‘No Kings’ protest organizer responds to Republican attacks: ‘It’s gonna be fun’
Ezra Levin, the executive co-director of the organization behind “No Kings Day,” called Indivisible, said Monday that people shouldn’t worry about taking to the streets for the upcoming “No Kings Day” on Saturday.
“Let me tell you: It’s gonna be fun,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on “The Rachel Maddow Show.” “It’s gonna be powerful, and it’s gonna be a part of history.”
Levin lambasted the Trump administration and President Trump’s allies for criticizing the protests and for not even calling “No Kings Day” by its name. To this point, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) referred to “No Kings Day” as “a Hate America rally” in a Fox News interview on Friday. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said the same thing when he spoke with Fox Business Network on Saturday.
“They’ve got to make some other name up for it because they understand, if they say ‘No Kings,’ how is that objectionable?” Levin told Maddow. “How could anybody say that that’s anything other than the most American thing since apple pie? But I do think we have to hold two things in our head at the same time.
“One, anybody who’s been to a protest this year that’s been organized by Indivisible or ‘No King’s’ has seen moms and grandmas and kids and dogs and funny chants, and it was a feeling of joyous power out in the streets,” he said. “And on the other hand, we’ve got an authoritarian regime who wants to crack down on free speech.”
Indivisible has shared posts across social media promoting the upcoming “No Kings Day,” which is expected to be held across 2,000 locations in the United States, including outside Capitol Hill in Washington. A follow-up to nationwide protests held in June, “No Kings Day” stands as a protest against Trump, his administration and his polices.
“If your First Amendment rights are under attack, and you decline to show up because of those threats, you don’t have First Amendment rights,” Levin said.
Actor Robert De Niro even joined up with Indivisible to promote the upcoming marches.
“The original No Kings protest was 250 years ago,” De Niro said in a video shared on the Indivisible Project’s Instagram page. “Americans decided they didn’t want to live under the rule of King George III. They declared their independence and fought a bloody war for democracy.”
“We’ve had two and a half centuries of democracy since then, often challenging, sometimes messy, always essential,” the actor continued. “And we fought in two world wars to preserve it. Now we have a would-be king who wants to take it away, King Donald I. F‑‑‑ that!”