Horrified by the state of the union, he’s an angry protester. But he’s also optimistic

I know many people who suffer from a chronic illness that gets worse with each news out of Washington. Supporters of the current President of the United States might call this condition a side effect of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but it is more likely Trump Fatigue Syndrome.

Symptoms may include the desire to disconnect from a spell, stick your head in an ice bucket, or find another way to numb the senses.

But some brave souls, instead of looking away, jump into the fray.

Bert Voorhees, for example.

I discovered his name while reading the report on Monday night’s protest at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, where demonstrators were speaking out against the bombing of Iran — the latest example of Trump acting like he’s king of the world and accountable to no one, including Congress, the courts or the American people.

On the steps of Los Angeles City Hall, people attend the March 2 Answer Coalition rally to protest the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

As missiles fly, civilians die and chaos spreads, Voorhees told USA Today that the Iranian Ayatollah’s violence against his own people does not justify a U.S. military attack. In Voorhees’ mind, it is American democracy that is under attack.

“If people don’t stand up and speak loudly about this, all together right now, we won’t have a country,” said a resident of the northeast San Fernando Valley. “So it’s time for people to get serious and take to the streets.”

I called Voorhees, a retired lawyer and teacher, and we had a long conversation that continued the next day over lunch in Montrose. We are both 70 years old and we both struggle to align the country we live in with the vision we had of it as younger men. Who could have predicted years of intimidation and insults, of pathological lies about a “stolen” election or the rout of the opposition to Congress and the judiciary?

I confessed to Voorhees that I had completely misread the direction this country was heading when the first black president in history spoke out in 2016. I would have bet that as a more diverse and tolerant population reached voting age, old divisions would slowly fade into history and the United States would continue to move toward greater heights.

That’s stupid for me.

Voorhees says he’s protested hundreds of times, but with immigration raids and now the war in Iran, President Trump is keeping him very busy. “If people don’t stand up and speak loudly about this, all together right now, we won’t have a country,” Voorhees said. “So it’s time for people to get serious and take to the streets.”

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Perhaps it was the naive wishful thinking of a parent wanting their children to live in a more evolved country rather than one filled with Neanderthal notions about science, medicine, climate, and non-white immigrants.

For Voorhees, these are reasons to raise hell rather than lose faith, and he is not alone. THE No Kings gathering in greater Los Angeles were massive. Home Depot Civilian Patrols took care of their hardworking neighbors because “silence is violence.” THE whistle brigades defend their communities.

Denise Giardina, a Huntington Beach bookseller and friend of Voorhees, participated in Home Depot patrols in her community and said planning various political actions was practically a full-time job.

“I have daughters and I wanted them to have more rights than me, and I’m not sure that’s going to happen,” Giardina said.

When Giardina needs a break, she goes hiking, which reminds her that one protest doesn’t change the world, but that small steps count.

“Sometimes you can’t think about the end,” she says. “It’s just one foot in front of the other. It’s not the government that’s going to save us. It’s going to be the people.”

A crowd gathered at Los Angeles City Hall on March 2 to protest the bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Roseanne Constantino, a Silver Lake graphic designer whose activism includes knocking on doors during election cycles, sending postcards and making phone calls, has been on the front lines with Voorhees and shares his sense of duty.

“I mean, for people to say, ‘I can’t watch the news, I’m numb, I’m overwhelmed, I need to disconnect,’ it’s a privilege to speak, because they can disconnect, because they’re safe,” Constantino said.

“I find it like a gateway drug,” she added, “because even people who have never done anything activist in their life end up in a protest and are supported by the community, by the sense of purpose and by expressing opposition, but also love of democracy.”

For Voorhees, “democracy is a privilege” and your participation is not limited to voting. “You have to make sure they’re doing the right things,” he said, “and that requires monitoring and supervising them, if you will. Politicians are supposed to work for us.”

Voorhees told me that under President Obama, when drones were used in targeted killings overseas, he took to the streets to protest.

“I’m an equal opportunity activist, but we just haven’t had a person in my lifetime so determined to destroy democracy,” Voorhees said. “I called Reagan a fascist, and Reagan felt like a fascist until I met this man, who is the head of a fascist movement in this country.”

I bet that the bombing of Iran by America’s first president — who promised to end wars rather than start them — was Trump’s way of projecting strength in a time of weakness. Many of the president’s true supporters are cheering, but it seems nothing has been learned from past meddling in the Middle East that ended badly, and without thoughtful consideration of what comes next, Epic Fury could be followed by Epic Quagmire.

Voorhees insists this was not simply a display of power, but an act of distraction.

From the Epstein files, for example. From empty promises of lower prices for groceries and consumer goods, to lackluster ratings, midterm election fears, and the mess created by tariffs that cost U.S. traders millions of dollars and were declared illegal.

Voorhees is mad about all this, but wanted to clarify something.

He is not demoralized.

More than 200 people demonstrated Saturday against the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Protesters carried Mexican, Palestinian and Iranian flags at the rally organized by Answer Coalition.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“The arc of the universe bends toward justice,” Voorhees said, “but it doesn’t do so consistently. There are setbacks. Two steps forward, one step back. One step forward, three steps back. We’re in one of those times. … But we can overcome, and I believe in the long run we probably will.”

Minneapolis is the model, he said. When two innocent people were killed in anti-immigration raids, the community came together and stood up in protest, forcing the withdrawal of Trump’s forces and sparking a national debate about these brutal tactics.

“Minneapolis has pushed back against this with humanity, and that’s the future we want to build,” Voorhees said. “This is the future that Martin Luther King Jr. always wanted. This is the beloved community. This is the ticket.”

Things won’t change unless “we get off the couch,” said Voorhees, who participated in another anti-war protest on the steps of City Hall on Saturday with a sign asking, “Who would Jesus bomb?”

“You can move forward with a heavy heart and bowed head, or you can dance with a smile and music on your lips, hand in hand with the people you care about. Why not do that?” All empires fall. All kings and tyrants ultimately fail. Sometimes it’s quick. Sometimes it’s slow. But that day is coming, and as the Twin Cities have proven, love is stronger than hate, even just.

steve.lopez@latimes.com