Politics
Why Biden's protest problem has reached deep-blue California and why it matters
As former President Trump’s motorcade coursed through Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and San Francisco last week, packs of MAGA hat-wearing, flag-waving fans lined the posh streets and coastal highways and cheered.
Yet when Vice President Kamala Harris, who was raised among community activists in Berkeley, headed to a San Francisco fundraiser the same week, a throng of more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted, “Shame on you!”
The disparate treatment — at least via street protests — has been building for months, amid a spring dominated by college campus protests. But the snapshot of love for Trump and anger with Harris and President Biden has grown more striking as the protests move to the campaign trail, especially in deep-blue California, where large majorities of voters agree with Harris and Biden that Trump represents a threat to democracy.
Activists and political leaders in California and around the country point to a range of reasons for protesting against Biden, their would-be ally, more than Trump, whom they see as a wannabe dictator.
Biden is bearing the burden of incumbency that he didn’t face four years ago, facing a tough-love approach from some left-leaning activists who believe they can still push him further left. And while some protesters favor neither candidate, most have rejected Trump, whom they see as irredeemable.
Support for the president in California remains high — Biden has a 20-point lead over Trump in the state, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. But Democrats at the national level are concerned that the optics of anti-Biden protests could hurt the president, as many polls show him either locked in a tie or losing to Trump.
“The thing that we’re all worried about, of course, is when it comes time for politics, can people reconcile that while the Middle East policy choices may not have been exactly right by Biden, is he still the best political choice?” said Faiz Shakir, chief political advisor for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent. “And the jury is still out on that.”
Protests do not equal votes, of course. But anti-Trump fervor in California has been a powerful and persistent force on the left since 2016, sparking clashes with counterprotesters that turned violent at times, drawing police presence, massive crowds and headlines. Anti-Trump sentiment carried into Trump’s presidency, and the 2020 election, even amid pandemic-era social distancing rules, helping fuel a coalition that defeated him.
“Donald Trump is being rejected by large swaths of his own party … They are rejecting his failed leadership, his divisive rhetoric, and his threats of political violence against demonstrators or anyone who dares to disagree with Dictator Trump,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika in a statement to The Times. “President Biden, meanwhile, is able to bring people together even when they don’t always agree.”
Some activists say privately that the violence at those events has deterred some activists from going out into the streets. And though many protesters on the left say they fear a return to office for Trump, many do not see themselves as aligned with the Democratic Party. Their main goal is changing policy, not electing a president.
Even so, many say a Trump presidency could put all of their goals at extreme risk, starting with the right to protest.
The Biden administration’s stance on the war between Israel and Hamas, which is fueling much of the anger among activists, is much closer to the protesters’ than Trump’s, who has endorsed Israeli control of contested lands and urged Israel to “get the job done” in Gaza.
“At some point, you have this bubbling up. I don’t believe the protesters are saying, ‘We are protesting Biden because we want Trump.’ They already know what Trump is,” said the Rev. William Barber II, one of the nation’s leading civil rights and anti-poverty activists who directs the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale University.
When Trump arrived in Newport Beach on June 8, Orange County Democrats were too busy getting out the vote for down-ballot races to worry about the top of the ticket, said Ada Briceño, chair of the county party. Volunteers were knocking on doors, touting Dave Min for Congress and attending an ice cream social for Tammy Kim’s mayoral campaign in Irvine.
Susan Hildreth, president of the Democrats of Rossmoor in the Bay Area, said her volunteers have also kept busy writing postcards and door-knocking for Central Valley congressional candidates such as Rudy Salas. Her group is mostly composed of people over 55 who are less inclined to participate in protests, she said.
“We’re ardently, ardently anti-Trump,” said Hildreth, 72. The lack of Trump critics taking to the streets “may have more to do with the general age of this group than anything else. It doesn’t mean that we don’t care!”
Still, the California Democrats hadn’t entirely neglected Trump. A couple of antagonists made their way into the Newport Beach MAGA crowd along the motorcade, crying “Happy Pride!” and eliciting some heckles. An “Orange County votes Biden/Harris 2024” banner trailed behind an airplane.
In San Francisco, an inflatable Trump-like chicken decked in black-and-white prison stripes was ferried around the bay on a boat labeled “Alcatraz Prison Transport.”
Armand Domalewski, a 34-year-old data analyst, pulled together a group of about 50 people to stand across a San Francisco street from hordes of Trump supporters, who he said occasionally crossed over to taunt his side.
“There’s just an odd asymmetry between the parties,” Domalewski said, noting that Democrats, as well as Republicans, have been protesting against Democrats. That reality “makes it really hard, because that’s both sides protesting us.”
Though he’s attended many protests, last week was the first time Domalewski had coordinated one himself — because no one else did, he said. The Trump supporters were evidently more organized. Vocal too. Some, anticipating Trump’s birthday, sang “Happy Birthday.” (He turned 78 Friday.)
Even in 2020, Biden was never a movement candidate like Sanders or Trump, who held big inspirational rallies and raised small-dollar donations from die-hard fans; Biden also did some campaigning virtually to protect against COVID-19. And unlike Trump, who regularly employs violent language and rousing images at his rallies, Biden has campaigned as a calming unifier.
