LOL VS. WTF

Anti-Trump organizers have a new plan to take on MAGA: Get under their skin — by having a good time.

• “Laughter is my job,” said Michael Scott, aka Steve Carell’s iconic awkward boss character from “The Office.” Lately, protestors against President Donald Trump’s all-too-serious authoritarian power grab are taking the same view.

• The nationwide “No Kings” protests kick off this Saturday, and organizers expect a massive turnout. More than 2,600 events are scheduled around the country, building off a previous No Kings day in June, when 2,000 events drew a stunning five million people. Planners hope to channel the spirit of another demonstration that got under MAGAworld’s skin: The recent protests in Portland, Oregon, which have featured both absurd costumes, and even quirky, buck-naked libs straddled bicycle seats in the rain outside an ICE facility. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a devout evangelical, called the naked bike ride “the most threatening thing I’ve seen.”

• There’s a point to the goofiness: It underscores the non-threatening, peaceful nature of the protests. Trump and his minions have tried to paint all demonstrators as violent thugs, to justify his military deployments to big blue cities and his crackdown on “Antifa,” whoever that may be. But nothing says “peaceful protest” like an inflatable chicken suit. The cheerful silliness of the crowd strikes a revealing contrast with the dreadful humorlessness of the authorities.

• “I think it’s great. We should lean into laughtivism,” Indivisible co-executive director Ezra Levin, one of the lead organizers of the No Kings movement, told What A Day. “I hope what you’ll see on Saturday are a lot of funny signs, and people bringing their dogs and their kids and chanting and dancing and laughing — as part of a mass demonstration against an authoritarian regime that wants everybody to feel like they’re alone.”

• Organizers are eyeing the “largest peaceful protest in American history,” Levin said. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact number of attendees, but planners hope the turnout will exceed 6 million people.

• The vibes are good among organizers, even after Johnson described the movement as a “hate America,” “pro-Hamas” rally. What does Levin think when he hears that apocalyptic rhetoric? “My immediate response was to laugh out loud,” he said. “It was a literal ‘lol’ moment. It’s just so fucking absurd.”

Jokes aside, a lot has changed in the United States since the last No Kings.

• The Trump administration has deployed the National Guard blue cities across the country, unleashed militarized federal agents in Chicago, turned the Department of Justice loose on the president’s political rivals.

• Even Joe Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster who backed Trump in 2024, isn’t cool with the Trump administration’s recent tactics. “The storming into the fucking Home Depot and arresting people? No, that’s not cool,” Rogan said on his podcast this week. “The military in the street, I think, is a dangerous precedent.”

• Americans are seeing the Trump team take actions that would’ve sounded like alarmist exaggerations a year ago, Levin said. In authoritarian regimes, people often don’t feel the consequences until there are blatant violations of democracy, he added.

• Mass protests are crucial to fighting back, Levin said. “Remember that successful movements against authoritarianism measure their success not by whether or not the regime is lashing out,” he said. “There’s little you could do to prevent a great deal of that harm. Movements measure success based on: Are you bigger? Are you more unified? Are you doing different things? Is the regime less popular?”

If the #Resistance looks like a bunch of people riding around in their birthday suits or inflatable unicorn costumes, then this should be fun. You can find your local No Kings event here.

Ahead of this weekend, I recommend reading this essay by Crooked’s Jon Favreau on Trump’s authoritarian actions ahead, as well as his video laying out the stakes of this moment in history.

WHAT ELSE?

President Donald Trump said he’s hesitant to give Ukraine long-range missiles because he thinks the war could end soon. “It’s not easy for us to give you… massive numbers of very powerful weapons,” Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House today. “Hopefully they won’t need it,” he added, a day after agreeing to meet in-person with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) curious feud with the GOP continues. This time, she’s attacking parts of Trump’s agenda as “America Last.” Oof! Feel the burn! She’s especially incensed over Trump’s focus overseas, after Trump bailed out Argentina to the tune of tens of billions. “It’s a revolving door at the White House of foreign leaders when Americans are, you know, screaming from their lungs,” she said. Get ‘em, Marje!

Venezuela is mobilizing troops and militias to repel any possible U.S. military intervention, as Trump floats airstrikes on the country and targets alleged drug boats off its coast. “On state television, radio and social media, announcers are telling Venezuelans that the U.S. is a rapacious Nazi-like state that wants to dig its claws into the country’s oil wealth,” the Wall Street Journal writes. Wait, I thought America’s president of peace was angling for that Nobel Peace Prize?

The Trump administration plans to keep paying ICE and border patrol agents during the government shutdown… but not thousands of other federal workers. How else could Trump keep these federal agents in the field, wreaking havoc on American cities, and, in many cases, detaining American citizens? Meanwhile, one traffic controller, whose job is to make sure planes land safely, told lawmakers he had to start picking up hours as a delivery driver to pay for his daughter’s tuition. Priorities, amirite?

Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) said that a swastika hanging in his office, emblazoned on an American flag, was part of a “ruse.” Multiple similar flags had been delivered to Capitol Hill offices earlier this year, according to a Hill aide from another office. But that doesn’t explain why one was tacked to a board in Taylor’s office: “It was plainly obvious to us that there was a swastika on the flag with the naked eye,” the aide said, explaining that his team threw theirs out immediately.

Light at the End of the Email…

Anyone who watched the New York City mayoral debate last night probably chuckled at Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa’s eccentric behavior. He often misheard questions, and even began answering one directed at Andrew Cuomo. When asked if he pays off his credit card each month, the 71-year-old replied: “I don’t have a credit card. I have a debit card.”

A couple in New Orleans discovered a 1,900-year-old gravestone in their backyard that belonged to a Roman soldier named Sextus Congenius Verus, who sailed on the Asclepius warship and died at 42 years old. The marker was lost after its home, an Italian museum, was bombed during World War II. So… how’d it land in the South? No one knows.

An app called iNaturalist uses AI to help nature lovers identify plants, bugs, and other wildlife — and connects people with others who also love the great outdoors. One couple from Virginia even met on the app: “I saw that he was big on galls … so I contacted him,” Izabella Farr said, referring to abnormal growths sometimes caused by insects. “Galls get the gals,” her partner, Jeff Clark, replied.

Mark your calendars! The annual pumpkin boat regatta in Maine kicks off this Sunday. Attendees will be cheering on people dressed up in costumes kayaking in 500-to-800-pound gourds down the Damariscotta River. This is what it’s all about, people! Go do random, fun stuff with your neighbors! You won’t regret it!

A 7-year-old German Shepherd named Freyja tracked down a 2-year-old missing girl in New Hampshire, right before night-time cold temperatures. Here’s a picture of Freyja and her handler, Jeremy, during her first search-and-rescue training session. She was just 8 weeks old! Queue the awwwwws.

Credit: Jeremy Corson