On Saturday, millions of Americans exercised their First Amendment rights as they found themselves… largest one-day protest in US history to reject Donald Trump's monarchical power over the federal government. But some leaders in Washington were unimpressed by the huge display of dissent.
Speaking to reporters Monday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson denounced the rhetoric of the protests, falsely claiming that No Kings protesters advocate violence against political officials.
“Congratulations, they didn't burn a single building. It's a great achievement for the left to have some kind of meeting where there's no looting and rioting and no building burned down,” Johnson said.
By and large, the months-long series of protests defended Americans' First Amendment rights and rejected Trump's agenda. Signs commemorating the event emphasized the struggle for democracy and against dictatorships. In the same political vein, the members of No Kings used their huge visual footprint fight against the unchecked power of ICE, advocate for universal health care, condemn the release of disgraced former Rep. George Santos, and raise national awareness of the rise of American fascism.
Last weekend, between five and eight million people took part in the nationwide protest, which was surprisingly peaceful. Organizers said more than 2,500 individual events were planned for Saturday across the country. Despite the premature mobilization of the National Guard in red states such as Virginia and Texas, no violence occurred.
As evidence: one of the largest gatherings in the country in New York City, estimated to have attracted about 100,000 people, resulted in zero protest-related arrests New York Police Department.
However, the Republican leadership interpreted this event as a total attack on the life of the president.
“Over and over again you could see signs like ‘86-47’.” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, referring to an old restaurant term that means taking an item off the menu. “I think everyone knows what we're talking about. Lots of signs like this promoting the death of our president.”
Johnson was also reluctant to celebrate or even highlight the achievement of crowd control. Instead, he took pitiful rhetorical swipes at Portland, where anti-ICE protesters have been dancing and dressing in inflatable frog costumes since Trump sent the National Guard into hipster paradise.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer was even more vocal about his party's disdain for the anti-Trump demonstration. Speaking at the same conference, Emmer falsely claimed that the protests were the fruit of an alliance between establishment Democrats and domestic terrorists.
“This is pure partisan politics in a desperate attempt to score points with the radical, pro-terrorism wing of their party,” Emmer said. “Now that their Hate America Rally is over, I hope that at least five Democrats in the Senate will finally do the right and responsible thing by breaking ranks with Chuck Schumer, passing our clean CR, and reopening the government.”
Meanwhile, political violence has proven to be a phenomenon that persists and challenges both major parties without falling into a convenient, sellable narrative that can be reframed for voters or donors. In truth, recent surges in political violence have harmed both public figures (Charlie Kirk, Melissa Hortman) and everyday Americans.
The single common denominator in all of the recent political violence is widespread public access to guns, a detail that sets the US apart from the rest of the developed world.
