{"id":41130,"date":"2025-05-07T12:48:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=41130"},"modified":"2025-05-07T12:48:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:48:42","slug":"we-dont-do-kings-mass-protests-planned-to-counter-trumps-birthday-military-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/07\/we-dont-do-kings-mass-protests-planned-to-counter-trumps-birthday-military-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We Don&#8217;t Do Kings&#8217;: Mass Protests Planned to Counter Trump&#8217;s Birthday Military Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/vermont-demonstrators-protest-trump-on-women-s-day.jpg?id=60143475&amp;width=1200&amp;height=400&amp;quality=90&amp;coordinates=0%2C138%2C0%2C202\" alt=\"Vermont demonstrators protest Trump on Women's Day\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Demonstrators protest U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vermont State House in Montpelier, Vermont on March 8, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0(Photo: John Lazenby\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;Donald Trump wants to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to throw himself a big fancy parade with tanks in the streets,&#8221; said one organizer. &#8220;This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook.&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/jake-johnson\">JAKE JOHNSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May 06, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/intent\/compose?text=%27We%20Don%27t%20Do%20Kings%27%3A%20Mass%20Protests%20Planned%20to%20Counter%20Trump%27s%20Birthday%20Military%20Parade%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fno-kings-day-protest\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/no-kings-day-protest\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/no-kings-day-protest\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a href=\"javascript:;\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pro-democracy campaigners late Monday announced a nationwide &#8220;No Kings&#8221; day of defiance on June 14\u2014the same day U.S. President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>&nbsp;plans to hold a birthday military parade&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/193674\/trump-military-parade-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more befitting a dictator<\/a>&nbsp;than an elected head of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 100 &#8220;No Kings&#8221; events have already been registered across the U.S., with many more expected in the weeks ahead of the day of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Massive &#039;No Kings&#039; protest expected to rain on Donald Trump&#039;s (military) parade\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_vwhKYDuOsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>See the full list of planned events and locations&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilize.us\/nokings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Donald Trump wants to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to throw himself a big fancy parade with tanks in the streets,&#8221; explained Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, on Monday&#8217;s broadcast of&nbsp;<em>The Rachel Maddow Show<\/em>. &#8220;This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. He wants to project strength. He wants everybody to think that he is all-powerful. That he rules the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He doesn&#8217;t,&#8221; Levin added. &#8220;Real power is not in D.C. It&#8217;s distributed all across the country. And what we&#8217;re looking to do on No Kings Day is to say, look\u2014Donald Trump does not own the flag. He does not own patriotism. In fact, we can all show up in opposition to a king in this country.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=_vwhKYDuOsw%3Frel%3D0\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The event&#8217;s website says the goal of the mass demonstrations is to show that &#8220;from city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we&#8217;re taking action to reject authoritarianism.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In America, we don&#8217;t do kings,&#8221; the website states. &#8220;On June 14th, we&#8217;re showing up everywhere he isn&#8217;t\u2014to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/image.png?id=60143684&amp;width=700&amp;quality=90\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>News of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/hands-off-protests-april-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">latest mass mobilization<\/a>&nbsp;against Trump and his far-right agenda came days after the U.S. Army confirmed plans for a parade on June 14\u2014the Army&#8217;s 250th birthday and Trump&#8217;s 79th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Army anticipates featuring 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 soldiers,&#8221;&nbsp;<em>The Washington Post<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2025\/05\/02\/trump-birthday-army-military-parade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, citing an Army spokesperson. &#8220;The parade will accompany a fireworks display and a day-long festival on the National Mall with military demonstrations, musical performances, and a fitness competition.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The price tag for such festivities could be massive, with two unnamed defense officials&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/national-security\/us-army-planning-parade-anniversary-trumps-birthday-rcna204512\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">telling<\/a><em>NBC News<\/em>&nbsp;that it could be as high as $45 million. In an interview that aired over the weekend, Trump&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/trump-administration\/trump-defends-high-cost-military-parade-peanuts-rcna204581\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a>&nbsp;the potential cost &#8220;peanuts compared to the value of doing it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We have the greatest missiles in the world,&#8221; Trump declared. &#8220;We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we&#8217;re going to celebrate it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cohen.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/congressman-cohen-opposes-plan-military-parade-trump-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>&nbsp;Monday that &#8220;this would be an unprecedented waste of money to please this self-absorbed con man, and the public should make clear it&#8217;s unacceptable.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The egotist-in-chief wants taxpayers to foot the bill for a military parade on his birthday,&#8221; said Cohen, the lead sponsor of\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-bill\/2761\/text\/ih?format=txt&amp;overview=closed\" target=\"_blank\">legislation<\/a>\u00a0that would &#8220;prohibit the use of federal funds for a military parade in the District of Columbia intended for the personal celebration of President Donald J. Trump, and for other purposes.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/jake-johnson\">JAKE JOHNSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/jake-johnson\">Full Bio &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demonstrators protest U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vermont State House in Montpelier, Vermont on March 8, 2025. \u00a0(Photo: John Lazenby\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) &#8220;Donald Trump wants to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to throw himself a big fancy parade with tanks in the streets,&#8221; said&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/07\/we-dont-do-kings-mass-protests-planned-to-counter-trumps-birthday-military-parade\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41132,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41130\/revisions\/41132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}