Mike Johnson Calls No Kings Protestors ‘Terrorists’

GOP panic rises as millions prepare to turn out on Saturday

This Saturday, all those who oppose dictatorship will have a chance to engage peacefully in the second No Kings Day, which may wind up as the largest mass demonstration yet against an unhinged, lawless authoritarian regime that is tightening the noose on our democracy. Donald Trump has upped the ante in deploying the military against Americans, indicting political enemies, and effectively disbanding the House (Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to keep members out of town is certainly not his own). Despite all the MAGA mouthpieces’ bravado, notable cracks in the GOP façade have appeared. MAGA politicians’ increasingly hysterical outbursts suggest a mass peaceful demonstration attended by a wide cross-section of Americans is the last thing they want.

Johnson’s obnoxious McCarthy-like attack on peaceful demonstrators was not isolated. “They have a ‘Hate America’ rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall,” he said. “It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the, you know, the Antifa people, they’re all coming out.” Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) also got in on the nonsense, declaring, “This is about one thing and one thing alone—to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week.”

Photo by Joseph Chan

Their choice of language is not accidental. In misrepresenting their opponents as “terrorists” for peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights, Republicans are attempting to squeeze them into Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional, all-purpose executive decree purporting to outlaw “ANTIFA” as a domestic terrorist organization. (Remember, ANTIFA is not a defined group or even a coherent ideology; moreover, Trump has no power to designate any domestic terrorist organization.) Predictably, anyone the regime dislikes has been receiving the ANTIFA or terrorist label—and coming under the threat of retribution. Whether the Trump regime intends to actually (further) weaponize the Department of Justice to try to stop protests and/or enact retribution remains to be seen, but such action would be grossly unconstitutional and trigger swift court challenges and public outcry.

Aside from their baseless legal maneuvering, the MAGA cult’s freakout evidences how difficult they are finding it to maintain the big lies of 2025: blue cities are awash in violence, the government is benignly attempting to keep order, and their white Christian nationalist base is under siege. Right-wing media propagandists have so little material that they have to recycle old video to keep Trump’s pretext alive.

Images will appear of millions of ordinary Americans waving American flags, peacefully reminding Trump that we are not a monarchy and demanding that the regime abide by the Constitution. When they surface, the MAGA propaganda machine sputters. Like the inflatable menagerie of characters now appearing in Portland, the appearance of No Kings protestors (e.g., a 70 yr. old holding a flag, or parents with kids carrying clever signs) undermines the MAGA lie. The true nature of the opposition (i.e. patriotic, diverse Americans) becomes harder to conceal.

Photo by Brett Wharton

The level of MAGA hysteria has risen as the reasons to protest have increased, including the big, ugly bill’s jaw-dropping maneuver to cut health care coverage for ordinary Americans to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires; the ongoing cover-up of the Epstein scandal (i.e. protection of powerful, rich men who enabled child rape); attacks on the press and free speech more generally; efforts to destroy public employee unions; and RFK, Jr.’s endangering public health by destroying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while peddling crackpot non-science with his fringe movement.

If all that is not enough to get Americans into the streets, consider the large-scale corruption and self-dealing to enrich Trump and his family; politicization of the military; demolition of the Justice Department (transforming it into a political weapon to persecute opponents based on flimsy charges); illegal and unconstitutional use of military to blow up boats and murder suspected drug smugglers without due process; giving $20B $40B of taxpayer money to Argentinian President Javier Milei, a MAGA mini-me; and of course the ongoing, abusive, violent, and a lawless actions by ICE that victimize entire communities.

Need more reasons to protest? Recall the unilaterally-imposed and unconstitutional trade war that effectively taxes every American consumer and business while fueling inflation; the attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence; evisceration of the National Institutes of Health including hundreds of millions in critical funding for cutting-edge medical research; dismantling USAID, which has killed hundreds of thousands of adults and kids and marred America’s international image; and mass layoffs of veterans together with unconscionable cuts to veterans’ care.

Let’s not forget the transformation of the Supreme Court into a band of partisan MAGA operatives who have so egregiously abused their power and strayed from their constitutional mission as to incur the fury of lower courts; the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act; the criminalization of abortion and life-threatening forced birth laws that ensued; the mean-spirited bullying and persecution of trans Americans; and the attempt to rewrite the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship.

Frankly, it is hard to think of any American not affected by one or more of these outrageous developments. If nothing else, turning out to protest the do-nothing GOP House and Senate majorities that have abandoned their jobs, ceded the power of the purse to Trump, and resorted to demeaning and vilifying the majority of Americans who oppose Trump and virtually all his policies should be more than enough justification to link arms with fellow Americans in defense of democracy, the rule of law, and decency.

We will look forward to seeing you all out in joyful, peaceful protest. Please also join us for coverage of the day at 7:30 pm ET with reports from events around the country plus an all-star lineup of guests.