GOP won’t stop spewing bullsh-t about ‘No Kings’ protests

Cowards in Congress is a weekly series highlighting Donald Trump’s worst defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him, no matter how shameful or lawless his actions may be.

As thousands of patriotic Americans prepare to protest President Donald Trump’s authoritarian takeover of the federal government, Republican lawmakers have told dangerous lies about the “No Kings” protests.

Republicans have struggled to make their government shutdown clear, and a memo was clearly sent to Republican lawmakers urging them to blame the shutdown on “No Kings” protests, which lawmakers offensively called “hate America” ​​rallies.

Everyone from House Speaker Mike Johnson to rank-and-file Republicans have condemned the rallies and the people who attended them, using inflammatory rhetoric to demonize those who plan to attend.

“I think it has a lot to do with the ‘hate America’ rally that will take place on [National] Mall Saturday”, Johnson said Why Democrats weren’t voting for the GOP government funding bill on Thursday. “You’re going to get all the antifa and BLM [Black Lives Matter] and the pro-Hamas… all the Marxists will be on the mall. »

Of course, the people who will be protesting are average Americans disgusted by Trump’s comments. military takeover of American citiesher ignore court ordersand its use of the legal system to punish one’s perceived enemiesand his violent immigration arrests of all those his allies think it looks like they are in the country illegally– just to name a few.

We know this because there is were “No Kings” rallies in Juneattended by thousands of ordinary Americans who demonstrated peacefully. The only notable violence from these gatherings came from a right-wing madman with a The Nazi obsession WHO arrived with a gun to harass participants.

Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, lied about the intentions of the protesters, who express opposition to Trump’s authoritarian actions in order to preserve American democracy.

“They’re gearing up for their ‘I Hate America’ rally this weekend, a rally where they’ll be cheering for chaos rather than country,” McClain said. said during a press conference at the Capitol, the exact opposite of what the protesters are doing.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso also said that protesting Trump means hating America, using very similar wording to McClain’s.

“They have this big ‘I Hate America’ rally this Saturday in Washington and across the country, where all these groups of far-left activists are coming to protest the president and the administration,” Barrasso said. said on Fox News.

“This is a ‘We Hate America’ rally,” said Republican Sen. Steve Daines of South Dakota. said Fox Business, as a network, aired footage of Americans peacefully holding signs at previous “No Kings” rallies. “At the end of the day, the Democrats, the far left, are very upset that they lost the election last November, President Trump won in a landslide, we have the United States Senate back, we have the House. They are frustrated, they are angry, but unfortunately, they are expressing their anger and their frustration by shutting down the government and hurting the American people.”

Democrats have criticized Republicans for lies and dangerous rhetoric about the protests.

“The notion that the No Kings rallies are anything other than a patriotic act consistent with the First Amendment right to speak out and petition the government for policy change continues to reveal that Republicans have no idea about the Constitution of the United States of America, or that they continue to lie for political reasons,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. said THURSDAY. “There is nothing more patriotic in America than speaking out, especially speaking out peacefully about disagreements you have with the government.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed those sentiments.

“On this day without kings: don’t be afraid to exercise your right to free speech. Don’t let Donald Trump or the Republicans bully you into silence. Be proud to defend our democracy,” Schumer said. wrote in an article on X.

You can find a list of “No Kings” rallies near you here.