Donny the Chicken, a towering 30-foot inflatable chicken with hair likened to the president’s, was erected briefly in Civic Plaza on Sunday to call out the president and Congress for being “chicken.”
“It represents Donald Trump being a chicken for not releasing his tax returns, and then ever since tax reform, it’s also speaking to the fact that Congress and the GOP as a whole are chickening out and just doing Trump’s bidding,” said Juan Bautista Dominguez, an organizer for a campaign to repeal the recent tax bill, which his group said harms the middle class and benefits the wealthy.
Dominguez was in Albuquerque on Sunday as part of a “Repeal the Trump Tax” campaign that is making stops across the country. An organization called Not One Penny is behind the campaign.
The campaign has made stops in the Rust Belt, the Midwest, the West Coast and is currently touring the Southwest. Local community leaders are speaking at the news conferences held in connection to the campaign.
The event at Civic Plaza didn’t draw any protestors, but the event was visible as people walked in an out of the Albuquerque Convention Center on Sunday afternoon.
“To me, it is a disaster that the federal government would push such a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans without proper vetting and without the proper questions being asked,” State Rep. Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said at the event.
Opponents of the recently passed tax reform package said that it disproportionately helps the wealthy while services will be cut for middle- and low-income voters.
James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said New Mexico children are already disproportionately affected by poverty. He said the tax plan, coupled with budget proposals to slash food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, will further hurt children throughout the state.
“How in the world are hard working families supposed to go to work feeling comfortable that their children are well cared for?” he said.
