GOP Leaders Call ‘No Kings’ Protest A ‘Hate America’ Rally, Baselessly Suggest Terror Link

WASHINGTON ― Republicans suggested Friday that the progressive groups planning “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump next weekend just plain hate America.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said Democrats have kept the federal government shut down because they’re pandering to the activists ahead of protests planned in D.C. and across the country for Saturday, Oct. 18.

“They’re having this ‘Hate America’ rally in Washington,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 2 House Republican, said at a press conference on Friday.

“And Democrats want to keep the government shut down to show all those people that are going to come here and express their hatred towards this country that they’re fighting President Trump, that they’re keeping the government closed, as if it’s something to be proud of,” Scalise said.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) even suggested the “No Kings” organizers are actually terrorists.

“This is about one thing and one thing only: to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party which is set to hold… a ‘Hate America’ rally in D.C. next week,” Emmer said.

The “No Kings” protests are organized by the progressive groups that have indeed encouraged Democrats to demand concessions from Republicans in exchange for funding the government. Federal agencies shut down last week after most Senate Democrats refused to vote for a House-passed bill, saying the legislation should address expiring health insurance subsidies.

Several Republicans speculated this week that Democrats were holding out against a government funding bill because they wanted the government to remain shut down past the day of the protests. But the statements on Friday about “No Kings” protesters hating America or having some terror link were a dramatic rhetorical escalation.

“This ‘Hate America’ rally that they have coming up for Oct. 18, the Antifa crowd and the pro-Hamas crowd and the Marxists, they’re all going to gather on the Mall,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said.

“It is an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes, but the Democrats in the Senate have shown that they’re afraid of that crowd,” Johnson said. “And so they’re willing to hold the American people hostage so that they don’t have to face an angry mob that’s a big chunk of their base.”

The “No Kings coalition” ― the dozens of liberal groups helping organize the protests, including Indivisible, MoveOn and Public Citizen ― said it’s Johnson’s fault the government has shut down, not theirs.

“Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable health care, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings,” the groups said.

The protests come as the Trump administration vows a crackdown on leftist groups that the White House claims organize political violence.

Previous “No Kings” protests came and went this year without generating as much attention as anti-Trump protests did during his first term in the White House. Organizers said millions of people turned out for “No Kings” protests across the country in June. Republicans said little about the rallies at the time.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told HuffPost earlier this week that Democrats weren’t holding out for the “No Kings” protests.

“It’s not true,” Murphy said. “I mean, they’re floundering. Of course they’re going to be casting for a way to try to shift the blame off of them.”

Igor Bobic contributed reporting.