“We have not seen a fighting Joe Biden,” Shakir said.
Though Biden has governed as a progressive, “he isn’t a populist by nature who gives you the sort of emotional satisfaction of a cause and a movement and a mission,” Shakir said. His argument is competence and good judgment, he added, which doesn’t play as well in an arena.
Trump has been the galvanizing force in politics to both his supporters and his detractors. One of the biggest protests against him occurred in 2017, the day after his inauguration, when thousands of women gathered in Washington and across the country to denounce him and stand up for gender equality.
But the political group that formed in the wake of that protest, the Women’s March, has so far endorsed candidates only in local and state races and is rethinking its approach to confronting Trump. Street protests may not be the best strategy.
Trump “vowed to be a dictator on day one, so we know that he would not take protests seriously. He would not take global human rights concerns seriously,” said Tamika Middleton, the group’s managing director.
But Women’s March may keep its focus on reproductive rights and women’s equality to avoid giving Trump a platform, noting that he has raised money and won attention in adverse situations, including his 34 felony convictions.
Trump “sort of revels in the kind of attention of a women’s march going head to head,” she said.
Biden is set to return to California for a posh downtown Los Angeles fundraiser Saturday, featuring Hollywood elites such as George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as former President Obama.
Already, Jewish Voice for Peace has announced it will greet his arrival with a protest.
Bierman reported from Washington and Pinho from Los Angeles.
Politics
OpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
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A new report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that employees at Open AI, the artificial intelligence company known for creating ChatGPT, raised alarm about transgender Canadian mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s interactions with its chatbot but did not alert authorities.
Around a dozen employees reportedly were aware of the concerning interactions months before Van Rootselaar killed multiple family members and school-aged kids in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The interactions, first flagged by an automated review system, included violent scenarios involving gun violence over the course of multiple days, people familiar with the matter indicated to the Wall Street Journal.
OpenAI’s policy is only to alert law enforcement if there is an imminent threat of real-world harm or violence, and some of the employees reportedly wanted to go to the police. But, in the end, the company opted not to contact authorities.
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A photo shows a smartphone and a laptop displaying the logos of the artificial intelligence OpenAI research company and ChatGPT chatbot. (MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
On Feb. 10, Van Rootselaar, 18, gunned down his mother and step-brother at their home in British Columbia, before heading to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where the deranged teen shot and killed five students and a teacher before turning the gun on himself. Twenty-five others were reportedly injured.
Authorities later revealed Van Rootselaar, who had dropped out of the school he attacked, was biological male who had been identifying as female since he was 6.
Police were aware of Van Rootselaar’s mental health struggles, as they had reportedly made visits to his house on multiple occasions in the past due to various incidents.
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Police tape surrounds the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and other buildings in Tumbler Ridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday, a day after a mass shooting there. (Jesse Boily /The Canadian Press via AP)
The teen killer was found to have had an obsession with death, being an avid poster on a website that hosts videos of people being murdered, according to the New York Post. Van Rootselaar’s social media footprint included images of him with firearms and content about hallucinogenic drugs. Van Rootselaar’s mother expressed alarm at his actions in a Facebook parent’s group in 2015, the New York Post also reported.
A spokesperson for the company told Fox News Digital that the company banned Van Rootselaar’s account in June 2025 for violating its usage policies, but determined the activity did not rise to the level where it needed to be alerted to law enforcement. They noted that the company is compelled to weigh privacy concerns, adding that being too trigger-happy with police referrals can create unintended harm.
OpenAI’s chatbot model is made to discourage real-world harm when it senses dangerous situations, Fox News Digital was told.
A screengrab from a video shows students exiting the Tumbler Ridge school after deadly shootings, in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (Jordon Kosik via AP)
The company reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after the incident, and is supporting their investigation with information on Van Rootselaar’s chatbot activity, the spokesperson indicated.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” the company said in a statement following the incident. “We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”
The most prestigious board ever put together.
That is how the president of the United States, a man convicted of fraud, described his new team focused on international relations. A team that does not include representatives from our closest neighbors — Mexico and Canada — but did save room for leaders accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
Now, we do not know whether President Trump created his “Board of Peace,” which this week held its first meeting, specifically to undermine the authority of the United Nations. But we do know that the president has pledged $10 billion in tax dollars to the board’s mission while still owing the U.N. half that amount in back payments. We do not know whether Trump, who is indefinitely the leader of this peace board, intends to relinquish that power after he leaves the White House. But we do know he is still trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Whether the “Board of Peace” is the most prestigious panel ever assembled is debatable. What is not debatable is that it was conceived by an adjudicated sexual abuser who is referenced in the released Epstein files some 38,000 times.
That is not my take.
That is simply what is happening.
Which is why the president encourages his supporters to ban books and reject journalism. He doesn’t want voters to pay attention. He doesn’t want voters to understand his actions.
