Elected Republicans are getting desperate. Their lies are getting more ridiculous. It seems they are afraid that 10 million or more Americans will stand up and say they’ve had enough of a corrupt, lawless authoritarian regime and its criminal leader who despises our Constitution and wants to silence dissent. On Friday, they were busy blaming the Oct. 18 No Kings protest for delaying an end to the government shutdown. But not the real protest: their pretend version, complete with talking points.
Listen to House Speaker Mike Johnson on Fox News: “I’m a very patient guy, but I’ve had it with these people…The theory we have right now: They have a hate America rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and, you know, the antifa people. They’re all coming out. Some of the House Democrats are selling t-shirts.”
Listen to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, standing beside Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise: “This is about one thing and one thing only—to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week.”
Get it? A hate rally? They want their followers to believe that next Saturday’s protest will be filled with terrorists. Scary. Very scary. Except that their version of a ruthless “antifa” with a coordinated power structure doesn’t exist. Except that Americans peacefully assembling to express their constitutional right of free speech in opposition to authoritarian rule is about as American a thing to do as I can imagine.
In contrast to their incendiary and ludicrous warnings, we have a long and proud tradition of public protest comprised of Americans yearning for a better, more democratic, more equal and more just country. As Indivisible’s co-executive director Ezra Levin put it to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes last night, “The number one threat to their grip on power is organized, peaceful, geographically dispersed protest by normal, everyday Americans. That’s what a regime fears…These are threats of a regime that is not secure in their power…They want you to feel alone. They want you to feel like you can’t express your valid political opinions.” Levin also described the last No Kings protest in June as “collective effervescence,” that is, joyful, playful, friendly.
Yes, the distortions of Johnson and Emmer are foolish and irresponsible, but they’ve surely been fueled by Donald Trump who’s been recklessly repeating lies about extreme violence in Portland and Chicago as a pretext for their latest military operations. In a sane world, when Trump repeatedly voices paranoid delusions about Portland—of “anarchy,” of a “burning hellhole”—that would be reason to deploy the 25th Amendment and remove him from office.
Instead, his obedient “leadership” team is matching his mad rantings. Here’s his propagandist Karoline Leavitt: “President Trump will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all.” Here’s Homeland Security sycophant Kristi Noem: “This network of antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA, as ISIS as Hezbollah, as Hamas as all of them. They are just as dangerous. They are just like the other terrorists we’ve dealt with for many, many years.” And then foaming-at-the mouth Stephen Miller: “ICE officers have to street battle against antifa, hand-to-hand combat every night, to come and go from their building.”
These laughable and dangerous comments have been gathered together by The Daily Show and matched with actual images from Portland: People dressed up and dancing with abandon in dinosaur and cartoon animal costumes, protestors handing out flowers to the militarized officers in gas masks, scenes of synchronized group dancing and gray-haired protestors playing ukuleles and singing “This Land Is Your Land,” written by famed anti-fascist folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940.
Meanwhile, planning for the No Kings protests continues, with Levin noting that there will be more than 2,500 events across the country—a mass protest which he says will be “the largest in modern American history.” The last one in June attracted an estimated five million people. As Harvard researcher Erica Chenoweth has noted, it takes 3.5 percent of a population to create sufficient numbers for effective political change. In the American context, that would means about 12 million people participating.
So today’s prompt is about next Saturday’s mass protest. Will you stand up for the right of peaceful protest? Do you plan to participate on Oct. 18? Will Americans not only demonstrate their opposition to the actions of the Trump regime, but also refuse to be gaslit by desperate Republicans hoping their lies will scare away everyday Americans? And would you take part in subsequent events, such as national labor strikes or wider economic boycotts? Please do share your plans for participation or, if not, your reasons for staying home.
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
You can get more background on the thinking and planning for No Kings from my conversation with Ezra Levin ten days ago. As he told me then, “I think this No Kings Day is about the First Amendment and our constitutional rights. He is systematically cracking down on dissent and opposition and our ability to just be Americans who exercise our rights. And when your First Amendment rights are under attack, there is but one failsafe thing, foolproof tactic. We’re defending those rights. Exercising those rights: That’s what we have to do.”
And if you haven’t had a chance yet to read my reporting on the inspiring work of the Louisville Orchestra and its conductor, Teddy Abrams, I hope you will here: “Can Music Help Bridge America’s Divide?”
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Will I stand up for the right to protest? Hell yeah! As the saying goes, “peaceful protest is patriotic!” Together we will, we must resist these demonic lunatics who, facilitated by their craven sycophants, have brought our country to the brink of collapse.
I’m normally a supportive observer of events such as No Kings Day, but Substack writer David Gate’s piece today has inspired me to participate in the protest in my town next Saturday. I’ve forwarded it several friends from my progressive Presbyterian church with the hopes that we can attend together.
Thank you for more inspiration today, Steven.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidgate/p/the-maga-war-on-christians?r=em19s&utm_medium=ios