Donald Trump is throwing himself a birthday party fit for a king.

On Saturday, June 14 — one week from today — Trump is holding a military parade for himself in Washington, D.C. (Seriously, how insecure is this guy?)

• This is the kind of thing we expect from authoritarians like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

• Just one problem, at the risk of stating the obvious: Donald Trump is not a king. No matter how much he — and the Republicans who abase themselves to fall in line with his dictatorial ambitions — act like he is.

• As we all learned in grade school, America fought for and won our independence from Great Britain very specifically because we did not want to be ruled by any king. (It sure seems like a lot of Republicans, including Trump himself, have “forgotten” that simple lesson.)

• So here we are, after 250 years of democracy — which was always a work in progress, to be sure — and tanks will be rolling down Constitution Avenue in our nation’s capital as if it were Red Square in Moscow.

• It’s also worth noting what a colossal misallocation of taxpayer dollars this “parade” is, just to pump up Trump’s alarmingly fragile ego. Meanwhile, Trump himself, Elon Musk and DOGE, and congressional Republicans have been taking a chainsaw to vital government agencies and services — even trying to cut Medicaid — supposedly in the name of eradicating “waste.”

Public Citizen — along with the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, Black Voters Matter, Indivisible, and over 200 other partner groups — is organizing nationwide rallies on Saturday, June 14, to say “No Kings!” to Donald Trump.

There are already over 1,600 “No Kings!” events in the works, with more being added every day.

All across the country, Americans will be taking to the streets in rejection of Donald Trump’s lust for power.

Visit our “No Kings!” coalition website to find a rally near you and join in on Saturday, June 14!

We hope you can be part of a rally in your area, in person or in spirit.

For democracy,

- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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