The Partial Observer by Teresa Winchester

June 14: the Resistance Against Tyranny Continues Today

June 14 was “No Kings”—a day designated to protest the ever more authoritarian policies and actions of the Trump administration. The two main organizers of “No Kings” at the national level were Indivisible and 50501. They were supported by a coalition of more than 200 other groups.

“No Kings” specifically sought to counter President Trump’s own contention that he is a “king.” The date was chosen by this would-be king to observe both the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and his own 79th birthday. Trump’s celebration took the form of a military parade—something for which Trump has long salivated, admiring, as he does, strongmen such as North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, Russia’s warmongering President Vladimir Putin, and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban.

Trump’s parade featured armored tanks, helicopters and historical military equipment at a cost estimated to be somewhere between $25 to $45 million. Upwards of 6,000 uniformed troops, 34 horses, two mules and one dog marched down Constitution Avenue to the National Mall. Estimates of crowd size varied greatly, from 20,000 (Occupy Democrats), to 80-120,000 (Doug Blandry, political campaign event manager), to the White House’s claim of 250,000. According to the fact-checking website Snopes, “Estimates from outside the White House in the form of media reports … generally reported that fewer than the expected 200,000 people were in attendance.”