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AMY GOODMAN: “In America, we have no kings.” That’s one of the rallying cries for Saturday’s nationwide protests against President Trump. More than 3,000 No Kings protests are planned across the country. Millions are preparing to take to the streets in what’s expected to be the largest No Kings protest to date, in what The Nation magazine says could become the biggest day of protest in U.S. history.
One of the largest No Kings protests will be in St. Paul, Minneapolis, just miles from where federal immigration agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti to death in January. Performers and speakers in St. Paul will include Senator Bernie Sanders, Bruce Springsteen, Jane Fonda and Joan Baez.
On Thursday, Edwin Torres DeSantiago of the Immigrant Defense Network spoke about the Minnesota protests.
EDWIN TORRES DESANTIAGO: Right now across Minnesota and across this country, immigrant families are living in fear that something as simple as going work or taking their children to school could separate them from their loved ones. That is the reality. A mother texting her child just to say, “I made it.” A father calling in the middle of the day to just say, “I’m OK.” I know this, because it’s exactly what both of my parents do every single day. For 25 years, I lived without documentation, and my parents still do.
And let’s be clear about what is happening. You don’t send masked agents into neighborhoods, into airports, into communities to keep people safe. You send them to keep people terrified. And that fear is not accidental. It is part of a larger escalation, and we’re already seeing the consequences. We’ve seen the consequences: Keith Porter Jr., Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Dr. Linda Davis, Ruben Ray Martinez and dozens of others that have been killed by this administration’s escalation. And let’s not forget the 40 deaths inside detention centers since this administration has taken office. Silence and inactions are not an option anymore.
AMY GOODMAN: Supporters of the No Kings protests include the AFT — that’s the American Federation of Teachers. This is the group’s president, Randi Weingarten.
RANDI WEINGARTEN: A billion dollars a day for this war, and yet we couldn’t find the money for the Obamacare tax credits? Then, now we’re seeing a huge increase in premium payments that people have had to pay. We couldn’t find the money for Medicaid, that is closing rural hospitals all over America? We couldn’t find the money for SNAP, when people are having parties at Mar-a-Lago?
The people are saying, “We need to find a way to support ourselves. We don’t want a war that’s costing billions of dollars. We don’t want a war that is increasing the cost of gas. We don’t want a debate that is actually making the lines of TSA” — like the line I had this morning — “hours long.” People in America are saying, “You have been elected to help us and our families have a better life, not to help the billionaires, not to create robots as teachers, not to just create ways that you and your family get rich, Donald Trump.” And that’s why more and more people see him as a king.
AMY GOODMAN: The unprovoked U.S. and Israeli war on Iran will also be a focus of Saturday’s No Kings protests. This is Naveed Shah of the group Common Defense.
NAVEED SHAH: This illegal war with Iran is built on the same lies as the one with Iraq 20 years ago. I know because I lived it as an Army veteran who served in Iraq. Me and my friends know that our leaders lied to us into a war with no strategy and no endgame. I swore an oath to this Constitution, not to a king, not to a politician. And I will not stay silent while we march down that same road into another forever war.
AMY GOODMAN: Those speakers all took part in an online No Kings press conference on Thursday, because they were all over the country.
We’re joined right now by Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, which is part of the No Kings Coalition helping to organize Saturday’s protests.
Leah, can you start off by talking about the scope of these protests? You’re talking about the possibility, The Nation says, of the largest protest in U.S. history, with 3,000 protests taking place across the country. Explain how it’s being organized?
LEAH GREENBERG: Well, I’m proud to say that, as of this morning, that number is up to 3,200, including every congressional district in the country and six of seven continents around the world.
What we have — what we’re fundamentally doing with this is we’re issuing a call to regular people all over the country. In some places, this is anchored by — you know, in a city, it’s anchored by a coalition, with, you know, Indivisible groups and labor, your local labor council, human rights organizations, everybody. Everybody is collectively throwing in together. In some small towns across the country, it’s, you know, one woman who raised her hand and said, “I can’t take it anymore. I got to get my community together.”
But what we’re seeing is that the scope and the breadth of what is happening across this country is enormous. People are coming out in every state, every — in every county, collectively, and saying, “Enough.” We are going to stand against illegal wars abroad. We are going to stand against secret police at home. We don’t have kings in this country.
