President Donald Trump struck a dismissive and threatening tone over No Kings protests that took place on Saturday, suggesting that he may use federal resources to investigate the demonstrations.
Over 7 million people took part in No Kings protests across the country, exceeding the previous No Kings protests in June by 2 million more participants. Some analyses suggest this weekend’s protests, which took place at over 2,600 locations in the U.S., were among the largest single-day demonstrations in the nation’s history.
Trump condemned the protests in comments to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
“I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all,” Trump said, adding that he thought the protests were “a joke.”
Trump elaborated by saying he “looked at the people” who had taken part in protests, and that “they’re not representative of the country.”
“I guess it was paid for by [billionaire George] Soros and other radical left lunatics,” Trump added, repeating a common talking point that conservatives use to discount left-leaning movements. “We’re checking it out.”
The people in attendance “were whacked out,” Trump added.
In addition to his insults of protesters, Trump’s political communication team shared multiple AI-generated pictures and videos deriding participants, including one of Trump flying in a jet and dumping human waste on them.
Critics lambasted Trump for his attacks on protesters, both on social media and in his statements to the press.
“The president’s social media baiting would be easier to laugh off if it weren’t for multiplying actions that reinforce his pretensions to absolute power and the obliteration of constitutional curbs meant to ensure kings don’t again rule America,” wrote Stephen Collinson, senior reporter for CNN. “He’s implying there’s no room for those who don’t support him and showing he’s willing to force them into line.”
Taegan Goddard, who manages the site Political Wire, also questioned how Trump could claim he isn’t behaving like a king when there are multiple examples of him doing so. Wrote Goddard:
It took me only a minute to come up with examples that prove the point [that Trump behaves like a king]. He’s raised taxes without approval from Congress; He’s canceled programs that were duly enacted into law; He’s directed prosecutors to charge his political opponents despite little or no evidence; He’s deployed National Guard troops over the objections of state governors.
“Each of these actions reflects the kind of unchecked, unilateral power that America’s founders rebelled against,” Goddard opined. “In fact, the list reads like an updated version of the Declaration of Independence’s grievances against King George III.”
New polling shows that most Americans are worried with the functioning of U.S. democratic norms, and that they do not want Trump to act as a king.
According to the poll, 52 percent of Americans believe Trump wants to be a king, with only 36 percent saying they don’t believe he wants to be a king. In a separate question, 85 percent of respondents said they don’t think Trump should be a king, either.
Asked how they feel about the state of democracy in the U.S., only 31 percent said they were satisfied with how things are going, while 57 percent said they are dissatisfied.
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