Watch: SB Organizers Talk Politics, Policies & Plans for Saturday's Big Anti-Trump Protest

Indivisible Santa Barbara is coordinating with groups across the nation for a day of "No Kings Here" rallies and demonstrations against the right-wing extremist White House agenda

On Saturday, pro-democracy advocates in Santa Barbara and about 1,500 other communities across the nation will stage mass protests against the corrupt, cruel, incompetent and illegal actions and policies of the Trump Administration.

In a new episode of Newsmakers TV on Wednesday, four organizers from “Indivisible Santa Barbara,” the non-profit organization coordinating the event, discussed logistics, politics, strategy and tactics of “No Kings Here,” the unifying theme of the anti-autocracy demonstrations planned across the country.

“I am astounded by the way the right wing has been able to accomplish what they’ve been able to accomplish,” said Ian Paige, a retired attorney now on Indivisible’s steering committee. “I thought our democratic institutions were stronger, but unfortunately now we have to rebuild from ground up. Nationwide it’s ground up - we’re building a grassroots organization, and it’s getting huge.”

Details of the local event:

When: 10:30-noon, Saturday, June 14. Where: Assemble near Chase Palm Park, 323 E. Cabrillo Blvd. What: As a demonstration of mass opposition to Trump, rally-goers will be asked to form a “human chain” on Cabrillo, between N. Calle Cesar Chavez and Castillo St. After: Rally-goers are invited to move to the Juneteenth celebration set for Plaza del Mar Park. If you go: Protesters are encouraged to bring American flags, marking Flag Day, and signs with messages about White House policies, to the peaceful, scrupulously non-violent protest.

“Non-violence is important, not merely because Trump is looking for a pretext” to use military force against demonstrations, said steering committee member Keith Carlson. “If he’s determined enough, he’ll find one.

“Non-violence is essential to the overall strategy of our movement,” he added. “We are trying to get people off the sidelines…to convince our neighbors that we are bringing forward some of the most important, some of the best things in America. And people are not going to see it if they see violence.”

Our conversation with Carlson, Ian and Myra Paige, and Indivisible organizer Larry Behrendt is on YouTube just below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast is available on Soundcloud here.

A shift in focus. When Indivisible began planning for the nationwide “No Kings” day of protest months ago, the key aim was to call attention and opposition to Trump’s unprecedented, $45 million military parade planned for Washington on Saturday, which ostensibly will celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary, but is intended to call attention to the narcissistic president’s own birthday.

However, Trump’s recent escalation and incitement of unrest in Los Angeles, where he not only has had masked and heavily armed immigration officials sent into peaceful businesses and settings in pursuit of his legally dubious mass deportation policies, but also has deployed National Guard troops despite the opposition to doing so of Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Most chillingly, he also ordered his dullard Defense Secretary to dispatch U.S. Marines, a direct violation of the long taboo of using military forces for local and state law enforcement.

“‘No Kings’ (originally) referred to this North Korean-type display of the Army in Washington D.C.,” Indivisible’s Myra Paige told Newsmakers. “But now with our immigrant community, we feel compelled to make sure that the public is aware of everything that’s taking place in a truthful way, that we just aren’t seeing in the news.

“When half the United States is watching Fox News, it’s difficult to remind people about the significance and importance of the travesty of justice that’s taking place in this country,” she added.

Behrendt noted that, “If you have friends in the military, you know how seriously they take their oath and reverence for the Constitution.

“Their reverence for being a force that’s above politics is extremely strong, but it’s coming up against a very determined and focused president who has always seen the generals as his generals,” he added, “who demands personal loyalty above all other qualities and in place of all other qualities. There are any number of people in this administration who have no qualifications for the high office they hold, except unswerving loyalty to Donald Trump.”

“That’s where I think ‘No Kings’ comes into place - that we are here to remind the powers that be, whether they’re in the Pentagon or the Congress or…the county Board of Supervisors that we have not forgotten the way democracy is supposed to work.”