Millions turn out for ‘love America’ rallies
Never did I imagine uttering these words, but I begin this column with thanks to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for warning us about last Saturday’s “No Kings” protests. “They call it the ‘No Kings’ rally,” he told Real America’s Voice. “We call it the ‘Hate America’ rally. It will have all the Marxists collected, all the Antifa people, the Black Lives Matter remnants, the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party, and they’re going to be out here screaming and wailing.”
Without that warning, I would have stayed home. But who could resist the chance to see so many evildoers in one place at one time? So off I went to Washington’s “No Kings” rally at 3rd and Pennsylvania, right in front of the U.S. Capitol.
I’m glad I did. If Johnson had shown up, he would have discovered what I did — not a “hate America” rally, but just the opposite: a “love America” fest. In fact, if there was one word I heard more than any other from speakers at the rally, it was “love.” We love the Constitution. We love the rule of law. We love democracy. We love America.
There were Americans of all ages, colors and stripes. I talked to a lot of them. There were young couples pushing baby strollers. There were aging boomers. There were college students and parents with young kids. There were business professionals, lawyers, doctors and teachers. Many protestors were in colorful animal costumes: chickens, dinosaurs, giraffes and frogs.
They were all having a good time. The entire atmosphere was festive and positive. Bands played, people danced and sang protest songs. There were American flags everywhere, some of them upside down, as a sign of distress. And there were waves of creative, and funny signs. Three of my favorites were: “The only orange monarch we want is a butterfly;” “If Kamala was President, we would all be at brunch;” and “No faux-king way!”
Dozens of signs simply said: “I love America.”
There were some 2,500 rallies across the country, in cities large and small. CNN estimated the total crowd at 7 million, surpassing the 5 million that showed up for the first “No Kings” rallies on June 14 — and making it, perhaps, the largest number of people to protest on any single day in our nation’s history. And out of 2,500 events, there were no reports of violence and only a handful of people arrested.
Of course, the huge turnout and the peaceful nature of the protests did not faze Speaker Johnson. The next morning, on ABC’s “This Week,” he told host Jonathan Karl the rallies were nothing but a political “stunt” organized by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and condemned their “hateful messages.”
Well, again, I was there, Johnson was not. So let me tell you what messages I heard, from opening speaker Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) to last speaker Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Some related to history: This wasn’t the first “No Kings” protest, they pointed out. The first was in 1776, when our Founders broke from the King of England and said we wanted no kings here. The Founders were right, and we want to keep it that way.
And, of course, some related to issues of the day. We love our country, but we oppose a president who acts like a king. Who fires tens of thousands of federal employees for no cause, levies worldwide tariffs without consulting Congress, refuses to spend funds Congress has already appropriated, threatens to deprive millions of Americans of health care, uses the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents, and hints he may violate the Constitution by seeking a third term. We also oppose a House Speaker who refuses to call members of the House back to Washington to try ending the government shutdown.
What’s so radical about that? Johnson may not agree with those sentiments, but they’re not hateful, Marxist, Antifa or anti-American. They’re legitimate political arguments. Americans have a right, indeed a duty, to hold their government accountable. Protests are the most American thing we can do.
Ironically, in the end, it was Donald Trump himself who made the strongest case. In response to the rallies, the White House actually released an AI meme of King Trump, wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet and dumping raw sewage on American cities. With that video, Trump delivered the message of the “No Kings” protests better than any rally speaker: Here’s a president who believes he’s king and acts like it.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”