ArcaMax

What do you do when voters have rejected your party’s policies and the losers have nothing new to offer?

Answer: You stage large demonstrations that include name calling (this from Democrats who have called for “lowering” the rhetorical temperature). Anyone who believes last Saturday’s “No Kings” (was that poll tested?) demonstrations across the country were not organized and largely paid for by left-wing groups hasn’t been paying attention. The New York Times claims there is “no evidence” that the event was subsidized by billionaire George Soros and other far-left people and organizations. That’s because the underwriting isn’t given directly but is filtered – like the Mafia used to launder money – through groups that wipe clean the donor’s fingerprints.

At the New York City event, chants were heard comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to the Ku Klux Klan. No, the Klan violated the civil rights of Black Americans, lynched some and made a mockery of the law. ICE is upholding laws passed by Democrat and Republican congresses, including the apprehending of known criminals, deporting undocumented aliens, those with prior convictions and drug dealers. What other laws do these protesters think can be violated with impunity?

Back in the day when I was a reporter, I witnessed demonstrations for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. This was before social media and instant communications. They appeared spontaneous and heartfelt, though some conservatives claimed the anti-war demonstrations were supported by communists.

Saturday’s nationwide demonstrations appear to me to have been choreographed. As with other left-wing inspired demonstrations on college campuses and elsewhere, I’m not buying the claim these were spontaneous uprisings that can be compared to the Boston Tea Party. That was the analogy used by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. On the rare occasions when a reporter actually interviews a protester it is clear they are repeating what they have been told to say, heard from liberal professors or read on social media.

The left’s hatred of Donald Trump has gone to the Defcon 2 level. These protesters won’t debate policies. Instead, they are full of anger. But anger is not policy. Anger and hate are irrational fulminations.

One can criticize Donald Trump for many things, but his policies are mostly working. These include a closed border, a Gaza peace deal (however tenuous that might appear) and destroying Venezuelan boats that the administration says were carrying drugs bound for the U.S. Are the protesters OK with the hundreds of thousands of Americans dying from fentanyl? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provisional data indicates that in 2024 alone, approximately 48,422 Americans died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

In a delicious irony, Turning Point USA contributor Savanah Hernandez shared video from the “No Kings” protest in New York City. It showed many demonstrators marching with signs labeling popular Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as "ANTIFA."

If you paid attention to the language used by some Democrats who spoke to the protesters, it was mostly a re-run of that party’s grievances, including the tired claim that the Trump tax cuts benefit only “the rich” and that the president is a “dictator.”

As more young people appear to be registering Republican in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Democrats increasingly appear flummoxed by Trump and his supporters.

The satirical Babylon Bee wrote this about the demonstrators: “Millions of Americans took to the streets in order to express to the world their total and absolute ignorance about the political system they live in.”

I couldn’t have said it better.

========

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).

©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.