If you haven’t heard, the next national organized day of protest will be June 14, 2025, starting at noon local time. Other than protesting to save the country and Constitution, it is also a day of protest against the military parade happening in D.C. that day as a “celebration” of Trump’s birthday. The official theme is, “No Kings Day,” since the Republican White House, with Congress and the Courts being complicit in moving towards a unitary president, meaning we go back to what our founders fought to end, rule by a king.
The goal is for millions of people across the United States, and maybe internationally, to protest at their state capitol buildings. If you can’t make it to your capital city, then protest where you are as all are welcome. These protests are meant to be non-violent to give law enforcement no reason to escalate into violence.
With the recent escalation of protest against ICE, or those pretending to be ICE, I’ve been worried about what ICE and the government will do next. As we saw in Los Angeles yesterday, the protesters (might they have been infiltrators, as the government has been known to do this in the past?), escalated into what some might begin to call violent protest due to objects being thrown at ICE. In several places ICE has been escalating on its own as they are arriving in full military garb and using flash bang grenades towards people and businesses.
There are two main concerns for the protest on June 14. The first is always a worry, which is that no one will show up to stand for democracy. We are at the point where come hell or high water, we need to stand together to show politicians, and hopefully sympathetic law enforcement and military personnel the people want democracy. To have law enforcement and military personnel be willing to stand down on violence by not attacking their fellow citizens along with upholding the Constitution as they have sworn to do. With what is finally being broadcast in showing the growing number of protests in places big and small, I hope people show up in droves to protest against having a king in the United States.
The other concern is, will this be a Handmaid’s Tale kind of day? ICE is growing more emboldened and escalating their mostly unlawful arrests. Consent decrees for police departments are now a thing of the past based on an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice. The military is set to have its budget increased by about $200B, which could be interpreted as buying off the military. Those, along with the White House appearance of support for white supremacists and a military parade down the streets of D.C., are all distressing signs of potential escalation against protesters.
Will June 14 be the day, with so much military and radicalized White House supporters in D.C. be the tipping point? Will all of those people, with the support of a portion of law enforcement and military personnel finish what was started on January 6 by arresting, or worse, members of Congress in a coup. Remember in the Handmaid’s Tale, the story starts with the telling of how Congress was murdered by a “terrorist” group, which caused the country to fall into martial law. The new Congress began eroding our rights with people being too scared to do much because law enforcement began using live ammunition against protesters. Congress also passed laws that would take immediate effect and had the tech bros support to implement those laws, such as the firing of all women from the workplace and placing their bank accounts under the control of their husbands or male relatives literally overnight. This then moved into the murder of gender traitors, teachers and professors, dissenters, and finally to the point where women were chattel and birthing vessels (something that is currently happening to a brain-dead pregnant woman in Georgia, where the state is keeping her on life support without her family having a say in the matter, to essentially allow her to give birth as a medically dead person).
Will there be agitators joining and infiltrating the protests nationwide to do violent behavior as a way to escalate the response from law enforcement? Will this be part of a plan to allow the Trump Republican White House to declare martial law, meaning he becomes the law of the land and almost inevitably suspending future elections due to so-called civil unrest caused by his white supremacist supporters. Remember, while campaigning Trump had stated he only needed people to vote for him this one last time then they’d never have to vote again. Even later he said he didn’t need any votes because he already had enough to win.
Although these are my concerns, as a nation, we still need every able-bodied person to show up on June 14 to make our voices be heard by politicians across the country. We need to let them know we see what they are doing and we don’t support it.
They need to hear we are tired of billionaires getting a free ride on the backs of the working poor and middle class.
We need them to hear their policies are not what we want, that we want a government that works and supports workers, not billionaires.
We need them to hear we want Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and other social safety net policies to help those in need.
We need them to hear we want billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes and not keep getting tax cuts on the backs of the rest of us.
We need them to hear we want accurate weather forecasts, safe working conditions, safe food, and safe water and air.
We need them to hear we support public education, not vouchers for rich people to send their kids to private schools they can well afford on their own.
We need them to hear we believe in due process and habeas corpus for all people, that we don’t support people—immigrants, undocumented, nor citizens—being picked up by people in masks, unidentified, and in unmarked vehicles to send anyone off to a gulag in a foreign country without having a day in court.
We need them to know non-violently that we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Will you stand for democracy and the rule of law, or will you avert your eyes and stay home while atrocities are carried on all around you, hoping upon hope they won’t come for you if you hide.
History has shown if the people rise up non-violently, their is a high chance of success. History has also shown trying to hide and pretend all is well rarely ends well for anyone, even those with then heads in the sand.
Stand up, speak out, help save our great nation!
I’ve often said we all need to be involved in saving democracy in the ways which fit our lives and our comfort levels. These can be blogging, reposting on social media, calling your elected officials, letters to the editor, donating to organizations, and/or marching in the streets. Nothing is too little or too much. Here are some ways to get involved whether from the comfort of your own homes, or on the streets, over the next few weeks:
- Call your U.S. Senator to demand they vote against the “big beautiful bill” that will harm most everyone living in the United States. The switchboard number is 202-224-3121. They will connect you with the correct senators. If you get their voicemail, which I do often, make sure to leave your name and address for your call to be registered as received.
- Call your U.S. Senator to demand they fight the Republican administration’s defiance of the court in following laws and the Constitution. The switchboard number is 202-224-3121. They will connect you with the correct senators. If you get their voicemail, which I do often, make sure to leave your name and address for your call to be registered as received.
- Call your congressional members and let them know as one of the people they represent, it is past time for DOGE to be dismantled. Call this number and the switchboard will connect you to your representative or senator: 202-224-3121. Even if you don’t know who your members are, they will find them for you based on your address, which they will ask you to provide.
- Call the White House switchboard to express your disappointment in what is happening and that DOGE must go: 202-456-1414 (switchboard) or 202-456-1111 (comments). I recommend the switchboard myself.
- Sign up for General Strike and commit to participating.
- Download the app Five Calls to help let your elected officials know you are paying attention and don’t approve. Website: https://5calls.org/
- Join a local group of Indivisible.
- Participate in the action items of50501: 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement.
- Continue to boycott companies who have bent the knee or no longer believe in equality. Don’t buy from national chains or companies, such as Target, Amazon, Tesla, Walmart and any others who are bending the knee and capitulating to authoritarianism and the billionaire class.
- Write letters to your local papers expressing your disappointment and tell your stories of how the Republican administration is harming your families.
- Please say thank you in some way to the universities, law firms, companies, and organizations not bending the knee and capitulating to the Republican Administration.
- Mark your calendar for the next big nationwide protest, Saturday, June 14.
- Do something, anything, peaceful to fight back!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 