Huge Nationwide Turn-Out For No Kings Day Celebrations While Trump Birthday Bash Was A Sad, Wet Dud

Today didn’t start off auspiciously. We learned that Friday night Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot to death by a MAGA scum, either a cop or someone dressed as one, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were severely wounded. Both were prominent Democrats. She had been House Speaker and he was the former Senate minority whip. Right-wingers immediately started spreading rumors that because of the shootings, the No Kings Day rallies were cancelled. 

Other wing-nuts were, according to the Wall Street Journal, buzzing with violent talk online. Proud boys: “Shoot a couple, the rest will go home… You just have to impale a few of them.” Having been pardoned by Trump, they know they can get away with anything. “A review of dozens of known far-right social-media accounts,” wrote Brenna Smith, “with hundreds of thousands of followers across leading platforms like Twitter, Truth Social, and Telegram are posting about the No Kings rallies and encouraging their people to respond, in some cases with violence. These accounts are also sharing detailed locations of the No Kings protests and sharing identifying information about the organizers, including names, images and where they work. In addition, days prior, social media videos verified by the Wall Street Journal show leaders of Chicago and Los Angeles far-right groups attended anti-ICE protests in those cities. Some extremist groups appear to be capitalizing on escalating emotions and at times destructive protests in L.A., as a recruitment opportunity or to promote the mass deportation of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Some of their messages have been echoed by the White House. One anonymous online account, which posts racial slurs to its hundreds of followers, this week posted an image promoting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tipline for reporting those here illegally. Half a dozen white nationalist Telegram channels quickly reposted the meme. It was also spread widely among mainstream conservative social media accounts.”

Señor TACO, wrote Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, “wants to celebrate his birthday like a king: not with cake or candles, but with a $45 million military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C…  On the day the Army was founded to defeat tyranny, he’s getting a parade and using your tax money to do so. This chilling spectacle pulls us away from the ideal of nonviolence that has paved the way for freedom movements in this country for generations. That’s not freedom. That’s not democracy. That’s not American. So on June 14, we the people are rising up and declaring that in America, we do not have a king. Across every U.S. state and territory, in cities, towns, and rural communities alike, millions of us will join the ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization.”

That's me with the mask

Roland and I went to the neighborhood one in Los Feliz, not far from where I live. We were shocked. Judging from past turnouts in the same spot, we expected a very mellow little rally with between 50 and 100 people. Instead there were thousands— blocks and blocks of chering, chanting people. I never saw so many people in Los Feliz in the 30-some odd years I’ve lived here and there was no police presence whatsoever. Nice and peaceful, celebratory and great spirts everywhere. The big L.A. one— hundreds of thousands of people— was downtown. But there were another 20 neighborhood rallies like the one in Los Feliz in every part of the city and in the suburbs.

Not counting the ones in other countries, there were about 2,000 rallies in all 50 states with millions of people participating. The biggest ones were in L.A., Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC, Houston… Handmade signs were creative as heck! Other than a few Trump fans who tried— mostly unsuccessfully to stir up trouble— there was no violence anywhere. Meanwhile, Trump’s military birthday bash was mostly a stiff. God sent thunder showers to keep people away and it was a glum, depressed event with some people trying their best to put on happy faces.

Metaphorically, while Trump and some MAGAts milled around in plastic rain ponchos watching tanks roll by in a half-empty D.C., real America was in the streets— not for him, but against everything he stands for. What we saw today wasn’t so much angry protest as it was proof of life. It was a nation remembering that real patriotism has nothing to do with gold-plated toilets, goose-stepping, $45 million in wasted taxpayer funds or loyalty oaths to a sociopathic narcissist. It has everything to do with the freedom to assemble, to dissent and to imagine a better world. I saw people of all ages and races who had come in wheelchairs and on skateboards, with strollers and slogans, guitars and some with grief. They came for Melissa and John and their spouses. They came for democracy. In the end, No Kings Day wasn’t much about Trump at all. It was about us— reminding ourselves, and each other, that the story of this country isn’t finished yet. And if there’s any hope of a just future, it’s not going to come from the top down. It’s going to rise up, one neighborhood rally at a time, from the ground we stand on. Agreed?