessarily exactly what they expect, which is what you saw here with finance. I mean, this guy clearly did not expect that.

that a protester with a No Kings sign was in the business of, was a hardcore capitalist in the business of making money. So you also went to a No Kings protest in Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. Were there any pro-Trump protesters there?

Not that I saw. You know, I walked through the crowd. I photographed lots of signs, not a single pro-Trump sign. Nearly everybody there was focused on what they see as authoritarianism. In the speeches, though, there wasn't a lot about exactly how to go about doing that. Yeah. You know, I want to go back to the military parade for a second. I know you as an international correspondent, right? Globetrotting all over the place. How do you think...

the military parade compares to other such events that you've covered?

What was really interesting is before this, you would remember there was all this criticism that this parade was going to look like something you'd see in China or North Korea. And you heard that from Peter Salinger. He talked about goose stepping. I covered one in 1999 in Beijing. There was goose stepping. There was missiles. It was really in your face. And it wasn't just to sort of intimidate foreign powers. It was also a message to the people of China. This was just 10 years after Tiananmen. And it was, don't mess with us.

this parade was not really like that at all. You know, the troops were not marching. Some people complained that they were kind of shuffling. And so I think that the parade itself was not what critics feared and not what Salinger expected. At one point, it was frankly a lot more like a pep rally, like soldiers were driving tanks, they were waving, pumping their fists, revving the engines for the crowd. So I

I got to say, that's why it's so good, as you know, as a reporter, to go to these things. It really didn't come off the way a lot of people were concerned that it might. Yeah. So what's your big takeaway from both of these events? I want to come back to this word, and that's restraint. You know, Salinger came to protest, but he was careful to make his point quietly. Most of the parade goers that I saw, they were really focusing on celebrating the army, not really making it political or cheering on President Trump.

And, I mean, as far as I saw, only a small percentage were actually wearing any MAGA gear. Now, Salinger was concerned that showing up could be provocative, but in the end, he kind of found the opposite. This is what he thought. I think being face-to-face with people in some ways felt de-escalatory.

When you're just standing next to someone, it's really hard to come up and antagonize them, to get in a fight with them. That's not an easy thing to do. People don't want to do it, and so they revert to wanting to have conversations and, to some extent, understand your point of view. And that's the real type of face-to-face interaction that we need to be having. I mean, obviously, this country is bitterly divided. Political violence we're seeing is becoming more common.

And it was kind of good to see people like this guy Salinger willing to take risks and spend time with a lot of people with whom he disagrees. So before we let you go, Frank, were there any other things that struck you about these events? I think it was, I felt...

Kind of like a foreign correspondent in my own homeland. I felt like I was going between two different countries that see this nation radically different. And they're very different people. I mean, the No Kings rally was largely white. It was, as you were saying, it was in Annapolis. This is the, it's a well-to-do city by and large. There were definitely people, military people in the audience because the Naval Academy is here.

You go to the parade, it's very different. It's much more ethnically diverse, which is also very true of the active military. At No Kings, it was more fired up. It was a protest. Everybody was deeply concerned about what they see as an authoritarian administration. But it was really interesting, Andrew, when I asked to get everybody's full names, they gave them to me.

At the parade, it was a lot more subdued. People were warier. I had this great interview. I wish I could have it on tape with a Marine who's originally from El Salvador. His wife is from Ecuador. And they were talking about Trump's immigration policy, which they support. And they say, you know, they came here legally. Millions have not. And they say, you know, countries have the right to enforce their immigration laws.

But they didn't want to give their names. They were afraid of blowback on social media. And so, unfortunately, I can't play you their tape. All right. That was NPR's Frank Langfitt, who has reported from, what, like 50 countries from all over the world? Is that about right? Something like that. Yes. Oh, my goodness. All right. NPR's Frank Langfitt. Frank, thank you so much. Happy to do it, Andrew. Thank you.

This episode was produced by Michelle Aslam. It was edited by Sarah Robbins and Catherine Laidlaw. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. ♪

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