In Solidarity with the No Kings Protest

Tomorrow, Saturday June 14, 2025, President Trump will be ostensibly celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary, which happens to coincide with his 79th birthday. This will not be a celebration; it will be a show of force—not of the country but of the President. And it is another action in a series of actions that intends to push America into authoritarianism.

Outside of times of war, there is a reason why American Presidents don't host military parades and dictators like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Hugo Chavez do and did seemingly every year.

This is not one of President's Trump worse offenses—there are too many. Although each offense is different, they all fit the same scheme: to push the limits of presidential power. With every judge railroaded, and marine deployed into an American city, and immigrant removed from the country with no due process (and sometimes, by accident, American citizens), we slide closer and closer to authoritarianism. His trick is that he knows we, the people, don't have the stamina to be outraged by his every democracy-shattering action. And so, we sit like republican frogs in water that is slowly boiling; when do we know that it's too hot?

There isn’t anything dictators like less than being challenged by their constituents. Which is why Trump is threatening a “very big force” against protestors on Saturday. His minions go even further (the lower the rung on the political food chain, the more intense the threats). Florida Governor DeSantis gave Floridians the okay to run over protestors (mind you, Trump protestors have already done this in Charlottesville, VA). A sheriff from Florida said, “… we will kill you, graveyard dead.” Hot enough?

We are in an authoritarian regime right now. We aren’t in the full-blown authoritarian regime like Russia or Venezuela, but we are at the inception of one. I don’t use these words lightly so please don’t take it for hyperbole but, if you do, which hyperbole is more dangerous, mine or President Trump saying he’ll run for a third term?

I stand with the No Kings protesters who don’t want to wait to find out.