Stopping by because the internet outage has held up my work for now. Like so many across this country I was out marching in the No Kings protest this past Saturday. It was a beautiful Fall day in Minneapolis with the weather warm for the season. According to the local Fox affiliate 100,000 people turned out for a peaceful rally and march. I wrote this last Friday in response to the arguments that “No Kings” isn’t relevant because there isn’t an actual US King or that this is a “Hate America”. Why No Kings is still Relevant For those who don’t understand the No Kings protests and are claiming they are not relevant because we don’t have a king should reread the Declaration of Independence and not just the first part to understand why this protest and the name “No Kings” is still relevant now. The writers of the Declaration weren’t just declaring independence from Britain for the sake of independence or even just Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness but had specific charges against the crown. Many of these charges are similar to what is happening now in the US and the overarching theme then as now is resistance to concentration of power in an executive office whether a literal King or a president. Among the specific charges in the Declaration of Independence were the sending troops from other parts of the British Empire to the colonies without their consent. This is similar to the sending of National Guard from states like Texas to Oregon and Illinois without the consent of the local government of those states. Like the president now the crown also claimed this was necessary to keep the peace and enforce the law. Interferring with trade from the colonies through the use of tariffs and other means. Like then these tariffs are largely being made not through the legislature but through executive orders. Also like the 1770’s American farmers and manufacturers are paying the price unable to sell their goods to other countries while prices go up for American consumers. Taking legislative power from the legislature to the executive. This administration has largely governed by executive order rather than through actual legislation. These are essentially kingly decrees that bypass a coequal branch of government. Particularly in deciding to withhold or redirect spending that had been passed by Congress. The President is canceling programs and funding to “Democrat states” and is specifically saying he is doing so out of political grievance. Even though these programs had been passed and signed into law. This parallels how the British King still collected taxes from the colonies while not putting in policies to benefit them and blocking their elected representatives. Current “Democrat states” are still expected to pay taxes but legislation passed for programs and infrastructure is being blocked by the executive. This is even more relevant with the President’s own party refusing to seat an elected Democrat to the US House of Representatives. The writers of the Declaration of Independence also criticized the King for making judges subservient to his will. We’ve seen that with the current President threatening judges that have ruled against him and even saying that he will not abide by rulings that he doesn’t agree with. He has been aided by a Supreme Court that has made many rulings, often with little to no explanation, increasing the power reducing the accountability of the executive. This is where “No Kings” is very relevant because an unaccountable executive is essentially a king. The writers of the Declaration of Independence were opposing a literal King and there are many parallels to what was happening 250 years ago. The No Kings protest is about preventing a President from ruling like a King. Every American should reread ALL OF the Declaration of Independence to understand that.
What do these protests ultimately accomplish? Is there anything palpable that will come from these demonstrations? Any real action or call to action? Any real plan from Democrats to combat what is going on?
This Viet Nam war protestor from the 1960s -1970s, was at the "no-king" protest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this past saturday. She said that the current protests remind her of the anger and frustration she witnessed during that turbulent viet nam war era, https://www.tmj4.com/news/milwaukee...ent-political-climate-ahead-of-no-kings-rally
It embarasses the Mad King, and shatters the illusion that everybody but trannies and illegal immigrants supports him. In doing so, it provides intellectual cover for all of the betas who nominally support Trump but have misgivings lying in bed late at night, that taking off their half-hearted MAGA hat wont leave them all alone in conflict with everybody else. There's a reason MAGA spends so much time trying to gaslight that every real American is 100% pro-Trump, and if you aren't you might as well join Hamas. Its not an end-to-itself, but is legitimately part of the process of breaking the strange mesmerism that Donnie has cast over the hoi polloi.
The sort answer is - maybe, but probably not. However, it does have value because it demonstrates that a lot of people are not supportive of what is going on, and it also keeps people politically involved. There are a lot of people that are not really politically involved that may not speak up about what is going on without seeing there are many people that feel the way that they do. It is like the Tea Party protests, did they accomplish anything? No, not immediately or directly, but in the long term they play a big part is the rise of Trump.
The Tea Party nearly caused me to quit iced tea (unsweet, with lemon), but I persevered. Yes, the marches are relevant. Long term? Democracy will prevail, but we're living short term now and the rightwing extremists. led by trump, are hammering our country with far-right madness.
