Progressives plan 'No Kings Day' protests to counter Trump and military parade
Progressive groups say they'll hold more than 1,500 "No Kings Day" events across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the Trump administration and to counter the military parade in Washington, D.C., marking the U.S. Armys 250th birthday.
The original plan from major progressive organizing group Indivisible and others to counter the military parade with protests was first announced in early May. But Indivisible Co-Executive Director Ezra Levin told MSNBC on Monday night that President Donald Trumps response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles has brought many more people to the No Kings website, and that the group has scheduled more trainings this week in response to the "overwhelming interest."
In its May news release announcing the events, Indivisible said that the parade is meant to be a "made-for-TV display of dominance for [Trump's] birthday" and that the president is using the military's birthday to celebrate his own, which also falls on June 14.
Last month, when asked about reports of the military parade by NBC News, Trump said the parade plans were "not for my birthday" but are for Flag Day and to celebrate the military. The Pentagon and Army have said they are planning their own birthday celebration and not planning to sing "happy birthday" to the president.
Indivisible has also called out what it says is overreach by the White House against courts and slammed deportations and administration actions it said have hurt civil rights and decimated services people need.
"This country doesnt belong to a king -- and were not letting him throw himself a parade funded by tens of millions of our taxpayer dollars while stealing from us and stripping away our rights, our freedoms, and the programs our families rely on," Indivisible said in a statement last month. "On June 14th, were coming together to send one clear message: No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings."
In a press release on Friday, Indivisible said in addition to locations across the country, there are events planned in Europe and South America.
"Donald Trump and his regime are cracking down on media, on business, on higher education, and on civil society more broadly -- anyone who opposes them," Indivisible co-executive director Leah Greenberg said in a statement Friday. "That is the context in which Donald Trump rolled out his plans for his birthday parade ... He wants people to think that his power is inevitable, that its consolidation is a given. What we want is to show that its just as likely -- more likely, even -- that this is going to be a short-lived era."
In a "toolkit" document for organizers posted on their website, Indivisible and the coalition of more than 200 groups overseeing the events gave instructions for how people can assemble and register their own protests, but asked that organizers not schedule any events in Washington, D.C., in order to make other places the "center of gravity," and because the coalition wants to draw a contrast with Trump.
The document also asks participants to keep the protests nonviolent and to de-escalate any confrontations between protesters and others, and say weapons should not be brought to the events.
Indivisible was also among the groups organizing the widely attended national "Hands Off" protests in April.
Organizers of the protests are cognizant of the "No Kings" protests coming amid the White Houses crackdown on protests in Los Angeles, but they express confidence in running their events successfully and say theyve gotten even more interest now.
"We do not want to give Trump an excuse to crack down on peaceful protests, which is exactly what he wants to do. We don't want to give him some sort of narrative excuse to say protesters are protesting the military This is a democracy. And in a democracy, power depends on the people. It flows from the people. It depends on the consent of the governed, and on Saturday we're going to show up to make that point very clear," Levin told MSNBC.
