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NO KINGS MOVEMENT - The No Kings/50501 movement faces growing contradictions because of bipartisan US military and diplomatic support for the Ukraine proxy war, Israel’s Gaza genocide, preemptive Israeli attacks on Iran, and US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites. Nevertheless, the recent No Kings/50501 rallies across the entire United States were a clear success. Millions brought their own imaginative signs, which they enthusiastically waved at beeping cars.
On the downside, the LAPD attacked the No Kings rally in downtown Los Angeles, and organizers cancelled No Kings rallies in Minneapolis and St. Paul, after a Trump supporter assassinated several Minnesota state legislators.
If we look closely, however, the No Kings/50501 movement is NOT a grassroots political group. It has carefully concealed the key organizing role of the pro-Ukraine war and Gaza genocide Democratic Party. Its co-organizers are two former Democratic Congressional staffers, who are also leaders of Indivisible; a Democratic Party group formed in 2016 to oppose President Trump.
Like most Congressional Republicans, the No King/50501 movement (implicitly) supports massive US military budgets, preparations for war against China, the Ukraine proxy war, and genocide in Gaza. How then does this Democratic Party organization differentiate itself from Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans? The answer is they only raise domestic issues and never oppose bi-partisan foreign and military policy.
Bi-partisan foreign policy: Gaza Strip’s Jabalya refugee camp after Israel dropped a large US bomb.
How long can the No Kings/50501 movement maintain its strict focus on domestic issues? Their job has become much harder because of overwhelming public opposition to the US government’s attacks on Iran. On June 21 the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear targets. This was a major escalation because previously the US supplied the weapons and intelligence, but relied on Israel to attack Iran and suffer Iranian counter-attacks.
This direct US miliary action, however, undermines the anti-Trump political focus of the No Kings/50501 movement. Iran has already counter-attacked Al Udeid, a large US base in Qatar, and it could still block the Straits of Hormuz.
So far, we only know that the Trump administration has increased internal divisions in the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republicans are split between anti-war neo-isolationists, such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, and the party’s military interventionists, led by Senators Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz. The Democrats, too, are divided between anti-war Doves and the dominant military interventionists Hawks.
One thing, though, is clear. These war-peace divisions within both major parties are not being driven by public opinion. According to Axios, the US public is now firmly anti-war even though the leaders of both parties strongly support US military intervention, usually via Israel, in Iran, Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.
“60% of 1,512 polled Americans think the U.S. military should not get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, according to an Economist/YouGov poll released this week. Only 16% support U.S. military action, and 24% are unsure.”
This means that leaders of both parties are increasingly at odds with their supporters. According to the New York Times, most Congressional Republicans – but not Republican voters -- support Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran. In “contrast,” Democratic Congressional leaders only stated that the President should have first consulted Congress.
These events put the Indivisible/50501/No Kings organizers in a bind. The millions they attracted to their rallies also oppose US military actions in Iran and elsewhere. Declining public support for the US role in the Gaza is similar since the US public no longer supports this genocide.
How will the No Kings/50501 movement respond to these changes? My prediction is that like Kamala Harris, it will use weasel words to appear to be anti-war, while still supporting White House military actions against China, Iran, and Gaza, even if they reduce participation in future anti-Trump 50-501 actions.
(Victor Rothman is a California-based political analyst and a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.com.)
