No Kings Weekend Report: What's happening?

Millions will turn out for No Kings, may be largest protest in history. Republicans have only made it bigger by attacking it. Some blustering GOP governors have activated their National Guard.

The No Kings mass protest today against Donald Trump and his authoritarian regime has garnered enormous attention, with political leaders, celebrities and late-night comedians promoting the events which will occur in 2500 locations. The No Kings protest in June occurred at 2100 locations and brought out roughly 5 million people. Organizers have had twice as many people register as registered in June. So this could be much bigger.

Republicans only brought more attention to the protest by demonizing it as a “hate America” rally, and worse. They--and Donald Trump—are deathly afraid of the protest in the middle of their government shutdown. But the attacks only angered many people who believe in free speech—as happened with the attempt to kill Jimmy Kimmel’s show—getting more media attention to the events and likely driving many more people to protest sites.

Some Republican governors have actually called up their National Guard units. It doesn’t seem they’ll be deployed to the events and be an actual presence. But it’s a clear attempt to both curry favor with Trump and MAGA and intimidate protestors. But, again, this will not dampen turnout and may anger even more people and create larger turnout.

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A short No Kings Weekend Report, all about your participation, so please join the discussion and tell us what you’re doing and seeing today!

No Kings kicks off late this morning all across America. You can find a protest site—or five—near you just by going to NoKings.org and putting in your zip code. Organizers are expecting a massive turnout:

“This, without question, will be the single biggest day of protest in American history,” Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, which is helping plan the rallies, told USA TODAY. “Since we last did this, people have become far more aware of what is going wrong with this administration.”

Though the protest was planned for months, the government shutdown and the refusal to extend tax credits for Obamacare have only created more interest.

America’s labor unions are turning out in full force.

Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert promoted No Kings, and a slew of celebrities have been posting about the events to their massive followings and will attend, as will Democratic leaders in Congress and governors—a big shift from the previous No Kings and Hands Off protests.

Republicans have done everything they can to vilify the protestors and somehow marginalizes millions of Americas. From Jill Lawrence on MSNBC.com:

You might find this hard to believe, but Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are making stuff up. This is a go-to move when they fear their power and corrupt authoritarian plans are at risk, and that’s happening a lot lately. Now, with millions of people signed up to attend thousands of “No Kings” demonstrations Saturday across America, the GOP’s desperation meter is at DEFCON 1.

The alarm is clear from the overwrought Republican leaders spouting hallucinatory talking points in which “No Kings” protests become “‘Hate America’ rallies.” They are weaving a tale of extremists, terrorists, Marxists, agitators, “the pro-Hamas crowd” (House Speaker Mike Johnson’s phrase), and professional protesters supposedly paid by billionaire George Soros. It’s straight-up fearmongering.

And it not only won’t work; it’s backfiring. As I noted a few days ago, the GOP is only bringing more attention to the protest, bringing out more people.

They are taking orders from Trump, who is already lashing out at the protest, as he did in June. And yes, he’s no doubt possibly signaling to his followers—who include many who are violent—about No Kings. Per USA Today:

Trump routinely hypes his followers with hyperbole, denouncing his critics this way on Oct. 14: “They have the devil’s ideology. ... They seem to become very violent on the left.”

That’s rich, coming from the guy who issued a blanket pardon for more than 1,500 criminals convicted of attacking police officers and trashing the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as part of Trump’s failed bid to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

But Trump, being Trump, can’t stay on his own message. A day later, on Oct. 15, he suggested that “very few people are gonna be there” while speaking about the No Kings marches.

Organizers are prepared, having done 20,000 trainings on de-escalation. Trump and his goons won’t ruin the day, though they’ve hyped it up. Some Republicans have called for bringing out the National Guard. BBC reports:

Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.

The organisers of the “No Kings” protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.

Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state’s National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.

“We’ll have to get the National Guard out,” Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.

“Hopefully it’ll be peaceful. I doubt it.”

What a hideous thing to say. The No Kings and Hands Off events from earlier in the year were completely peaceful, unlike the last big rally by Republicans, which was January 6th, the attack on the Capitol and police officers.

The GOP is petrified. This is their reflexive impulse. But it’s only going to make it worse for them when they see millions peacefully protest, people who look like and are America.

So I hope you’re marching if you can. And if you can’t, you’ll be there in spirit as we march. Let us know where you are and what’s going on, and come back here later to report. I’ll be here in New York at the march in Manhattan, and checking in later.