PHILADELPHIA—In the makeshift campground that is home to a committed group of protesters, at least for the duration of the Democratic National Convention, grievances abound.
Placards call for a halt to war and fracking. Others urge the clean-up of Flint, Mich.’s polluted water system. And it wouldn’t be a demonstration, of course, without the legions of sign-carrying supporters of former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders that decry nominee Hillary Clinton.
Yet, if the protest scene here is any reflection of the upcoming general election, a critical component is missing: Donald Trump.
In Cleveland, during last week's Republican National Convention, there was no question who the enemy was. Clinton’s face graced unflattering t-shirts. She was called out by gun rights advocates who patrolled the edges of downtown with their rifles dangling from shoulder slings.
But here, where the real estate mogul has been castigated nightly inside the convention hall for his plans to build a border wall and ban Muslim immigration, Trump’s name has barely passed the lips of thousands of protesters on the street. They appear reluctant to give up the heated primary battle that pitted the former secretary of state against the popular, rumpled senator from Vermont.
“What’s happening inside that building is a total show, meaningless,’’ said Tom Barraza, 49, a California electrical engineer, motioning toward the hulking Democratic headquarters at Wells Fargo Center. “They are basically ignoring the real issues—poverty, jobs, the corrupt big banks—that are happening on the streets. Why call attention to Donald Trump?’’
Said George Carlyon, 25, a Florida musician, who this week has endured a violent rainstorm and stifling temperatures in the cover of his small tent: “We’re effectively ignoring Trump because we never thought he was meant to win, anyway.’’
In fact, very few of the thousands who have marched along Broad Street, rallied on the grounds of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park or raised their voices at City Hall, have felt the need to call out Trump.
“Even though we’re Bernie people, we all know Hillary is the better candidate than Donald Trump. A dumpster fire is better than Donald Trump, so why call attention to a dumpster fire?’’ said Sean Ferris, 29, a New Jersey truck driver. “It’s not important to us to do that.’’
Also helping to divert attention from the Republican nominee, demonstrators said, was last week’s disclosure by Wikileaks of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee that showed staffers sought to tilt support in Clinton’s favor.
The release, on the eve of the convention, prompted howls of indignation from Sanders’ supporters and led to the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman.
“That just corroborated what everyone believed in the first place,’’ said Pennsylvania nursing student Jonatha Staniech, 20, borrowing the oft-used Sanders’ reference to a rigged system. “But to see it in print like that, well it had an effect.’’
At an Occupy the DNC rally near City Hall, even some who openly challenged Trump’s policies on immigration did not refer to the Republican candidate by name.
Allan Axelrod, 25, a Illinois teacher, cast his differences with the Republican National Committee, not with Trump.
“We should be attacking the problems that need solving,’’ Axelrod said. “We shouldn’t be attacking people and their personalities.’’
In Cleveland, however, Trump's name was front in center at several protests, as the candidate himself lashed out at Clinton during his nomination speech and in other appearances around the city.
Bryan Hambley, a Cleveland organizer for Stand Against Trump, led one of the largest marches of the Republican National Convention. But he didn’t feel it necessary to press the case in Philadelphia.
He said he believes it's the party’s responsibility to “drive the narrative against Trump’’ in the convention hall to highlight the candidates’ differences. And, in large part, a steady stream of Trump critics are speaking from the convention podium.
“I guess I’m not very surprised that there are not protests in the streets,’’ Hambley said. “I do think you will be seeing more of it, though, as the general election draws closer.’’
In Philadelphia on Wednesday, Frank Maloney, a vendor from Andover, Ohio, was displaying pro-Clinton buttons, as well as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter buttons, in front of a downtown hotel. But he didn’t have anything in stock speaking ill of the Republican nominee. Maloney said his company made the decision that it would do better business by focusing on the belle of the Democratic ball.
Unlike in Cleveland, vendors have been prohibited from selling their wares in the sanctioned protests areas, Maloney noted. That factored in their calculations that not much of a market would be here for either anti-Trump or anti-Clinton merchandise.
“Not having anti-Trump stuff was not just a benefit for us as a vendor, it’s a benefit to the people who are here,” said Maloney, who said he sold about 20 “Dump Trump” buttons, leftovers from the batch he brought with him to Philadelphia from last week’s GOP convention. “The people who are here aren’t here for the anti-Trump stuff. They’re here to celebrate Hillary Clinton and support the Democratic Party.”
A few blocks away at a pro-Bernie Sanders rally near City Hall, supporters of the Vermont senator continued to express anger over Clinton’s victory, which many of the “Bernie or Bust” devotees say was stolen from Sanders. Protesters carried handmade signs, including ones that attacked Clinton as a “corporate” candidate and a cheat. But again, hardly any mentions were made of Trump.
At one point during the rally, a few people wearing Clinton campaign t-shirts showed up, but organizers urged the pro-Sanders crowd to ignore them. One speaker reminded Sanders’ supporters that "we’re not like the Trump supporters, we’re not violent.”
Beyond that, Trump was only mentioned in passing—and mostly from speakers who suggested he might be slightly “less evil” than Clinton.
Patrick McMillan, 53, a demonstrator from Denver, Colo., said he and other Sanders’ backers will certainly criticize Trump, along with Clinton, in the months ahead. But for convention week, it was important to focus all their attention on Clinton in the lead-up to her Thursday night acceptance speech.
“We’re furious at the Democratic Party, we’re furious at the DNC,” McMillan said. “We’re sending a serious message to the Democratic Party that we’re not taking this.”
