NORTHAMPTON — Comparing Donald Trump to Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy, John Bonifaz, a local attorney and activist, condemned Trump at a rally in Northampton on Thursday shortly after the former president was arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C. on conspiracy charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“He [Davis] took an oath of office to defend the Constitution, and then he turned around and led an insurrection,” Bonifaz said. “Donald Trump is the Jefferson Davis of our time.”

The small rally was held on the front steps of Northampton’s City Hall in support of the conspiracy charges brought forward by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The event was organized by Deb Pastrich-Klemer on behalf of the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen, to condemn the former president and demand justice for his action to overturn the election results.

The rally was one of several organized across the country to support the criminal prosecution of Trump.

“I thought I would be thrilled when Trump was indicted for his violent actions, but I wasn’t. It’s sad and horrifying that we are in this place,” Pastrich-Klemer said during the rally.

“A failure to hold these people accountable in a court of law would inflict irreparable harm on our democracy. We must keep reminding them that nobody is above the law.”

The most recent indictments against Trump reference several co-conspirators taking part in a plot to overturn the 2020 election, although only Trump has been charged in the case. Bonifaz said that regardless of the outcome of Trump’s trial, he should be barred from running for office based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“That is the provision of the Constitution that if you take an oath of office to defend the Constitution and then you turn around and engage in insurrection, you’re forever barred from holding public office again,” Bonifaz said. “Every secretary of state, every chief election official in the nation has a duty to follow the mandate of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and bar Donald Trump from the ballot.”

For his part, Jefferson Davis, who had served as a representative and senator for the state of Mississippi before becoming president of the Confederacy, was barred from holding office following the Civil War and imprisoned. 

Marvin Ward, a demonstrator at Thursday’s event in Northampton, said he agreed with Bonifaz’s view that Trump should be disqualified from running for office.

“It isn’t necessary to go through all this,” Ward said of Trump’s coming criminal trials. “They’re just doing it because they don’t want to appear to be dictators.”

For rally participant Jonathan Tetherly, Trump’s indictment marked a significant point in the country’s history.

“It is a momentous, momentous decision for everyone,” he said. “Those who make all kinds of excuses as to why it shouldn’t happen will eventually get the understanding of what it’s about.”

Manny Pintado, a member of the activist group Arise for Social Justice, ended the rally by condemning the actions of Republican governors across the country who have supported Trump, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas.

“We cannot accept people who take books out of libraries. This is not who we are. This is not democracy,” Pintado said.

In addition to the latest indictment, Trump is also facing dozens of charges relating to hush payments made during his initial 2016 presidential campaign and for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He continues to be far and away the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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