Democracy DID prevail. Trump was elected and he is delivering on the promises he made to voters. That is Democracy. Do you know what is not democracy? When the Democrats attempted 4x to imprison Trump, bankrupt him, and kick him off the ballot. And this was after impeaching him 2x, running the Russian collusion scam, and de-platforming him on social media. Republicans are pro-Democracy. Democrats are the authoritarians. GOOD DAY
^^^ This is what a losing argument looks like. Can't touch the substance, so he goes for the insults! Take that L, amigo. GOOD DAY
Rockets fans didn’t protest the NBA when we lost to the Warriors @rocketsjudoka @Salvy @basso @glynch @Scarface281 @RB713 but I agree with you, those rallies helped get wokes some much needed vitamin D from the picture they make Greta Thunberg look like Bol Bol
related gift link I worked for Biden. Here’s the gold in Trump’s foreign policy. The president leverages America’s power well and ignores domestic criticism. https://wapo.st/48AjyFf excerpt: First, Trump seems to understand that diplomacy is about engaging with the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be. His administration has employed the diplomatic adage that countries negotiate peace with their enemies, not with their friends. And the administration has spoken with plenty of adversaries — including Hamas, Iran, the Houthis, Russia and Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. In some cases, doing so continued dialogues undertaken during the Biden administration, during which I served in senior State Department roles. We typically managed the conversations far more discreetly. Nevertheless, the current administration is right not to keep these talks shrouded in secrecy; there’s virtue in signaling to the world that America is prepared to speak with anyone if it has the potential to resolve differences. Additionally, Trump has used America’s leverage effectively. His evolving approach to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is instructive. The administration initially squandered the ceasefire it inherited from the Biden White House, taking a hands-off approach as Netanyahu resumed Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip in the spring. Washington then did little as the prime minister implemented a policy tantamount to forced starvation, blocking nearly all humanitarian supplies from entering Gaza. That changed, however, after the botched Israeli attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar. The attempt to kill negotiators seemed to finally convince Trump that his counterpart was not serious about negotiations, causing Trump to exert the leverage that neither he nor, in fairness, his predecessor had applied. Within days, Trump forced Netanyahu to apologize directly to his Qatari counterpart and released a photo of the call from the Oval Office, a not-so-subtle reminder of who held the cards. More consequentially, he pressed Netanyahu to accept his 20-point ceasefire plan, just as Arab partners leaned on Hamas. The choreography was an overdue reminder that the U.S. is the superpower in the relationship. Finally, the Trump administration has acted on its foreign policy agenda largely impervious to potential political criticism. Take, for example, the decision to engage Hamas directly, a fraught choice given the terrorist group’s heinous decades-long track record, including most notoriously on Oct. 7, 2023. The administration’s envoy for hostages was the target of political attacks when his direct talks with Hamas leaders, part of an effort to free the then-remaining American hostages, became known earlier this year. And yet, Trump’s Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reportedly met with Hamas more recently to secure the broader ceasefire notwithstanding the potential for similar blowback. more at the link
Its a great question, and one that I'd encourage folks to listen to interviews that the organizers (search Ezra Levin/Indivisible) to hear their answers on this. I for one am encouraged by what I've heard from Levin about making sure that they are not directly tying themselves to the Democratic party in an effort to draw in independents, libertarians, and Trump voters who feel betrayed. He talks about how low of an approval rating the Democratic party has, and how its important to push them towards local community organizing rather than national politics. You might disagree with me, but I personally think that is smart. Get these people flooding city counsels, school boards, and local candidate races for state offices especially for independent type of races. No-Kings/Indivisible/etc. are built for this type of activism. They are NOT built for the kind of opposition protest movement that takes power in the short term from autocratic regimes that you see in other countries. THAT type of protest movement is typically much younger, more radical, and has the intended purpose of overwhelming law enforcement, and literally scaring the dictator that they are about to be lynched in the street. If you want to see examples of a protest movement that actually worked at taking a corrupt dictator out of power, I encourage everyone to research the Romanian Revolution of 1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_revolution .... No-Kings/Indivisible is NOT designed to do that. They are designed to build community, and democratic infrastructure. That might be foolish in thinking that matters, but I'm hopeful it's not too late.
All of this means nothing if these people stay home on election day.* Which they probably will. As a recovering Republican, I can tell you that the GOP is counting on this. *assuming elections aren't cancelled indefinitely
I would say that its actually more of a next step in the building of organizations that could be widely spread, and wield power at all of the lower levels of government through community organizing. Indivisible was not started yesterday, and I don't think the intention (although they'd take it if they got it) was to be a movement like BLM, March for our Lives, etc. There's a risk of running hot and burning out vs building real organizations at the ground level that can go far, and wide where they aren't so easily dismantled, and the propaganda is much less effective at combatting against. These events are used to bring in people, and introduce them to community, and have organizers there to guide them towards those communities so they can work on the harder part that comes next.
