Trump returns to New Orleans for fundraiser, met with protest

New Orleans, LA – On June 24, Donald Trump arrived in New Orleans for a fundraising dinner as protesters disrupted the event with a rally. The protest was organized by the Queer and Trans Community Action Project (QTCAP) and New Orleans for Community Control of the Police (NOCOP). They chanted and demonstrated the opinions of the working-class queer and Black people of New Orleans, with additional speakers in solidarity to the Palestinian liberation movement.

The dinner, hosted by shipyard CEO Donald Bollinger and real estate magnate Joe Canizaro, cost $3300 per ticket for one person, with an additional approximate $22,000 for an opportunity to take photos with Trump. Bollinger and Canizaro are two of the most generous donors to the Republican Party in Louisiana.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was also present at the event, described as a “guest of honor.”

The fundraiser occurred just weeks after Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges, and almost a year after his last New Orleans fundraiser, where protesters forced him to shut down the event early.

The protest began roughly an hour before Trump’s motorcade arrived. Members of the crowd held up signs reading anti-Trump and anti-GOP slogans, such as “Lock Trump up!” and “Stop the racist GOP agenda!” as Palestinian and transgender Pride flags fluttered in the wind above onlookers.

“These people would like to force their ideology of Christian-fundamentalism onto future generations, force their ‘free market capitalism’ – that really means exploiting the working class and continuing racist oppression here in the South,” said Quest Riggs, representing QTCAP. “The legacy of Jim Crow, continuing the legacy of red-lining, continuing the legacy of wealth inequality that still exists in New Orleans today.”

“They want to hold onto that wealth with their bare knuckles, but they know, we know, the youth know, that their kind is a dying breed, theirs is a dying country, theirs is a dying mentality,” Riggs asserted.

“I can’t stand to see our rights taken away. We are people that believe we’re not just tokens, to be sold and given away for free, to be traded, or to be collected like cards in hand by greedy men with wicked ideas, and wicked aims, and self-entitlement. We’re more than that. We’re people – we’re people with rights. All of us,” said Toni Duplechain-Jones, a representative of NOCOP.

“They don’t just take away our rights, they take away our basic standard of living. In this city, Black people make up a majority. In this country, there’s no one who’s worked harder than Black people to build this country. Yet, year after year, our wealth has been going down,” Jones continued. “A recent report of New Orleans stated that white people in New Orleans, in the north, have 16 times the wealth of Black people.”

Speakers of the rally chanted with the crowd, “Donald Trump has got to go!” as counter-protesters attempted to agitate members. The New Orleans Police Department ushered the anti-Trump group away from the public sidewalks of Audubon Place, the gated community in which the fundraiser was held.

The police did not require the counter-protesters to move.

As the presidential motorcade arrived, protesters approached Audubon Place once more, gathering on the neutral ground in front of the gates. Rain began to fall, but it failed to dull the energy of the demonstration as counter-protesters dispersed. Jones declared that rain would not stop them from protesting against oppression, shouting “Rain or shine, you can’t hide – you’re supporting genocide!”

Around 20 minutes after it began to rain, it began to thunder. The organizers only concluded the rally when lightning picked up.

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