By Tim Reid and JC Whittington
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -In some neighborhoods of heavily Democratic Washington, Halloween displays with a decidedly political tone have long been a tradition.
But ahead of Halloween on Friday – 10 months into Donald Trump’s second White House term driven by a conservative policy blitz most Democrats oppose – some residents are using the holiday to protest his policies with anti-Trump yard displays.
In a front yard close to the U.S. Capitol, Donna Breslin, 79, has installed an entire graveyard with 16 headstones to mark policy moves the Republican Trump has made since he took office in January that she says are killing off American democracy.
There are headstones – purchased on Amazon and hand-painted by Breslin – for “USAID,” and “research for health and science,” among others.
The headstones are references to Trump administration cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development and health research, both part of his broader effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
The Washington metropolitan area has borne the brunt of Trump’s cuts. A government shutdown, now in its 30th day, has forced many more civil servants to be furloughed with each party blaming the other.
Trump defends the cuts as necessary to reduce a bloated and inefficient workforce. He rejects the notion that his actions test the limits of the presidency and undermine democracy, saying he is simply delivering on his campaign agenda.
Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said Democrats were engaged in “pointless virtue signaling” with their anti-Trump Halloween displays in Washington, a city where about 90% of voters are registered Democrats.
But the White House is also using Halloween to mock its opponents, posting images on Instagram of costumes depicting Democratic leaders — and a separate one of Trump himself with the message, “Not included – crown.”
This would appear to be a White House attempt to make light of the “No Kings” protests staged by millions of Americans to oppose what they view as authoritarian tendencies in Trump’s leadership.
One focus of this year’s Halloween displays is Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has cut staff at the Department of Health and Human Services and promoted debunked claims that routine childhood vaccines cause harm.
In the wealthy, liberal Northwest Washington neighborhood of Georgetown, where Kennedy lives, there are multiple skeletons on display in front yards alongside vaccine-related messages.
A block from Kennedy’s house stands a giant 10-foot (3-meter)-tall skeleton next to a sign that reads, “Hi, I’m Wally! Vaccines save lives – believe me I know!”
Kennedy has restricted access to COVID-19 shots, boosted support for state vaccine exemptions, dismantled the vaccine review process, and expanded a national advisory board with like-minded critics of COVID shots.
An HHS spokesman said in a statement, “Let’s be clear: Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine — he is pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability. His longstanding advocacy has focused on ensuring that vaccines and all medical interventions meet the highest standards of safety and are backed by gold standard science.”
In another Georgetown front yard, a skeleton dangles over a fence with a stethoscope around its neck, next to a sign reading, “Secretary of Sick.”
Close to Kennedy’s house, Christine Payne, 66, has placed a child-sized skeleton in her front window with the message, “Wish I had taken my vaccine!”
Payne said while she didn’t agree with his policies, Kennedy was a good neighbor.
“I think we all need to speak out with what’s going on in this nation at the moment, especially in Washington,” Payne said. “We’re very political here.”
(Reporting by Tim Reid and JC Whittington, Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
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