By Jim Soviero
The latest media-hyped round of “No Kings” protests gives us all another glimpse into just how short on historical perspective, and long on blatant hypocrisy, these people truly are.
Let’s begin with the all-important selection of a 2024 presidential candidate. Donald Trump won his place at the top of the GOP ticket by winning two bruising primaries against strong Republican opponents. Until his cognitive decline could no longer be covered up, Democrat Joe Biden faced no real challenges. His successor, Kamala Harris, was anointed with nary a single public vote being cast. She played the part of queen, ascending the throne of an incapacitated king. Trump won the popular vote, and enjoyed an electoral landslide.
Saturday’s latest rallies continue to enjoy support from well-funded socialist and communist groups — hardly considered bastions of liberty. It’s troubling to imagine local politicians, “civic leaders” or people capable of some honest self-reflection wanting to be linked to organizations with histories devoted to violently taking away personal freedoms.
Also overlooked by the willfully ignorant rallygoers have been Biden’s attacks on our constitutionally protected freedoms, including, but not limited to, religion, speech and assembly.
Freedom of religion was under assault with the forced closings of houses of worship, along with largely unchecked antisemitic protests and riots roiling college campuses in many urban areas. Traditional Catholic Latin Masses came under investigation. Parents speaking out against school policies with which they disagreed were also targeted by federal agencies.
Areas of speech that did not toe the Biden line on COVID, his health, or his son’s many scandals were either censored, or the social media outlets presenting those views became deplatformed.
Where were the “No Kings” marchers when law enforcement officers, health care professionals, and military personnel were fired for refusing to take a COVID shot, even if they had natural immunity? The silence was deafening over six feet of social distancing, masks that didn’t work, and studies that showed school children were among the least likely to contract or die from the virus. Small businesses were shuttered, while then-Dem-leaning Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook saw their revenues soar. This week’s sign holders’ silence was their approval to all those kingly behaviors above.
As we anticipate the self-proclaimed successes of Saturday’s highly publicized gatherings, hypocritical ideologues are sure to miss how clearly they undermine their claim that the current duly elected, President Trump, is truly a king.
The easiest, most obvious argument against these folks comes in the form of a question they’ll never be able to honestly answer: What despotic monarch would allow his lowly subjects to publicly, carefully choreograph a series of protests designed to undermine his rule?
Certainly not King George III. Because, despite all the screeching, professionally made, paid-for-by-somebody- else signs, England’s George remains our very last king. He was replaced by “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Not so sure the performative “No Kings” protestors really understand a republican form of government, or they’d want to keep it if they did.
Jim Soviero lives in East Setauket.