Happy No Kings Day to you, too. I have this tremendous sense of deja vu considering we apparently had this Day of Days a mere four months ago. Regular readers and those capable of clicking on a link know how I felt about all of this then. Probably not as giddy and anticipatory as a lot of you.
But this time around, there’s a slightly better degree of organization and planning–not to mention some coordinated media coverage- than there was on Flag Day, which DEADLINE’s Ted Johnson took particular note of yesterday:
Thousands of events are being planned across the country, but there will be a few differences from the last day of demonstration in June. This time, it is taking place amid a government shutdown, with few signs that it will end soon.
C-SPAN will carry the Washington, D.C. rally starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT…CNN‘s Fredericka Whitfield will anchor coverage starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, with Jessica Dean picking up coverage at 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT…MSNBC will cover the protests throughout the weekend, with Stephanie Ruhle hosting an additional live hour at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. Jacob Soboroff will be in Los Angeles, Antonia Hylton in New York City, Maya Eaglin in Chicago, Nnamdi Egwuonwu in Houston and Jake Traylor in Washington.
And there is an official event being planned in Washington, D.C. at Pennsylvania Ave. and Third Street NW near the National Mall and the Capitol. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-VT) among the figures expected to speak, along with Bill Nye and Mehdi Hasan, among others.
POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler cited a few more facts to justify the newsworthiness of it all:
Organizers said they expect the more than 2,600 events across all 50 states to surpass the more than 5 million people who attended the first wave of “No Kings” rallies in June. The marches come amid heightened criticism from Republicans about this weekend’s rallie
“They might try to paint this weekend’s events as something dangerous to our society, but the reality is there is nothing unlawful or unsafe about organizing and attending peaceful protests,” said Deirdre Schifeling of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s the most patriotic and American thing you can do, and we have a 250-year-old history of disagreeing in public.”
If I’m to believe the overwhelming number of posts that have dominated my social media feeds in recent days, it appears just about every rational-thinking person I’ve ever encountered–and countless others technology thinks I should–would concur with Schifeling. They’re planning to do something yellow, as has been recommended by organizers, and determined to make their voices heard. And G-d forbid anyone question their right to do so.
I’m certainly not gonna try and stand in anyone’s way any more. I’m as livid as any of them when I see the disingenous framing and ramping up of rhetoric coming from “the other side” such as the gallingly biased BS that spewed from the fingers of FOX NEWS’ Asra Nomani this morning:
New York City organizers embedded in the global intifada to destroy the state of Israel moved Friday to join the controversial “No Kings” protests planned for today, despite the peace deal reached between Israel and Hamas. “UAW Labor for Palestine” and “NYC Labor for Palestine” quietly posted a call-to-action for the “Palestine Labor Solidarity Contingent” to meet Saturday at 11 a.m. at Duarte Square at the corner of Grand Street and Canal Street in midtown Manhattan and then flow into the #NoKings protests planned to protest President Donald Trump. Billionaire donor George Soros is reportedly funding many of the organizations leading the “No Kings” protests, like Indivisible, whose co-founders, Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, received a $3 million two-year grant last year from Soros’s Open Society Foundations for “social welfare activities.” Details about the “Palestine Contingent” weaving into the “No Kings” protests raises new questions about the way big Democratic donors like Soros are funneling nonprofit dollars into a professional protest industry that is fractious, divisive and partisan, potentially in violation of tax and nonprofit laws.
They call it ‘No Kings,’ but what they’ve built is an empire of tax-exempt organizations doing the Democratic Party’s work on the taxpayer’s dime,” said Jennica Pounds, a computer scientist who runs a platform, DataRepublican.com, following the money on these organizations. “They are using every excuse in the book, from immigration to Israel, to rage-bait America. There is nothing ‘charitable’ about their professional protest enterprise, and they should be investigated for fomenting so much hate in America behind the shield of ‘charity work.’”
And as Wendler also reported, it’s a playbook like that that has those more likely to read Nomani coming armed for bear:
Amid the heightened tensions of the shutdown, Republicans have repeatedly sought to vilify the planned protests. House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leading Republicans have referred to the protests as a “hate America rally” and sought to tie it to Hamas and antifa. And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also announced Thursday that he would be sending members of the state’s National Guard — as well as state troopers, Texas Rangers and Department of Public Safety personnel — to Austin on Saturday in response to the planned demonstrations.
It’s reached a point where even those supposedly on the “right” side of this issue are channeling Chicken Little, as THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Laurel Rosenhall shared earlier this week:
The U.S. Marine Corps said on Wednesday that its large military celebration planned this weekend at Camp Pendleton in Southern California would not close any public highway or transportation route, hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom of California raised fears of missiles soaring over Interstate 5.
The Marine Corps said in a statement that it would conduct “live-fire” activities, but that its event would take place at a beach west of the freeway. Earlier in the day, Mr. Newsom had raised alarms about the ceremony, and bemoaned what he described as the administration’s lack of planning with local authorities.
The White House previously announced that the Saturday event would feature “amphibious assault demonstrations” and that Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were scheduled to attend.
Look, I get why Newsom would seize the opportunity to overreact, After all, he’s got a big proposition to redistrict the state on the ballot next month that one can’t avoid a commercial break without seeing a “Stick It To Trump” ad. Tell me, Gavileh, since we now know you’re pretty obsessed with how some other big ticket politicians plan to spend this crisp fall Saturday, where are YOU planning to be?
For that matter, let me ask the elected officials and those seeking to eventually be them how do YOU plan to spend this day?
With all of these assembled masses thinking along political lines and an opportunity to have a megaphone via media are you going to seize the opportunity to speak–or at least walk in solidarity?
According to every source I’ve been able to tap into the only other politician of note who plans to put on their sneakers is Chuck Schumer–and since he’s been accused of being the reason no deal has yet been reached to reopen the government because of his desperate and selfish attempt to keep the likes of Sanders and his minions from demanding his scalp once and for all he’s got a few very personal reasons to do so.
Maybe their reluctance is due to how little chance there is for them to convince potential voters of their value. As Wendler also shared:
When asked for comment on Saturday’s rallies, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: “Who cares?”
Say what you will about their motivation and ethics, but it’s damn clear that Jackson is lying through her polished teeth. They absolutely do care and are doing everything within their power to get their unified message across about what they believe in and why.
Aside from “I hate Trump”, and aside from the usual suspects in this “battle for Democracy”, what’s YOUR message?
And hence my continued inability to take these “peaceful protests protected by the Constitution”, let alone those zealotically thinking they actually can make a difference, seriously. It’s great you’re getting your steps in–more power to anyone who does–but any perceived impact you’re being told you’re making is in lockstep with the delusion driving the likes of Johnson, Jackson and Abbott. It is to laugh, as a far more prolific writer once wrote.
As for moi, my most sincere apologies once again, you scheduled this on a day where I have to work. I admire and envy the fact your lives and schedules are open enough to spend a day milling around with fellow cosplayers. Do say safe, and FFS play nice.
Until next time…