Rex Huppke: ‘No Kings’ protests return as King Trump wrecks America

As Donald Trump behaves more and more like a mad king than a president – forcing America into an already disastrous war with Iran without congressional approval, targeting political enemies, babbling about building ballrooms and arches – the third round of aptly named “No Kings” protests arrives to highlight just how much our president is disliked.

Spoiler alert: It’s a lot.

Millions are expected to turn out on Saturday to more than 3,000 planned No Kings events nationwide, filling the streets of big cities and the parks and sidewalks of small towns. And they will be angry with Trump’s version of America, one that is unrecognizable, unpopular and crumbling.

We are at war with Iran for no clear reason. Gas prices have skyrocketed, and the United States and the world teeter on the edge of an energy crisis because the administration failed to predict Iranian leaders would do the most obvious thing they could do: Choke off the Strait of Hormuz and throttle oil shipments.

Food prices remain high, as all Trump’s re-election campaign promises to lower costs on day one vanished in a poof of predictable dishonesty.

Air travelers across the country are experiencing outrageous wait times in security lines because Trump and the Republican Party have rebuffed Democratic attempts to separately fund the Transportation Safety Administration while the Department of Homeland Security is shut down. Why is DHS shut down? Because Trump and his lackeys allowed violent federal immigration agents to run roughshod over the Constitution and basic human decency, Democrats are now rightly dead set on reforming the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies.

Trump’s solution to widespread anger at ICE? Put ICE agents in crowded airports and pretend they’ll be able to help.

Trump’s casual cruelty is on display daily, as he makes it clear he cares only about Americans who bend the knee to him and views everyone else as the enemy.

On March 22, Trump posted on social media: “Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Asked for comment on the No Kings protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told USA Today: “The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”

When the people are angry, the president should listen. That White House statement makes it clear he will not.

Trump is technically the president to all Americans. That’s the job description, at least in a democracy. But has there been a moment since he was re-elected when any non-MAGA American felt Trump had their back, or would have their back?

He does not lead; he rules. He thrives on division. He is not capable of true concern or patriotism, only self-adulation, self-enrichment and self-protection.

Seven million Americans turned out for the last No Kings protest in October. More are expected this time around.

Because people are pissed:

• A new Fox News poll found Trump’s “59% disapproval rating is the highest for either term. Nearly half, 47%, strongly disapprove” of the president’s job performance.
• A new Reuters/Ipsos poll put Trump’s approval rating at a woeful 36%.
• A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found only “34% of U.S. adults approve of the way Trump is handling foreign policy.”
• More than 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran war, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Government data shows ground beef prices are at a record-high $6.74 per pound, mortgage rates have jumped to a seven-month high, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday that the war will likely cause the U.S. inflation rate to spike to 4.2% this year.

Meanwhile, King Trump spent Thursday getting fancifully glazed by Cabinet members during a meeting as he talked about building “a triumphal arch” in Washington, D.C., and boasted of his love of the gold fixtures he has surrounded himself with in the White House, saying, “I’m a gold person. It’s all real stuff. You can’t imitate it.”

Respectfully, Mr. President, pound sand. You are deeply unpopular, and you should give a damn about that. You are not a king, regardless of what your addled brain seems to think. You serve all Americans, and they are about to send you a loud but simple message: You stink.

What’s happening in our country right now, and around the world, is not sustainable. We remain a democracy, and the masses – first at No Kings protests, then at midterm election polling places – will have a voice.

For Republicans in Trump’s unraveling America, that voice will be thunderous.

Follow USA Today columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk