There is something very insincere about these “No Kings” rallies/ protests. One of the problems is that most of the people who are protesting are really just protesting Trump.
To be sure, there is a lot to protest about Trump. There are some valid points they make against Trump. The problem is that many of these same people will cheer on authoritarianism from other politicians.
And this isn’t “what aboutism” because it isn’t a defense of Trump. If the majority of people protesting “No Kings” were consistent in protesting against government authoritarianism, then we would have a much more libertarian society. But they just criticize Trump and other Republicans. They also oppose Trump on the occasion when he promotes less government interference.
Kings vs. Democracy
You don’t have to read Hans-Hermann Hoppe to understand that having a right to vote doesn’t give you freedom. A country run by a king is not necessarily more authoritarian than a country that votes for its leaders.
I would take a benevolent king who collects a total of 5% in taxes and doesn’t start any wars over the horrible government we live under in the United States today.
Of course, Trump isn’t a king. He was elected. The problem is that he is largely authoritarian even with the supposed checks from other branches of the government.
The states should also be able to nullify many of his actions, but unfortunately the central government has become far more powerful, and there isn’t much of a federalist system left. The “No Kings” people oppose things like states’ rights though.
The problem certainly didn’t start with Trump. Trump has amplified certain things and made them worse. He has also slightly improved things in some areas. Trump is just continuing in a long line of presidents who have had way too much power.
As Harry Browne liked to say, the problem isn’t the abuse of power. The problem is the power to abuse.
Both Republicans and Democrats will scream at the opposition party when the opposition party holds power. As soon as they regain power, then they do their own form of abuse to get back at the other side. The cycle just seems to get worse and worse.
The Previous King(s)
There are some genuine people at the No Kings protests who do oppose authoritarianism. They are a minority. The majority of people are just protesting Trump and anything he does. They are the same people who repeated lies about how Trump colluded with Putin to steal the 2016 election.
The really rich part is that these same people fully supported the authoritarianism of Biden and Biden’s handlers.
Biden (or his handlers) issued an executive order that tried to force about 100 million Americans to take an unsafe and ineffective jab in their arm. If you refused, then you were not allowed to keep your job that allows you to make money to feed yourself and your family.
In terms of domestic policy, it doesn’t get any more authoritarian that that. Luckily, the Supreme Court struck down the worst parts of the illegal and immoral orders.
It would be interesting to take a poll of the “No King” protesters to see how many of them opposed the vaccine mandates 4 years ago.
And let’s not forget all of the other horrible things Biden did or tried to do. He just arbitrarily tried to forgive student loan debt. He continued to push his other Covid restrictions. He weaponized the “Justice” Department against people who opposed him. And, like Trump, he helped finance foreign wars.
Honest Opposition
We need honest opposition. We need more consistent opposition. There should be protests against Trump for killing people in boats off the shores of Venezuela. There should be protests against the wars and war financing. There should be protests against turning cities into police states in the name of deporting illegal immigrants.
It just rings hollow at this point coming from people who continually lied and made stuff up about Trump. There is plenty to criticize Trump about without having to make stuff up. These people also supported many of the same things from Biden.
The leftist protesters are a bit like the boy who cried wolf. They screamed and hollered about Trump for every little thing for 10 years. Now that Trump is becoming more unhinged, their screams are not getting attention because they’ve been screaming for the last 10 years about Hitler. Now that the wolf has come, other people are ignoring them.
Of course, Trump has governed the last 6 months or so as if he is trying his best to prove his worst enemies correct. He really is acting like a dictator in many ways. Now the leftists get to say, “See, we were right.”
They were right in the general assessment that Trump is bad, but they were wrong in almost every other respect. Just as many on the political right will cheer on tyranny when it is imposed from their side, the left will go back to cheering on tyranny as soon as Trump leaves office.
Libertarianism, anyone?