AMY GOODMAN: I understand that in Spain, in Barcelona, it’s actually called No Tyrants Day, because they have a king.
LEAH GREENBERG: We’ve heard a couple versions of that. You know, in Hawaii, obviously, there’s cultural sensitivities around, you know, the history of the monarchy in Hawaii. What we want people to take a stand against, fundamentally, is imperious, unaccountable governance that substitutes the judgment of one man and his cronies and his corrupt billionaires for the actual will of the people, because that is what we are seeing right now.
AMY GOODMAN: And then talk about why the No Kings national flagship rally is in St. Paul, Minnesota, with Bruce Springsteen, I guess you could say, headlining, with Jane Fonda there, with Joan Baez there, and other political figures, of course, across Minnesota.
LEAH GREENBERG: Well, we think the story of Minnesota is incredibly important for everyone in America to hear and to understand, because, fundamentally, what we saw there was the occupation of an American city, the unleashing of a reign of terror and racial profiling, that was pushed back by organized, nonviolent, disciplined people power. You had immigrant rights organizers, labor, faith leaders, regular people, soccer moms and retirees collectively organizing to say, “No, you’re not going to take our neighbors. You are not going to impose this on our city. We’re all in this together.” And they have successfully organized an extraordinary resistance that everyone in America should understand and should learn the lessons from, because, fundamentally, we are not going to get out of any of this mess without building the collective people power all across this country that pushes back on authoritarianism, that pushes back on secret police like ICE, and that demands that we look up to and protect our — that we look to and protect our neighbors.
AMY GOODMAN: So, your data shows two-thirds of the RSVPs are coming from outside of major urban centers, nearly, what, 40% up from the first No Kings action. If you can talk about the significance of this, and your message to former Trump voters? We see MAGA splintering, with Joe Rogan and others seriously questioning what they thought was the noninterventionist stance of President Trump, challenging, running on a platform of no more forever wars.
LEAH GREENBERG: Well, what we’re seeing with this march, and all of our data suggests the same when we look at who is organizing new Indivisible groups or new activist collectives around the country, is that the resistance to Trump and to MAGA is reaching farther and deeper and more significantly into red and rural areas than it ever has in the past, in the first Trump term or ever before.
And I think that’s a factor that’s being driven by a number of things. People, whoever they are, across political lines, do not like it when you send masked police into their neighborhoods and take their neighbors. That is something that the vast majority of us can agree on, fight on pushing back against. People do not want a catastrophic war that is killing people, thousands of innocent folks abroad, that is driving up costs at home. They do not want their healthcare funds going to bombs that are being dropped on an Iranian schoolgirl — or, girls’ school. They want to see — they want to see a government that is accountable to them.
And what we’re seeing with this moment is that this is a real opportunity to reach out to people who thought, you know, “I’m going to roll the dice with another Trump term. Maybe they lower the cost of living. Maybe they lower the cost of gas and eggs. He’s certainly not going to get us into any wars.” Those folks, those are people who we want to pull in right now, while they are questioning what the heck bill of goods they were sold, and say, “Come on over to our side.”
AMY GOODMAN: Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, all showing up with double-digit events, what do you think this portends for the midterms?
LEAH GREENBERG: Well, look, I think we’ve seen this over and over again, with the off-year elections, with the special elections, from Florida to Virginia. What we are seeing is that if you’re a Republican, this is not a year in which you should assume your safe is seat, and — your seat is safe, and it doesn’t matter whether it was safe a couple years ago. Fundamentally, there is an extraordinary amount of backlash brewing in this country everywhere, and you should be worried about whether you are being accountable to your constituents right now, because they are angry. And I can guarantee you that is the case whether you represent a ruby red area or a deep blue area.
AMY GOODMAN: Leah Greenberg, I want to thank you for being with us — I know you have to get onto a plane — co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, the grassroots movement, part of the No Kings Coalition helping to organize Saturday’s protests. And Democracy Now! will be covering these protests, and you can tune in on Monday for the voices from the streets.
Coming up, are negotiations happening between U.S. and Iran? We’ll speak with Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “People Have the Power.” That’s Patti Smith performing at Democracy Now!‘s 30th anniversary celebration, along with Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Hurray for the Riff Raff and more. To see the full event, you can go to democracynow.org. We’ll be playing Hurray for the Riff Raff singing “Pa’lante” later in this broadcast.
