> It’s as nonsensical as it is inflammatory to accuse peaceful protesters of hating their country. So why are Johnson and other GOP leaders so hellbent on drumming up fear about the “No Kings” protests? Are they afraid of Bernie Sanders?
>
> “I don’t think it’s that complicated,” Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, the progressive grassroots group that’s helping organize the rallies, told HuffPost on Wednesday. **“The one thing an unpopular authoritarian regime is scared of is mass, organized, peaceful people-power. That is it.”**
The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in our Constitution because it is effective.
nwgdad on
> “The one thing an unpopular authoritarian regime is scared of is mass, organized, peaceful people-power. That is it.”
This is why we need to participate in these protests. I hope to see you tomorrow.
CrimsonFeetofKali on
Ezra gets it. The Trump regime has slow-rolled an authoritarian takeover to try to mitigate protests. It’s actually worked fairly well. The rhetoric and response as protests grow will also grow, but a course correction only comes when this comes to a head, in one way or another. The right’s grip on power is threatened by protests. Well, that’s the point.
specqq on
We don’t hate our country. We hate what YOU are doing to it.
ateknoa on
No taxation without representation. I will be withholding my taxes from this administration and donating them to causes that are important to me as a form of protest [I.e., national parks and food banks in low-income communities]. I will also be submitting a protest letter along with my tax forms to explain why I am resisting taxes.
Tax resistance is an effective form of protest that defunds the Trump administration. The more people who resist taxation as a form of protest, the harder the administration is hit.
Our protests are being ignored. The money from our paychecks are directly landing in Trump and MAGA’s pockets. It’s time to hit them where it actually hurts.
More information here on the Wikipedia page and a step-by-step guide:
The republicans have been calling any criticism of them “anti-American” and “unamerican” for almost my entire life. See Cheney. Before then there were hints of it with Reagan and Gingrich. It’s their standard line.
And it’s fucking old.
iamamuttonhead on
Every American who wants to defend the U.S. Constitution and doesn’t need to work on Saturday should be at a No Kings protest.
CurrentlyLucid on
He is afraid his lies will be exposed.
Berserker76 on
Because that is what fascists do. No surprise here.
Public-Pepper4070 on
Yeah, Mike Johnson would’ve been on the side of the red coat during the revolutionary war
restore_democracy on
Because he’s pro-kings, pro-fascists, pro-pedos.
g00fballer on
The protests are working. Keep them up.
AdHopeful3801 on
>You purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.
>[…]
>These natural, and apparently adequate means all failing, what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery *wrong* and join them in calling it *right*. And this must be done thoroughly – done in *acts* as well as in *words.* Silence will not be tolerated – we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas’s new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us.
Lincoln’s 1860 speech at Cooper Union is rather long – an artefact of an age when politicians were expected to present arguments that were not merely well-founded, but comprehensive and logically worked out.
It’s length and thoroughness do nothing but reinforce, paragraph after paragraph, the near perfect congruence between the Southern slaveocrats of Lincoln’s day and the modern white supremacist feudalists who have taken over Lincoln’s one-time party in the modern era.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while but it seems that after 2001 American media has pushed the idea that peaceful protesting is illogical, reactionary, and foolish. Before we had a number of sitcom episodes focusing on peaceful protests and reaching a resolution that benefits both sides. It’s almost as if the narrative that protesting makes you a cultural outcast is being pushed on us.
chrisnavillus on
We would not need protests if we had a competent president and administration. I will voice my frustration until this administration stops embarrassing our country.
Equivalent_Ability91 on
Plus the rhetoric inflames MAGA to push for a violent confrontation, and dehumanizing “the left” makes it easier for a dictator to arrest, disappear, bankrupt or even kill opposition.
ClaroStar on
Does anyone really care what Mike Johnson says? Everyone has the right to protest whatever they want. Doesn’t matter what Mike Johnson or anyone else thinks. Go protest.
11CRT on
Is anyone else tired of Johnson answering questions of reporters with “I didn’t see it…”, “I haven’t read the report…”, and “No, I didn’t see the presidents racist AI generated video…”
Depressed-Industry on
Moses Mike needs to go. And he can take his evangelical Taliban with him.
Adept-Procedure4555 on
A constitutional scholar. A true believer. Incorruptible , a man of truth . Jesus please protect me from your followers! A small smug man , a true back bencher in any other reality. These people project their fears . We need about 13 million people to resist . Please be a part of this movement to resist.
favnh2011 on
Right
rexeditrex on
This little wimp is so in over his head. Between being afraid of Trump and his total incompetence, he’s a disaster.
But I have to say, the way things are going with this admin, the whole lot of them are going to be in jail in a few years.
Moldybreadyumyum on
Mike Johnson looks and speaks like he’s a pedophile himself. He must be in the damn files.
SGT_BlueJay on
Because he closed the government down and has nothing else to do right now.
