Watch: "No Kings" Protest Organizers Push Back on Bonkers Trump/MAGA Attacks, Detail Saturday's SB Rally and March
As the right-wing media echo chamber amplifies inflammatory rhetoric, leaders of Indivisible Santa Barbara expect peaceful crowds here and across the nation in defense of democracy and fair elections.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, in an Oval Office rant this week smearing in advance Saturday’s planned “No Kings” mass demonstrations against her boss, offered this baffling observation as purported evidence of the inherent evil of protesters.
“You’re seeing people out there with thousands of signs that all match,” Bondi said.
Clearly, she’s never attended a “No Kings” rally in Santa Barbara.
Local organizers of this Saturday’s rally and march — the program begins at noon in Alameda Park - got a chuckle out of that facet of Bondi’s unhinged harangue, given that handmade signs (some would say hand-scrawled), bearing messages that range from the very individualized to the extremely idiosyncratic, are a central feature of “No Kings” events.
Other parts of Bondi’s tirade weren’t so funny, however, as when she falsely alleged that “No Kings” is a front for “Antifa,” the mythical terrorist organization that Trump and his MAGA minions claim is behind the mass, non-violent protests against him.
“The Republicans are running so scared of what’s happening, that they’re lashing out in the only way that they can, to try and instill fear in people, to have them not show up,” said Ian Paige, one of three leaders of Indivisible Santa Barbara who joined Newsmakers TV on Thursday to discuss the Saturday gathering.
Organizers invited people to arrive early for the rally in Alameda Park, which will begin at noon, to be followed by a march to De La Guerra Plaza.
“We’ve been working closely with the Santa Barbara Police Department, and God bless the Santa Barbara Police Department, they are so good to us,” said Indivisible spokesperson Keith Carlson. “They’re going to be at a rally with us both inside and outside of the event.”
Amid a discussion of the political implications of the demonstration, which will be matched by similar rallies and marches in thousands of communities across the U.S., organizer Myra Paige noted that Indivisible was founded in 2017, as a decentralized, grassroots structure for opposing Trump’s extremist right-wing policies and actions after his first election.
There is a big difference between then and the current Administration, she added.
“In that first administration, we still had (institutional) guard rails,” Paige said.
Check out our full conversation with the leaders of Indivisible SB via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on Soundcloud. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. Monday.