WASHINGTON—Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, are running scared from what may be the biggest demonstrations in U.S. history this weekend, Oct. 18, as millions prepare to march and rally in No Kings Day actions from coast to coast.
A massive coalition of pro-democracy groups, including unions and allied organizations, is planning the historic rallies and marches in cities, big and small, across America, with support actions in cities around the globe.
More than 2,000 individual actions are planned, with full details and locations published on the No Kings Day website, www.nokings.org. Most are an hour’s drive or less away from almost everyone in the continental U.S. Many of the locations are ones in which Trump has illegally deployed the military, and many are places in which ICE has already conducted brutal and illegal operations.
In an attempt to keep down the historic turnout expected Saturday, Trump cabinet secretaries and Republican lawmakers are claiming that the protests are the reason Democrats are allegedly prolonging the government shutdown, resulting in millions of federal workers going without pay.
They allege, with no facts to back them up, that the Democratic Party is manipulating the millions who will turn out so they can have their way in the budget battles with Republicans—particularly on the GOP’s plans to cut healthcare and raise insurance premiums.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy went further by accusing the millions who will turn out to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech of being paid members of antifa who are out to embarrass the president. “No Kings means no paychecks, no paychecks means no government,” he said.
Of course, one of the major propellants of the coming mass demonstrations is the understanding by millions that it is the Republicans, who control all three branches of government, and not the Democrats or the protesters, who are responsible for the shutdown.
Red-baiting won’t work
At least one lawmaker joining the MAGA effort to scare people away from the demonstrations resorted to anti-communism. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took to X/Twitter to falsely claim that the No Kings rallies are being “hosted BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA.”
Cruz made the allegation after Stu Smith, an analyst at the right-wing Manhattan Institute, pointed out that the emblem of the Communist Party USA appears as one of dozens of endorsers of the New York City No Kings rally.
The Texas Senator said that Democrats are “eagerly speaking” at the rallies and joined in the GOP narrative that “appeasing these radicals is the entire reason” for the government shutdown.
Joe Sims, co-chair of the Communist Party, responded directly to Cruz in a video message Friday morning, the day before the protests. “Neither you, nor Donald Trump, nor Stephen Miller, nor Kash Patel, nor Pam Bondi—none of you are going to prevent us or anyone else from going to the No Kings Day demonstrations.
“You know good and well that we [the CPUSA] are not ‘hosting’ that demonstration,” Sims said, before slamming Cruz’s red-baiting.
“What are you guys afraid of?” Sims asked. “This idea that Communists control everything is such a worn-out, tired, false, fake, counterfeit notion that’s been abandoned time and again by the American people.”
Labor organizing turnout
Major unions are among the groups driving turnout for No Kings Day. AFT/Teachers President Randi Weingarten put on her New York high school social studies teacher’s hat in the final press conference by demonstration organizers.
The nation’s founders, she said, “knew one thing: That they wanted us to be a nation of laws and not kings.
“I’ve been quite shocked that people who took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States are violating it,” she said. This is a constitution, she added, “that contains a First Amendment that gives the people the right to speak freely, and even to be a little rebellious.”
“Lawmakers and the president should be solving people’s problems, not taking away their rights,” she added.
The MAGA administration’s actions—deployment of troops to U.S. cities, ICE deportation raids, the trashing of union contracts, breaking the Constitution and the laws, firing 175,000 federal workers and counting, attacks on freedom of speech, and more—brought five million people into the streets for the first No Kings Day.
Leaders, including Leah Greenberg of Indivisible, expect even more this time around.
Other causes that will bring marchers—and not just Democrats, as the GOP alleges—into the streets include workers’ rights, collective bargaining, and public sector bargaining rights.
The other union leader who spoke, Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of Service Employees 32BJ—the custodians, cleaners, and sanitation engineers—posed another reason to protest the Trump regime: The deluge of dollars from corporate moguls in campaign contributions and the giveaways that Trump and the Republicans give them in return.
“America belongs to the people, not to the billionaires and the politicians who think like kings,” he said. “Our message will be powerful and peaceful: The real threat isn’t from peaceful protesters” like the millions who will turn out for No Kings Day. “It’s from the politicians shutting down the government to protect corporate greed.”
Contreras offered an example of MAGA hypocrisy, too. The president and his followers, the union leader said, “call the workers” who will protest “terrorists. But they call the people who invaded the Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021, “patriots.” That Trump-inspired rebellion tried to overthrow the vote count and keep Trump in power. Some 1,600 were arrested, and most were convicted. Trump pardoned them all.
The No Kings Day protesters will speak freely, but they won’t be initiating any violence, Greenberg and the other speakers promised. Indivisible and other sponsors of No Kings Day, including AFT, have been training members in both non-violent resistance and in how to de-escalate confrontations.
“America belongs to the farmers, the janitors, the construction workers, and the people who keep this country running. On Oct. 18, we’ll know what democracy looks like: No thrones, no crowns, no kings,” Contreras concluded.
Weingarten sounded the same theme in her closing: “At the end of the day, We The People are the ones who are going to ensure that this country remains a democracy,” she declared.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