RaidSmolive on
couldnt be clearer if it were no nazi or no pedo protests
28 Comments
From the piece:
> It’s as nonsensical as it is inflammatory to accuse peaceful protesters of hating their country. So why are Johnson and other GOP leaders so hellbent on drumming up fear about the “No Kings” protests? Are they afraid of Bernie Sanders?
>
> “I don’t think it’s that complicated,” Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, the progressive grassroots group that’s helping organize the rallies, told HuffPost on Wednesday. **“The one thing an unpopular authoritarian regime is scared of is mass, organized, peaceful people-power. That is it.”**
I’m so over this political circus show.
One of the reasons [black people](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/civil-rights-act) and [women](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage) can vote today is the direct result of nationwide protests.
The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in our Constitution because it is effective.
> “The one thing an unpopular authoritarian regime is scared of is mass, organized, peaceful people-power. That is it.”
This is why we need to participate in these protests. I hope to see you tomorrow.
Ezra gets it. The Trump regime has slow-rolled an authoritarian takeover to try to mitigate protests. It’s actually worked fairly well. The rhetoric and response as protests grow will also grow, but a course correction only comes when this comes to a head, in one way or another. The right’s grip on power is threatened by protests. Well, that’s the point.
We don’t hate our country. We hate what YOU are doing to it.
No taxation without representation. I will be withholding my taxes from this administration and donating them to causes that are important to me as a form of protest [I.e., national parks and food banks in low-income communities]. I will also be submitting a protest letter along with my tax forms to explain why I am resisting taxes.
Tax resistance is an effective form of protest that defunds the Trump administration. The more people who resist taxation as a form of protest, the harder the administration is hit.
Our protests are being ignored. The money from our paychecks are directly landing in Trump and MAGA’s pockets. It’s time to hit them where it actually hurts.
More information here on the Wikipedia page and a step-by-step guide:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_resistance)
[https://nwtrcc.org/resist/war-tax-resistance/filing-and-refusing-step-by-step/](https://nwtrcc.org/resist/war-tax-resistance/filing-and-refusing-step-by-step/)
The republicans have been calling any criticism of them “anti-American” and “unamerican” for almost my entire life. See Cheney. Before then there were hints of it with Reagan and Gingrich. It’s their standard line.
And it’s fucking old.
Every American who wants to defend the U.S. Constitution and doesn’t need to work on Saturday should be at a No Kings protest.
He is afraid his lies will be exposed.
Because that is what fascists do. No surprise here.
Yeah, Mike Johnson would’ve been on the side of the red coat during the revolutionary war
Because he’s pro-kings, pro-fascists, pro-pedos.
The protests are working. Keep them up.
>You purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.
>[…]
>These natural, and apparently adequate means all failing, what will convince them? This, and this only: cease to call slavery *wrong* and join them in calling it *right*. And this must be done thoroughly – done in *acts* as well as in *words.* Silence will not be tolerated – we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Senator Douglas’s new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down our Free State constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us.
Lincoln’s 1860 speech at Cooper Union is rather long – an artefact of an age when politicians were expected to present arguments that were not merely well-founded, but comprehensive and logically worked out.
It’s length and thoroughness do nothing but reinforce, paragraph after paragraph, the near perfect congruence between the Southern slaveocrats of Lincoln’s day and the modern white supremacist feudalists who have taken over Lincoln’s one-time party in the modern era.
[Abraham Lincoln “Cooper Union” Speech Text – Voices of Democracy](https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/abraham-lincoln-cooper-union-speech-text/)
It’s very American to protest a King.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while but it seems that after 2001 American media has pushed the idea that peaceful protesting is illogical, reactionary, and foolish. Before we had a number of sitcom episodes focusing on peaceful protests and reaching a resolution that benefits both sides. It’s almost as if the narrative that protesting makes you a cultural outcast is being pushed on us.
We would not need protests if we had a competent president and administration. I will voice my frustration until this administration stops embarrassing our country.
Plus the rhetoric inflames MAGA to push for a violent confrontation, and dehumanizing “the left” makes it easier for a dictator to arrest, disappear, bankrupt or even kill opposition.
Does anyone really care what Mike Johnson says? Everyone has the right to protest whatever they want. Doesn’t matter what Mike Johnson or anyone else thinks. Go protest.
Is anyone else tired of Johnson answering questions of reporters with “I didn’t see it…”, “I haven’t read the report…”, and “No, I didn’t see the presidents racist AI generated video…”
Moses Mike needs to go. And he can take his evangelical Taliban with him.
A constitutional scholar. A true believer. Incorruptible , a man of truth . Jesus please protect me from your followers! A small smug man , a true back bencher in any other reality. These people project their fears . We need about 13 million people to resist . Please be a part of this movement to resist.
Right
This little wimp is so in over his head. Between being afraid of Trump and his total incompetence, he’s a disaster.
But I have to say, the way things are going with this admin, the whole lot of them are going to be in jail in a few years.
Mike Johnson looks and speaks like he’s a pedophile himself. He must be in the damn files.
Because he closed the government down and has nothing else to do right now.
couldnt be clearer if it were no nazi or no pedo protests