News

Anti-Trump Protests Are Taking Over D.C.

by Lauren Holter

May 12, 2016

Donald Trump arrived in Washington, D.C. Thursday morning to meet with the GOP leadership in the hopes of unifying the party, which has been struggling to unanimously support its presumptive presidential nominee. He plans to chat with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who hasn't denounced his candidacy, but has also avoided endorsing or explicitly supporting him. Photos of protests surrounding Trump's D.C. visit signify how difficult it will be to achieve real unity ahead of the general election and just how polarizing a figure Trump has become.

The Republican National Committee headquarters was Trump's first stop Thursday. There he met with Speaker Ryan and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. He was then scheduled for another meeting with Ryan and other House Republican leaders. That's a lot of Trump-Ryan quality time, considering the two have only met in person once before, in 2012, and spoke on the phone once in March about the GOP's election agenda. Just last week, Ryan told CNN he was "just not ready" to support Trump's bid for president. Of course, Trump responded by saying he wasn't ready to embrace Ryan's policy agenda, prompting the speaker to concede that he would step down as chairman of the Republican National Convention this summer if Trump asked.

Needless to say, the meetings were a big deal, and many anti-Trump voters were not happy about the talks. Here are photos of protests surrounding Trump's visit to the capital which show people's visceral reactions to the idea of Trump leading D.C.: