One day after the largely peaceful mass protests against President Donald Trump, a leading Republican is accusing the demonstrators of an attack on the American value system. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, spoke on ABC News of “Marxism and socialism” and warned of a “dangerous ideology.”
At the same time, Johnson recognized that the demonstrators had exercised their right to freedom of expression “apparently non-violently”, which he defended as a lawyer. In this context, he said that the protests could not have happened if Trump were actually a king.
On Saturday, millions across the United States took to the streets across the country under the slogan “No Kings.” According to US media, the protests were largely peaceful. A number of participants were colorfully dressed and had their children and dogs with them. There were only occasional arguments on the sidelines. The police authorities in New York and San Diego emphasized that there had been no arrests of tens of thousands of demonstrators in their respective cities – probably with the aim of not further fueling the heated political mood.
Opponents accuse Trump and those around him of deliberately fomenting escalation in order to normalize the use of the military against dissidents.
Trump is toying with the “Insurrection Act”
The Republican has indicated that if in doubt he would invoke the so-called Insurrection Act. The 1807 law allows the US president, in exceptional circumstances, to use the military domestically to put down insurrections. In an interview broadcast on Sunday on Fox News, Trump spoke of the “unchallenged power” that he was entitled to. He said he was still foregoing it, and at the same time attacked the Democrats as “wrong politicians.” “Cities governed exclusively by Democrats” in the USA are “unsafe” and a “disaster”.
Trump’s administration is currently targeting several Democratic-led cities and states, accusing them of out-of-control crime and a lack of cooperation in planned mass deportations. Crime statistics do not support these allegations. Affected cities and states are defending themselves legally, including against the sending of the National Guard into their communities. Trump said on Fox News that he was also considering a deployment to San Francisco.
Antifa as an enemy
In the run-up to the mass protests on Saturday, Johnson and other Republicans had described them as the “Hate America Rally”. At a press conference, Johnson said he was expecting “Hamas supporters,” “Antifa types” and “Marxists in full gear.” Trump recently classified the loose Antifa movement as a “terrorist organization” – a move whose legal basis is unclear.
Critics warn that such a label could theoretically be applied to almost anyone who protests against Trump. They see this as an attempt to gradually limit dissent. When asked about his statements, Johnson emphasized on ABC News that he had never “called anyone an enemy.” At the same time, he said many of the slogans shouted and signs displayed during the protests were “hateful.”
Warnings about abuse of power
The “No Kings” organizers accuse Trump of flouting democratic boundaries and amassing power that a US president is not entitled to. “The president believes his power is absolute,” the organizers’ website says. “But in America we don’t have kings.” At the protests, participants expressed very different concerns – from the Trump administration’s actions against migrants to health policy to the fear that the USA could slide into fascism.
Trump himself made it clear with several artificially generated videos how little he cares about the criticism. A clip published on his Truth Social platform showed him piloting a fighter jet with the inscription “King Trump.” With the plane he drops brown mud that resembles feces on demonstrators.
Millions on the streets
According to organizers, the nationwide protests were the largest in one day against a sitting US president in modern history. You spoke of around seven million participants. More independent estimates put the number at around 5.2 million – with a possible upper limit of 8.2 million, according to data journalist G. Elliott Morris working with The Xylom newsroom.
If the numbers are confirmed in later projections, the one-day protest event could actually exceed the previous record: this was held by the protests of the Women’s March 2017, which were reported to have had 3.3 to 5.6 million participants.
Since Trump took office in January, demonstrations against him have increased significantly. More than 31,000 protest events have been registered since the beginning of the year, compared to almost 8,000 over the same period at the start of his first term. Various groups seem to be increasingly networking with each other: numerous initiatives are now united under the umbrella of “No Kings”. At the same time, it is a challenge to bring together the multitude of different concerns.
Clashes in Portland
There have recently been repeated small protests in several cities, particularly against Trump’s migration policy. One of the hotspots is Portland, Oregon, known as a progressive stronghold. There, demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and federal officials repeatedly clashed at an ICE immigration facility.
While the large “No Kings” protests in Portland on Saturday were peaceful, according to local station KATU, incidents occurred again at the ICE facility. According to the station, federal officials used tear gas; there were several arrests.
