Trump’s throwing himself a parade while red and blue states join LA in protest | Opinion
I don’t know whether June 14 will mark an inflection point, but it will offer a staggering contrast between the power-drunk despotism of Trump and the 'Aw, hell no' attitude of many Americans.
The false narrative, since President Donald Trump’s administration provoked protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, has been that it’s a blue-city problem in a blue state with a liberal governor who can’t control his citizens.
But when protests over Trump’s draconian immigrant crackdown and his authoritarian presidency spread across the country, as they will likely do on June 14 with "No Kings" protests expected in more than 2,000 cities and towns, the California narrative will swiftly go “Poof!”
We've already seen anti-ICE protests bubble up in the deep-red state of Texas, with more to follow June 14. Will the No Kings protest in Abilene, Texas, prompt Trump to send in U.S. Marines, as he has done in Los Angeles?
Trump won't send the Marines into red states to deal with protesters
Neither will the protests planned for Tupelo, Mississippi, or Eureka Springs, Arkansas, or Sebring, Florida, or Worland, Wyoming.
But what they will do is show the president, who will be plunked in Washington, DC, watching an entirely unnecessary $45 million military parade that just so happens to coincide with his 79th birthday, that Americans are angry, and not just the ones in those disreputable blue states.
I don’t know whether June 14 will mark an inflection point, but it will certainly offer a staggering contrast between the power-drunk despotism of President Trump and the “Aw, hell no” attitude of a growing swath of the U.S. population.
Sen. Padilla in handcuffs was the latest sign of Trump's authoritarianism
On June 12, Americans saw video of a U.S. senator, Alex Padilla, being grabbed and dragged out of an LA news conference featuring Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security. Padilla was asking a pointed question before being hauled off and then, in the hallway outside, pushed face first to the ground and handcuffed.
That’s a good way to boost turnout at this weekend’s protests.
DHS head Kristi Noem says feds are there to 'liberate' LA
Almost as chilling as the administration’s manhandling of a sitting U.S. senator was what Noem said during the press conference about the U.S. military presence in Los Angeles: “We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”
That kind of gives away the whole game: Trump administration officials think they can send federal troops into a city and indulge in some causal “regime change” under the pretense of a bunch of made-up nonsense.
That’s wildly un-American. Yet U.S. soldiers on June 14 will be forced to take part in a sprawling parade that’s at least partially in homage to a man who thinks that’s how America is supposed to work? What are we even doing here, folks?
'No Kings' protests will give voice to nationwide disapproval of Trump
What has transpired in LA has nothing to do with it being a blue city in a blue state with a Democratic governor. It has to do with the American people, most of whom don’t like masked federal goons grabbing their neighbors off the streets and not giving them due process. It has to do with many voters who were promised that President Trump would only target “dangerous” immigrants, not friends and neighbors, or people who’ve been part of a community for years.
It has to do with Americans who see the handcuffing of a U.S. senator for no justifiable reason as anti-democratic and a dangerous escalation.
The big and small protests that will soon envelop small towns and big cities in all 50 states will show Trump and his “lie first, then lie some more” administration that many Americans reject government-sponsored cruelty. The No Kings events will show the president and his people they can’t fool all the people all of the time ‒ not even close.
The booing of Trump will only get louder
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were booed, rightfully, at the Kennedy Center when they arrived for a musical on June 11.
The president’s approval rating stinks, and a new Quinnipiac poll found him underwater on every issue, from immigration to trade to the economy.
A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 60% of Americans don’t think Trump’s military parade is a good use of taxpayer money.
So here’s what’s going to happen Saturday. Trump’s narrative that liberal strongholds like Los Angeles are bastions of radical protesters will be soundly derailed by the appearance of protesters in states red, blue and purple. The hypocrisy of his calling out California Gov. Gavin Newsom and claiming the state is out of control will be highlighted by the fact that Trump says the same thing about red-state governors dealing with widespread protests.
Trump himself will be scowling, hopefully in the rain if the weather forecast holds, as the soldiers he forced to march in front of him go by, their tanks and other vehicles needlessly tearing up the streets of the nation’s capital.
That mandated, wildly expensive parade to satisfy one small man’s ego will be drowned out by myriad protests that will collectively deliver to Trump a message from a growing number of Americans: “You stink.”
Follow Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk