"NO KINGS," the people demand

On June 14th, Flag Day, thousands of people across North Carolina, and hopefully millions across the nation, will be peacefully take to the streets and say NO to authoritarianism, NO to government corruption, and NO to the destruction of our democracy.

They’re calling it “NO Kings: A nationwide day of defiance.”

And what good will it ultimately do, ye who have no intention of taking part, might ask?

Well, for starters, it will take attention away from King TACO’s big, expensive military birthday parade in Washington, D.C. on the same day. As you’ll recall, because the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army falls on the 79th birthday of Pres. Trump on June 14th, he’s mandated that 6,600 troops, 28 tanks, and over two dozen armored vehicles tear up the streets of Chocolate City in order to celebrate his insignificant parturition.

According to published reports, the event has actually divided some military veterans, and even several Republican members of Congress are on record as saying they have better things to do on Saturday. Bad enough they've sold their souls to Trump, but that doesn't mean they're willing to give up their precious weekends of golf for the guy.

Reportedly, the price tag for this bullcrap with sea salt is around $45 million, which includes $16 million in projected damage to the D.C. city streets (the Army is actually admitting that they're going to break something).

It will be the second time this week Trump has had the Army jump through hoops for him, the first being at Fort Bragg Tuesday, where he also had a large military ground exhibition to massage his tawdry ego. He also promised to return the names of confederate officers to several military bases. Gee, Robert E. Lee would be so proud!  

By the way, in case you're wondering, according to a story on Military.com, all of those cheering soldiers in uniform behind Trump during his ugly remarks at Bragg were actually chosen based on partisanship, against traditional Pentagon regulations

From Military.Com's June 11th story:

 As Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom...as well as former President Joe Biden and the press. The soldiers roared with laughter and applauded Trump's diatribe in a shocking and rare public display of troops taking part in naked political partisanship.

Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump's recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male.

Adding to the spectacle, a pop-up shop operated by 365 Campaign, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based retailer that sells pro-Trump and other conservative-coded memorabilia, was set up on-site with campaign-style merchandise on Army property. Soldiers were seen purchasing clothing and tchotchkes, including "Make America Great Again" chain necklaces to faux credit cards labeled "White Privilege Card: Trumps Everything."

Please allow me to call all of the above despicable, and leave it at that.

Apparently this kind of thing will partially satisfy the wannabe dictator thing he’s got going on. You know, Trump can now post video online to Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and China’s Xi Jinping, bragging, “My authoritarian military parades were a lot bigger and better than your authoritarian military parades!”

Fortunately, at the same time across this nation on Saturday, there will also be considerably more than a handful of determined Americans peacefully demonstrating their disgust with the first six months of Trump Administration 2.0., and that’s a good thing.

Personally, I love these kind of demonstrations, because pissed off folks nonviolently taking to the streets always come up with the most clever, the snarkiest, the most imaginative ways to tell the official targets of their disdain how much they really don’t appreciate their selfish ways, especially when it comes to running our government.

Those protest signs are usually pure genius, and really don’t get the credit they deserve. I expect, given the high level of disgust many (and I pray most) Americans share about what’s happening in our country currently, we’ll see more of that defiant brilliance on display on June 14th

Just read the latest op-ed headlines from the NY Times for a taste of what's to come:

        TRUMP CALLING TROOPS INTO LOS ANGELES IS THE REAL EMERGENCY

        THIS IS WHAT AUTOCRACY LOOKS LIKE

        AMERICA IS NO LONGER A STABLE COUNTRY

And Lord knows folks have plenty more material to work with just from the first six months of the travesty better known as the Trump Administration.

But what’s also good about NO King Day is that it’s healthy, and hopefully emotionally nourishing. Healthy in the sense that it gives us all hope, something that’s badly needed and has been in short supply in this country ever since Kamala Harris lost her bold attempt to stop the Trump menace last November.

To know that there are millions of your fellow countrymen and women taking to the streets and defiantly, but peacefully, refusing to bend over for the monstrosity we currently have in the White House, is healthy, if not refreshing. The brave should never feel alone, never feel hopeless or helpless. And you don’t necessarily need a majority to be empowered to make a difference, or to speak truth to power. The civil rights movement proved that. Just enough likeminded souls to peacefully carry the vital message of freedom forth to the masses that a new day is coming.

Emotionally nourishing to know that new day could be as soon as the November 3rd, 2026 midterm elections. Because while massive demonstrations are nice, it’s massive marches to the polls that get things done. And that’s why we need an overhaul of the U.S. House to put the skids on the Trump agenda. Hopefully by then, millions of alums from the NO Kings movement will make it their business to vote in local congressional representatives who are as determined as their fed up constituencies with King TACO and his antics, and work to protect us from the last two years of his reign.

That may be a little hard to do given that Trump has a warehouse full of pre-written executive orders to get around an uncooperative Congress, and may have his so-called "big beautiful bill" already ratified and ready to wreak havoc on the country, but better to have at least one part of Congress on our side, than none at all, which is where we stand today.

But still, why is it so important that as many Americans as possible who disagree with the divisive policies of King TACO peacefully come together on June 14 to visibly and vocally demonstrate their dissatisfaction?

Numbers, my friend, numbers! The one indispensable reality of every existence we will never, EVER get rid of.

Numbers are not only how we decide things here in America, but on planet Earth. Numbers are determinative. Numbers eliminate guesswork. Numbers give us the visual evidence needed to make important decisions. Simply put, we can’t live without numbers.

Another thing numbers do is get our attention, and in the process, send a message. That’s what’s needed, a clear, without question message not only to Trump, but to Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican majority of accomplices in the U.S. House, that millions of NO Kings Americans have had enough, and are going after their jobs on November 3rd, 2026.

What we’re all witnessing is a Republican Party gone mad because it’s allowed a madman to be their leader. For that, committed Americans must make them pay by kicking them out of power.

Now don’t get me wrong. Democrats in Congress have done little to earn a near perfection crown. But I still maintain that even on their worst day, Dems are nowhere near as deceitful and inept as their Republican colleagues, and on that point alone, Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his Democratic band deserve to be in the legislative driver’s seat until our crippled ship of state corrects course.

So I look forward to NO Kings Day!

I look forward to young and old; men and women; black, brown, yellow and white; Jews and gentiles; rich and poor, all peacefully coming together under the banner of wanting their democracy back. Such a display would prove to the world that it’s Americans who make this country great, not some tin-horn aging racist dictator-wannabe.

And as I keep reiterating, it should be strong but peaceful, because as Trump has made clear with his crappy "They spit, we hit" mantra provoking immigration protests in Los Angeles recently, he wants demonstrators to suffer at the batons and guns of his federalized 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines, for daring to stand up to him. He considers the opportunity to display his faux strongman act the perfect birthday present.

If the world could march with us on NO Kings Day, I know it would. World leaders would prefer to deal with a U.S. president they can trust and work with to maintain a secure and peaceful planet. Not the fool we have here who has no intention of working cooperatively with anyone unless it personally lines his pockets.

World leaders or not, June 14th is OUR responsibility. America is OUR house, so we’re responsible for taking out the garbage. And THAT we eventually will, I pray.

NO Kings, the people demand!

And the snarkiest protest sign out there gets a prize!!!