Republican leaders issued warnings this week that far-left anarchist groups and Antifa could be behind planned mass protests scheduled for Saturday, as hundreds of “No Kings” demonstrations are set to take place across the nation.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed Monday that the upcoming “No Kings Day” protests are being organized in part by Antifa, which was recently designated a domestic terrorist organization.
“The ‘No Kings’ protest, Maria, really frustrating. I mean, this is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question, who’s funding it?” Duffy told Fox Business Network.
Duffy said the protests if further proof that establishment Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are no longer in charge of the party.
“The No Kings protesters or organizers are running the show,” he told Fox Business. “Is [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] threatening a primary against Chuck Schumer? Is she running the show?”
House Speaker Mike Johnson made similar claims Friday on Fox News, describing the October 18 protests as a “hate-America rally” that is being organized by “the Antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists.”
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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer also claimed the protests are connected to “the terrorist wing of their party” and called it a “hate America rally in DC next week.”
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-K.S., told reporters that “October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We’ll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it.”
The protests are being organized by the Indivisible Project, led by Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg. The coalition includes more than 200 leftwing groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, the American Federation of Teachers, MoveOn, and the College Democrats of America.
“On October 18, millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people,” reads the webpage on the No Kings website.
The October protests mark the second nationwide “No Kings” demonstration. The first took place June 14, coinciding with the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary military parade in Washington and President Trump’s 79th birthday.
Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, said in a statement that “No Kings Day on June 14 was an historic demonstration of people power, and it’s grown into a broad, diverse movement.”
The Washington protest will take place on the National Mall. Other major demonstrations are planned in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities. Events are also scheduled in Canada and Mexico.