In protest against the country’s command, people will gather this Saturday (18) in the country’s capital and in communities in the United States for demonstrations of the so-called “No Kings” – what the president’s Republican Party is calling demonstrations of “hatred of America”.
This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and is expected to be the largest. This comes against a backdrop of a government shutdown that has not only shuttered federal programs and services but is testing the balance of central power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism. Trump himself is outside of Washington, at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview aired Friday morning before leaving for a MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Protests are expected nearby.
While previous protests this year drew crowds, organizers say this one is building a more unified opposition movement. Top Democrats such as Senate leader Chuck Schumer and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers see as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s crackdown on free speech to his military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people power,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, among the main organizers.
While Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Levin said his own registration numbers are growing. More than 2,600 demonstrations are planned in cities large and small, organized by hundreds of coalition partners. They said demonstrations are being planned within an hour’s drive for most Americans.
Abroad, a few hundred Americans have already gathered in Madrid to chant slogans and hold signs in a protest organized by Democrats Abroad, with similar demonstrations planned in other major European cities.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s demonstrations as outside the mainstream of American politics, and a primary reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to the Capitol, GOP leaders disparaged protesters as “communists” and “Marxists.” They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are wedded to the far left wing and willing to keep the government closed to please these liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — which will take place on Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government while demanding funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, the government shutdown is also a way to stand up to Trump and try to push the presidency back to its place in the U.S. system as a co-equal branch of government.
In a Facebook post, Sanders of Vermont, himself a former presidential candidate, said: “It’s an outpouring of love for America.”
“It’s a demonstration of millions of people across this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom,” he said, pointing to the GOP leadership, “are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”
The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and disheartened, unsure how best to respond to Trump’s return to the White House. Schumer, in particular, has been criticized by his party for allowing a previous administration funding bill to pass through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nícolas Robert
