Republican leaders believe the “spectacle” of left-wing “No Kings” protests in Washington and around the country this weekend are contributing to Democrats’ unwillingness to reopen the government.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and other Republicans have said Democratic leaders are trying to show their liberal base they’re willing to fight President Trump, so they won’t relent before the nationwide protests on Saturday.
“For many of our Democrat colleagues, tomorrow is about creating, really, a spectacle,” Mr. Johnson said during a press conference Friday. “That’s what they’ve been doing here every day of the shutdown, with their little TikTok videos and their publicity stunts, and they’re going to do it in a much larger venue tomorrow. As the shutdown drags on, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this spectacle is the reason the Democrats have refused to reopen the government.”
He said the “No Kings” organizers “distributed talking points cheering on the shutdown. I mean, they’re urging this on. They love this.”
The “No Kings” coalition said it responded to Mr. Johnson’s claims that its movement is responsible for the government shutdown with “a few moments of laughter.”
The group said in a statement, “Speaker Johnson is running out of excuses for keeping the government shut down. Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable health care, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings.”
The “No Kings” organizers describe Saturday’s events as “a peaceful national day of action and mass mobilization in response to the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration, which they have doubled down on since June.” A previous day of action was held that month.
The Trump administration, according to the “No Kings” organizers, is “targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting and detaining people without warrants; threatening to overtake elections; gutting health care, environmental protections, and education when families need them most; rigging maps to silence voters; ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities; and driving up the cost of living while handling out massive giveaways to billionaire allies, as families struggle.”
Mr. Johnson and other Republicans are calling the primary “No Kings” protest that will be held on the National Mall in Washington “the hate America rally.”
“If you think about what’s going to happen here tomorrow, you’re going to bring together the Marxists, the socialists, the antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far left Democrat party,” Mr. Johnson said. “That is the modern Democratic Party.”
He said the liberals behind that movement hate the GOP principles of “individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, human dignity, the things that lead to human flourishing, the things that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world.”
The speaker added, “And some of these people are so blinded by their hatred of President Donald Trump that they can’t find one reason to celebrate America or all that we’ve accomplished and continue to accomplish under this new administration.”
Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York used a floor speech on Thursday to urge Americans to “march peacefully” this weekend and said he would join “join the marchers to celebrate what makes this country so great.”
He continued, “We are a democracy in America. We have no kings, despite the fact that Trump has even said he wants to become one and is acting in ways that are a threat to our democracy. In America, we do not have dictators. And we cannot allow presidents to transform the presidency into some form of dictatorship.”
Mr. Schumer urged Americans of all political stripes across the country to “stand up for our basic freedoms.”
He said Republicans “are going apoplectic” and trying to vilify the “No Kings” protests as “hate America rallies” when the goal is to show love and care for America and its values.
“Donald Trump and many Republicans in Congress are using intimidation, lies, and bully tactics to prevent people from standing up, speaking out and exercising our precious constitutional rights,” Mr. Schumer said. “But I say again to every American out there who wants to participate in this weekend’s rallies: Do not let Donald Trump or Republicans intimidate you into silence. That is what they want.”
Mr. Schumer didn’t mention the shutdown in his floor speech, but previously denied any connection between that and “No Kings.”
Mr. Johnson quoted from remarks Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, one of the “No Kings” organizers, made about Mr. Schumer and Democratic leaders in Washington.
“The cavalry is coming in on Oct. 18, and they’re either going to be celebrating you or they’re going to be calling for new leadership,” Mr. Levin said.
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York heard it “and their actions and their votes show that they are taking that as an order.”
The speaker added, “Evidently, they’ve decided it’s more important to show a fight to President Trump and appease this mob than to reopen the government and ensure the American people are taken care of.”
Mr. Jeffries declined to say Friday whether he would attend one of the “No Kings” rallies.
“I haven’t finalized my schedule for the weekend, given the sensitivities around the government shutdown,” he said. “I’m still very hopeful that Republicans will decide to show up for work so we can get the government back open. But I support the right of every single American to participate.”
Mr. Jeffries also pushed back on the notion that the “No Kings” protests are hateful and said the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was a more appropriate example of “a hate America rally.”
“That’s what hate looks like,” he said. “What you’ll see this weekend is what patriotism looks like, people showing up to express opposition to the extremism that Donald Trump has been unleashing on the American people.”
Mr. Thune has not gone as far as Mr. Johnson in decrying the “No Kings” protests but has said he believes they’re influencing Democrats’ shutdown strategy.
“I think it’s going to be very hard for them to agree to something prior to that rally happening,” he said on MSNBC. “But I’m hoping that once that’s in the rearview mirror that we’ll be able to sit down.”
