Washington Post Upset That GOP Brands “No Kings” Rallies As Anti-American

By William Teach October 17, 2025 – 10:30 am

Are you ready for yet another day of old people whining about no kings on Saturday?
GOP tries to brand anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ protests as ‘hate America’ rallies
Ahead of thousands of anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday across the United States, Republicans are trying to brand the demonstrations as “hate America” rallies, ramping up their rhetoric about the millions of people expected to peacefully protest President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies as they did in June.
For more than a week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other GOP leaders have cast the “No Kings” rallies as un-American, using increasingly hyperbolic language. Johnson and other members of House GOP leadership, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise (Louisiana), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minnesota), and Republican Conference Chair Lisa C. McClain (Michigan), have all described the protests as events for people who “hate America,” with Johnson and Emmer going as far as to suggest they are meant to appease a “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
“We call it the ‘hate America’ rally that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said Wednesday at a news conference with other House GOP leaders. “I bet you you’ll see Hamas supporters, I bet you’ll see antifa types, I bet you’ll see the Marxists on full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.”
None of that is incorrect. You’ll see people being weird in support of LGBTQ, you’ll see people saying violent things towards ICE.
Democrats and organizers of the more than 2,600 events scheduled for Saturday have strongly rebuffed this characterization, defending the protests as peaceful and pointing out there were relatively few disruptions at the rallies in June, while also warning of the attempts to stifle First Amendment rights.
Rebuffed! That’ll show ’em!
“Speaker Johnson said this is a ‘hate America’ rally because people are coming out expressing their concerns about massive cuts to health care and the movement toward authoritarianism. It’s not a hate America rally, it’s a love America rally,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said Wednesday at a town hall on CNN with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).
They can never actually say what rights Trump is trying to take away or why Trump actually allows these wacko demonstrations if he’s an authoritarian, why he doesn’t arrest those demonstrating.
In a video posted Wednesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) accused Republicans of amping up their rhetoric and trying to brand protesters as “terrorists” to suppress rally turnout. Murphy, who is scheduled to speak at the D.C. “No Kings” rally on Saturday,urged people to show up in big numbers anyway to demonstrate “peacefully but forcefully.”
So, it’s OK for Democrats to amp up their rhetoric but not Republicans? Strange. I wonder how many Palestinian and Hamas flags and such at the demonstration? Will Antifa, which the media has said doesn’t exist, fly their flags? Will we see more beheaded Trump exhibits? The media tries to hide this stuff, but, they forget that there is this thing called social media.

Washington Post Upset That GOP Brands “No Kings” Rallies As Anti-American » Pirate's Cove