No Kings Protestors are Complete Hypocrites

So the “No Kings” people are coming back, and they are absolutely the worst. They’re holding more rallies this Saturday. Here’s how the Indiana Capital Chronicle described what will be happening across the state: There will be more than 40 No Kings events scheduled for Saturday, including Indianapolis, Hobart, Auburn, Fort Wayne, Logansport, Lafayette, Muncie, Greenwood, Greencastle, Evansville, and New Albany. The first rally in June drew about 3,000 people, and another in October drew about 6,000. On top of the rallies, a group called Home of the Brave—which the Capital Chronicle describes as a nonprofit—says it is “a community of Americans who refuse to be silenced.” That group is running a $1 million ad campaign in more than 300 newspapers nationwide promoting the March 28 rallies. These rallies are happening across the country. We mentioned some of the cities here in Indiana, but they’re happening all over. I want to read what these full-page newspaper ads say because the messaging is completely ridiculous. If you know someone who’s going to one of these rallies, you should point this out to them. The ad says: “We the People March Again. The abuses have not stopped. Neither will we.” It then follows with language saying “The founders wrote the Bill of Rights because they had lived under a king. We march because we refuse to live under another. No Kings. March 28.” What does that even mean? If you’ve been to a No Kings rally, or you’ve participated in one, let me know in the YouTube chat. I’m not being sarcastic when I ask this. What exactly does “No Kings” mean? If you’re someone who believes the president has too much authority, I’m with you. If you think the presidency needs to be reined in, especially with things like executive orders, I agree. If you’re concerned about situations like the Iran conflict and the president acting without congressional approval, I think that’s a valid concern too. But if that’s why you’re attending a No Kings rally, then the question becomes: where were you during Biden? Where were you when Biden was trying to get people fired for not taking an experimental vaccine? Where were you when many of those policies ended up getting struck down by the Supreme Court? A lot of people got the vaccine, and if that was the choice they made with their doctor, that’s fine. But people shouldn’t have been threatened with losing their jobs for deciding not to take it. I was on the verge of being fired over that. Some of you remember this. I was one of the few people in the building who chose not to get it. Everyone else eventually gave in because of pressure from their employer. That’s not how the country should operate. If you decide you want the vaccine because you and your doctor think it’s best for your health, great. That’s your choice. But threatening people with termination for making a different decision shouldn’t happen. I had to go to my employer and essentially go through an interrogation. Longtime listeners will remember this. They thought they were going to shame me because I was one of maybe four people in the building who didn’t get vaccinated. They had the whole “Scarlet Letter” system where you had to wear a mask if you didn’t get the vaccine. The idea was to shame you publicly. They even had what I jokingly called the tattletale police. “Rob wasn’t wearing his mask when he walked to the bathroom.” I remember one time that actually happened. I said, there’s no one here. There are maybe three people on the floor. Who exactly am I protecting by wearing this mask? The rule was that if you didn’t get the vaccine, you had to wear the mask, and if you didn’t follow that rule you could risk losing your job. They also made me do weekly testing, another attempt at public shaming. They scheduled it about ten minutes before the show once a week. The HR employee involved wanted no part of the whole situation. She was very kind and clearly uncomfortable with the process. She didn’t even watch me take the test. She didn’t look at the results. She’d just ask, “What did it say?” I finally asked her one day, what happens if this test comes back positive? There were plenty of false positives during COVID. If it came back positive, I was supposed to go on air ten minutes later with my co-host. What would she do? They didn’t have an answer. They just stared at you. The whole situation was completely nonsensical. So again, the question is: where were the No Kings people then? If you’re upset about things Trump is doing, there are plenty of issues people can reasonably debate. But the same people weren’t holding No Kings rallies when Biden was exercising similar executive authority. This isn’t really about the power of the presidency. It’s about hating Trump. Just say that. Say you hate Donald Trump. You’ll still get the same turnout, but at least you’d be honest about it. Everything people say they dislike about Trump’s use of presidential power exists because the system allows it. Biden used that power too—on different issues and topics, but the authority was the same. That’s one of the biggest problems in the country. People should be angry about the system itself. Instead, they’re angry about the individual operating inside that system. Yes, the presidency has too much authority. There are too many executive orders. But the president isn’t a king. Congress can rein in the president any time it wants. They have the authority to do it. They simply choose not to. And by the way, in this country you can still do pretty much whatever you want within the bounds of the law and basic societal rules. I can sit here and criticize politicians across the spectrum. Platforms like YouTube or podcast networks have their own content rules, and terrestrial radio or television has its own standards. But broadly speaking, you can criticize whoever you want. In the first 45 minutes of this show today, I’ve criticized people from multiple sides. I’m not particularly worried about being stopped from doing that. You can go stand on a street corner right now and criticize any politician you want, as long as you do it in a lawful way. So when people use slogans like “No Kings” and say things like “We the people march again,” it just sounds ridiculous. The ads say “the abuses have not stopped.” What abuses exactly? You didn’t organize rallies like this under Biden. You didn’t organize them under Obama. You do it under Trump and under Bush. That’s why it’s hard to take these protests seriously. If you were serious about fixing the system that allows abuses of power, you would protest regardless of which party held the presidency. Instead, it only happens when someone you dislike is in office. You’re not serious about reforming the system. You’re angry about the person currently holding power, and you’re fine with it when your preferred party does the same thing. That’s why these protests aren’t really moving the needle. They may generate media attention, but they’re not changing anything. Now, could Democrats still gain seats this fall? Possibly. The party in power usually loses seats in midterm elections. But protests like this aren’t solving the underlying problem.