USA TODAY: Two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet secretaries claim Democrats are keeping the government closed for the ‘No Kings’ mass protests scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18.
Their comments, made on the same Fox Business show on Oct. 13, echo congressional Republicans last week who blamed the now two-week-long shutdown on Democrats wanting to keep it closed until after the protests, hoping to show their base that they are pushing back on the Trump administration.
Liberal groups have criticized elected Democrats for not doing enough in Congress to resist Trump’s changes to the federal government.
Rally organizers told USA TODAY they expect the crowds to joyfully, and peacefully, celebrate their 1st Amendment right to protest. They’ve used the comments to draw more attention to their upcoming events.
In criticizing the rallies, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “No Kings means no paychecks. No paychecks and no government.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated separately that the expected millions of attendees will be “part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question (of) who’s funding it.”
Duffy accused the protestors of dictating the actions of Democratic leaders.
No Kings protests are scheduled at more than 2,500 locations across the country, with one of several flagship protests planned outside the U.S. Capitol. Previous protests held by these same organizers over the last year, including a June 14 rally also named No Kings, have been peaceful and drawn massive crowds.
On Oct. 10 several congressional Republicans referred to the protests as “hate America” rallies and accused Democrats of keeping the government closed at the request of activists.
In an Oct. 10 statement, the coalition of activist groups putting on the protests, rallies and marches, stressed that organizers undergo security and de-escalation training to avoid violence.
Hunter Dunn, a national spokesperson for the 50501 protest group, told USA TODAY that he finds it funny that the Republican rhetoric about the rally swings from being a tactic to keep the government closed to being full of paid protesters who hate the country.
