Overview

• House Speaker Mike Johnson labeled the upcoming No Kings events a “hate-America” rally and tied them to the government shutdown, also claiming without evidence that Democrats are selling event T‑shirts and delaying reopening the government until after the protests.
• House GOP Whip Tom Emmer described the demonstrations as aligned with a “terrorist wing” of Democrats, and Sen. Roger Marshall alleged they are “Soros paid-for” while suggesting possible National Guard deployment, assertions presented without substantiation.
• Organizers and allied groups—including Indivisible, the ACLU, the Human Rights Campaign, and College Democrats—say the nationwide Oct. 18 actions oppose authoritarianism and are explicitly committed to nonviolent, First Amendment–protected protest.
• A coalition of former senior national security and diplomatic officials known as The Steady State condemned Johnson’s remarks, calling peaceful protest a core democratic right and warning against branding lawful dissent as extremist.
• Local reporting highlighted intimidation concerns after two armed men reportedly visited a Florida critic’s home over a postcard to a state official, a case cited by activists as evidence that charged rhetoric can spill into real-world pressure.