{"id":44625,"date":"2025-10-20T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44625"},"modified":"2025-10-20T13:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:24:59","slug":"america-just-joyfully-punched-trump-right-in-his-wannabe-king-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/america-just-joyfully-punched-trump-right-in-his-wannabe-king-face\/","title":{"rendered":"America just joyfully punched Trump right in his wannabe King face!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is how we win<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dean Obeidallah<\/a> Oct 19, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Joy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the vibe coming from the massive, record-breaking<\/a> No King\u2019s protests that we saw Saturday in all 50 states. In fact, I can\u2019t recall another protest that was both so playful and inspirational at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cjoy\u201d part came from the participants-especially those dressed up in fun costumes. And don\u2019t dismiss these costumes as being silly. They are truly a creative act of defiance to taunt the thin-skinned Trump who like all aspiring tyrants, wants to be feared\u2014not laughed at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw the beloved Cookie Monster in Denver warn about the threats posed by MAGA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Omaha, Nebraska gave us a dinosaur holding up a sign that read \u201cDon\u2019t let democracy go extinct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Down in Memphis, Tennessee, another protester\u2014not far from a unicorn– donned a fun pink blow up costume holding a sign, \u201cNot a paid protester, I hate Trump for free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over in Las Vegas, there were zebras and chipmunks denouncing Kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In mile high city of Denver, a protester dressed like a chicken taco holding up a sign: \u201cNo dictators, no kings, just tacos.\u201d The taco reference–as a reminder–was a taunt of how Trump always chickens out<\/a>\u2014which angered Trump in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From New York City where a person dressed as \u201cMr. Met\u201d holding a sign \u201cNo Kings, but Queens, New York\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026to the Bay area of California where one protester dressed like a fun, mutant with a sign that told us, \u201cI can regrow a limb, but not democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By design, the costumes and fun signs were about collectively destroying the GOP talking point that the protesters were somehow \u201cterrorists.\u201d One protester in Portland summed<\/a> it up well to CNN this way, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard to spin that narrative, calling us like terrorists and stuff, when we\u2019re just out here in funny costumes dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the shot of joy this rally gave us with north of seven million taking to the streets is vitally important in the war we find ourselves. Like you, there are days I wonder if we have the power to defeat the forces of fascism. The GOP controls all of the federal government, the corrupt GOP Supreme Court will let Trump do what he wants, corporate media is on Trump\u2019s side and the Democrats in Congress who are effective fighters are still the minority. Yet seeing the images of joy from the protest gives me a vast amount of hope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that millions more showed up for this No Kings rally than the one in June is how democracies are saved. That is not just my view but also experts<\/a> on autocracy. When millions take to the street peacefully, the effect is that leaders from \u201cthe economic, business, political, cultural, and media sectors become more likely to shift their allegiance to the side of a broad nonviolent mobilization.\u201d That is because they get where the energy and people are. After all, where are the massive pro-Trump rallies? Nowhere and that sends a strong message to these leaders and the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, over the past few weeks, we\u2019ve seen an increasing number stand up to Trump. The most visible win came just three weeks ago when we effectively pressured<\/a> Disney using our wallets to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel over Trump\u2019s demand he be fired. (It really was only three weeks ago but it feels like months!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus in the past week alone we have seen other important signs that the tide is turning against Trump. First, there was Trump\u2019s Secretary of beer and tattoos Pete Hegseth demanding media outlets only print about the military what he dictates or lose their access to the Pentagon. As one media outlet<\/a> explained, Hegseth wanted to turn the media into \u201cstenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in Trump\u2019s term, the corporate media did whatever Trump wanted\u2014even paying him millions<\/a> to make him happy. Well, that has changed. On Wednesday, every U.S. media outlet that covers the Pentagon defiantly turned<\/a> in their press credentials\u2014except Trump propaganda channel OANN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, we saw Trump\u2019s puppy killer in chief Kristi Noem demand that every airport in the nation play a propaganda video at TSA checkpoint where she literally blames the Democrats for shutting down the government. In the video, Noem tells<\/a> travelers \u201cDemocrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government\u201d and that you should blame them for any airport delays. She added, \u201cour hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, though, a large swath<\/a> of airports across the country \u2013 even in red states\u2014refused to play the video given the partisan political message. As of now, Trump\u2019s regime has not threatened these airports with a loss of funding\u2014which is a recognition that the regime is growing weaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then we saw a group of universities actually stand up to Trump. Brown University, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia all rejected<\/a> Trump\u2019s demand that they follow the MAGA education goals or loss funding. Just so people are aware, the Trump regime is literally demanding that schools teach in accordance with MAGA principals\u2014which is why the NY Times dubbed<\/a> it the \u201cideology-for-funding\u201d deal. While we saw early in Trump\u2019s term Columbia University and others bend the knee to Trump, we now see more schools stand up to Trump\u2014along with Harvard University that has been battling Trump since day one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brings us back to the massive, joyful rallies this weekend. The more who defy Trump, the weaker Trump is perceived. And to be blunt, Trump has never been less popular. A new Associated Press poll<\/a> released Friday finds him with a 37% approval rating.<\/strong> And a Gallup poll<\/a> from September tells us that just 29% are \u201csatisfied\u201d with the direction of the country\u2014the lowest number for Trump in his second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been–and will be–good, bad and ugly days in the fight against Trump\u2019s fascist agenda. Saturday was a great day! Savor it and let it be a source of inspiration in the more challenging days that we will face ahead. And if you ever need a little more inspiration, remember this message to Trump from this dog who came to the No Kings rally:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is how we win Dean Obeidallah Oct 19, 2025 Share Joy! That was the vibe coming from the massive, record-breaking No King\u2019s protests that we saw Saturday in all 50 states. In fact, I can\u2019t recall another protest that was both so playful and inspirational at the same time. The \u201cjoy\u201d… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44625"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44627,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44625\/revisions\/44627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}