Ten years ago this month — after his Nevada caucus victory speech — Trump said, “I love the poorly educated.” And his reliance on this base is why, over the past decade, he and other conservatives have purposely misconstrued the term “woke” as a catch-all slur toward progressive and far-left policies. It used to mean “aware” and “informed.” The term was not born out of modern politics but rather the need to understand the history of the social economic systems we all are living in. The alternative is to be blindly led by an unscrupulous leader most concerned with his own well being.
Being “woke” is why the Boston Tea Party happened in 1773; it is why Thomas Paine published “Common Sense” in 1776; it is why Republicans formed the Wide Awakes to help get Abraham Lincoln elected in 1860. When voters understand the context in which decisions are made, we are better equipped to address shortcomings at the ballot box and in our daily lives.
Trump’s self-proclaimed love for the poorly educated has nothing to do with progressive policies or college degrees and everything to do with whom he can convince to believe him. And by making “woke” an insult, Trump and other conservatives have politicized the very tool necessary to help the country fulfill its promise: information.
This threat is the reason his administration attacks, and even arrests, journalists; the reason he refers to reports he doesn’t like as “fake news”; the reason he fired the labor statistics chief after an unflattering jobs report last year. He’s waging a war on information.
The reason 2025 marked the worst nonrecession year for job growth since 2003 isn’t that the country was “woke.” It’s because of shortcomings in leadership.
When Trump returned to the White House, he made lowering the U.S. trade deficit a key component to his economic policy. In 2024, the deficit was $903.5 billion. In 2025, it was $901.5 billion — and America’s families paid $230 billion more for goods because of his yo-yo tariff policies.
He told his supporters that other nations would be paying for the tariffs he enacted — obvious nonsense to anyone who attended a day of Econ 101. And we know that as a result of his reckless and ignorant policies, farmers in particular suffered. It’s not clear whether that financial burden was a consideration when the Supreme Court on Friday declared the president’s sweeping tariffs to be illegal. What we do know is before Trump entered politics, his businesses filed for bankruptcy six times — so perhaps he was never the economic savant he claimed to be.
Just as the saga of the Epstein files reveals he is not the protector of women and young girls that he claimed to be.
Just as his recent attacks on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments show he was never the defender of the Constitution he took an oath to be.
Acknowledging the laundry list of untruths tied to his promises and presidency is not political or a symptom of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” It’s simply having information: the one thing that helps voters understand why things are the way they are. The one thing the president hopes his supporters never wake up to see for themselves.
YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
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Perspectives
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
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The Board of Peace, while described by the president as the most prestigious ever assembled, excludes the country’s closest neighbors in Mexico and Canada while creating space for leaders accused of war crimes by the International Court[2][3].
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The administration is pledging $10 billion in tax dollars to the board’s mission while the United States still owes the United Nations $5 billion in back payments, raising questions about priorities and institutional commitment.
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The board represents a potential threat to the UN’s authority and the multilateral international order, with the president positioned to lead indefinitely without a clear succession mechanism independent of his personal tenure.
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The use of the term “woke” as a political slur by the president and conservatives serves to discourage informed and critically aware voters from engaging with factual information and journalism, undermining democratic participation.
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The administration’s economic policies have demonstrably failed, including tariff strategies that burdened American families with $230 billion in additional costs while the trade deficit marginally decreased from $903.5 billion to $901.5 billion, a result inconsistent with promised outcomes.
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The president’s record of attacks on the press, dismissal of unfavorable reporting as “fake news,” and removal of officials for releasing unflattering data represents a broader assault on the free flow of information essential to accountability.
Different views on the topic
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The Board of Peace represents a vital step in implementing the president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which was endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and initially received broad international support from Western democracies[1][3].
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More than two dozen nations have signed on as founding members of the board, with member countries pledging $5 billion toward Gaza’s reconstruction, demonstrating substantial international engagement with the initiative[2].
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The Executive Board comprises leaders with expertise across diplomacy, development, infrastructure, and economic strategy, positioning the mechanism to provide strategic oversight and mobilize international resources for Gaza’s stabilization[1].
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The board functions as an overarching body designed to implement demilitarization and reconstruction efforts through subsidiary mechanisms including the Gaza Executive Board and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, with operational structures intended to deliver governance and development outcomes[1][3].
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The initiative was conceived as a focused mechanism to support stabilization and reconstruction in Gaza within the framework of the UN-endorsed 20-point plan, anchoring its original purpose in internationally recognized diplomatic processes[3].
Politics
Campus Radicals Newsletter: Teacher who lost job over 2-word post breaks silence, Chicago ‘racial segregation’
Students walk to A. N. Pritzker elementary school (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Early morning fog surrounds a pond on a cold, snowy day on the Virginia Tech campus. (L) Photo of Virginia Tech professor Onwubiko Agozino taken on an unknown date. (istock; Virginia Tech)
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HARVARD ACTIVISM: Harvard students earn course credit helping asylum seekers as critics calls school ‘bastion of woke activism’
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New Jersey Catholic diocese agrees to $180M settlement with survivors of alleged clergy sex abuse
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NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission may not launch in March after all
OpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
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Campus Radicals Newsletter: Teacher who lost job over 2-word post breaks silence, Chicago ‘racial segregation’
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