As the 2024 Republican National Convention kicked off in downtown Milwaukee, a group of anti-Trump and anti-GOP organizers began a showing conservatives how unwelcome they really are.
The self-proclaimed anti-fascists, pro-Palestinians protestors, LBGTQ advocates, communists and more gathered blocks away from the RNC HQ at Fiserv Forum for the 'March on RNC 2024,' Monday afternoon.
Attendees at the event revealed exclusively to DailyMail.com they were there to highlight their disagreements with the Republican platform – and to make Republicans feel alienated less than 48 hours after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to take the life of Trump.
‘I hate the Republican party, I’ll say that,’ Anthony, an attendee from the Milwaukee area, exclusively told DailyMail.com.
When pressed on what he hates most, Anthony said how the party champions capitalism, adding, ‘Most of the people in the country aren't on your side, anti-human.’
Ray, a communist, showed up at the 'March on RNC 2024' to protest Republicans and their capitalist agenda. He revealed that he has been a communist since he was 16-years-old and has hope for a red revolution in the U.S.
Anthony shared he was a communist and his comrade and fellow attendee, Ray, joined him at the march to spread the word about communism and bash the GOP.
‘Well, me, personally, I want the dictatorship proletariat,’ Ray told DailyMail.com. ‘I want socialist revolution.’
When pressed on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Ray was indifferent.
‘I'm not shedding any tears over Trump, but I think the attack was a completely unprincipled attack.’
He then, without expressing any remorse for what happened, admitted the assassination attempt failed because it was done under the wrong circumstances.
‘We're just not in the conditions right now where that sort of assassination is going to work out,’ Ray said.
One protestor dawned a orange jumpsuit and Donald Trump mask at the event
Anthony, Ray's friend, is also a self-proclaimed communist from the area who wanted to make Republicans feel unwelcome in Milwaukee
Hundreds of protestors arrived at the event, many of them are seen in the shade of the trees as temperatures during the march reached the high 80's
Another attendee, Lapis, a self-proclaimed communist from the Chicago area, said she was against both Trump and Joe Biden despite the event being explicitly anti-Republican.
‘We're out there with a lot of beautiful people resisting the fascism, resisting the horrors of this country, and we're here to say, No fascist Trump, no genocide, Joe, the whole damn system's got to go,’ Lapis said.
‘So we're saying we need, and we demand, a revolution for a whole new way to live, a fundamentally different system, a real revolution to overthrow the system of capitalism, imperialism, and replace the US Constitution, with the Constitution for the new socialist republic in North America.’
'In relationship to the incident at Trump rally in Pennsylvania, we say that was wrong and we do not support or condone that,' Lapis said, quickly adding, 'No further comment.'
Trump clearly did not lack detractors at the event. Volunteers abounded handing out signs for attendees to carry that bashed the former president.
Other organizers handed out political literature to recruit support for Gazans, the communist party, or transgender rights.
Inside at the RNC, attendees enjoyed the cool air conditioning and excitement over Trump's freshly minted vice presidential pick, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
'My personal motivation for coming here is just to protest the RNC, in particular, how the Republican Party the past few years, the past half decade,' Julian told DailyMail.com.
'With former President Donald Trump, they've really thrown away their their traditional values of American conservatism and just rallied behind a con man for their own political agenda.'
'I hope that this demonstration shows that people still think American democracy is worth fighting for,' Julian continued.
Julian came to the anti-RNC march to express his distaste for Trump's leadership atop the Republican party. He says Trump has degraded the party's conservative standing
An event speaker delivers remarks on LGBTQ advocacy
'Stop Trump & Racist Republicans' signs were handed out by organizers to attendees
He condemned the attack on the former president in no uncertain terms.
'Of course, political violence is never acceptable in any in any democratic society,' he said striking a different tone than the communists. 'That is not how we resolve our differences.'
There was also a large pro-Palestinian contingent at the event, many having traveled to come to the anti-Trump march.
'I joined the contingent for a free Palestine, we bussed out here to protest a lot of different policies that the Republicans have implied in the past in the rhetoric that they're pushing during this current campaign,' another protestor, Liz, told DailyMail.com.
'The white supremacist rhetoric that the Republican Party has long stood for is exactly what caused lots of things, including the war on Gaza.'
'It's what causes incarceration people of black and brown people,' she continued. 'And so that's why I'm out here with my Cabal.'
After listening to speeches for roughly an hour, the event began proceeding towards Fiserv Forum, though they were stopped well before making it to the RNC as police stopped them from getting too close.
Activists gather at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee to protest Trump
The event's organizers had gone back and forth with the city for weeks to decide whether their march route would be permitted.
Over the weekend the city and organizers reached a deal allowing the march to go as planned Monday afternoon.
