“The king can read that without his spectacles.” — John Hancock, after inking the biggest autograph on the Declaration of Independence
Hancock’s sprawling signature on the revolutionary scripture of Our Republic was more than a personal endorsement. It was a middle finger flipped at a mad king.
While wary of standing armies, the founders knew they would need one to secure a divorce from the tyranny of the British Empire. On June 14, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Army was mustered to life. Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of America’s first national institution.
By some irksome quirk of fate, it is also the 79th birthday of a draft dodger elected by roughly half of We the People to serve as commander in chief. Trump will celebrate Saturday with a military parade fit for a mad king.
From noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday and again at 7 p.m. for an hourlong candlelight vigil, Americans will muster on Courthouse Square in Scranton to flip a collective middle finger at Trump and his abuse of our service members to glorify himself in a Soviet-style spectacle. Indivisible, a grassroots progressive movement, organized thousands of “No Kings” protests from sea to shining sea.
Local “No Kings” protests are scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre and from 1 to 2 p.m. at Feed Mill Park, 17 Harding St., Tunkhannock.
Indivisible’s national rebuke of Trump’s brazen assault on the checks and balances established by the founders were planned weeks before he sent the Army National Guard and a battalion of Marines into Los Angeles. Trump’s unwarranted, unwanted invasion of California is a handy distraction from his “One Big Beautiful Bill,” currently under consideration by the U.S. Senate, including alleged Pennsylvania Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman.
MAGA Republican Reps. Rob Bresnahan and Dan Meuser voted for the bill, which not only raids Medicaid and SNAP benefits to fund tax cuts for billionaires but also includes hidden provisions that would stymie the judiciary and place Trump squarely above the law.
Bresnahan and Meuser voted to crown Trump king. The former hosted another “telephone town hall” Tuesday night, unwilling to face constituents in person after breaking his vow to not accept cuts to Medicaid and other essential programs. I “attended” Bresnahan’s first phony town hall, during which screeners shielded the freshman congressman from any tough questions. I skipped Tuesday’s charade, but I’m sure I didn’t miss much.
Growing up in the Reagan ’80s, my generation joined our parents and grandparents in mocking petty tyrants who paraded missiles, tanks and troops through their nations’ capitals to show how “tough” they were. We watched in horror as the Communist Chinese government massacred peaceful protesters at Tiananmen Square. Now we’re charged with resisting the same strain of fascist posturing and lethal threats we once thought could never happen here.
Will we see an American protester deliberately run over by a tank in Los Angeles? Multiple journalists have already been shot with rubber bullets. Trump threatened the arrest of Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass for daring to assert their authority to govern the state and city they were elected to serve. Somewhere, Rage Against the Machine is planning a reunion tour.
Trump’s injection of U.S. troops into an American city is a stark preview of the abuses to come if his “One Big Beautiful Bill” becomes law. He is clearly craving an excuse to impose martial law in Los Angeles, and violent protesters and right-wing troublemakers seem eager to give him one. For the umpteenth time: Violence and vandalism are not acceptable forms of protest. Engaging in either forfeits the fight to the oppressor.
America was born in and sustained for nearly 250 years by a spirit of defiance against tyranny. It’s the dominant strand of our national DNA and the animating ethos of our armed forces. On Saturday, celebrate the 250th birthday of the Army, which secured our divorce from tyranny and has served as a liberating, protective force unmatched in world history.
Celebrate the 79th birthday of the draft dodger roughly half of We the People elected to serve as commander in chief with a gesture forbidden in nations ruled by kings. Flip him your John Hancock. Make it a national spectacle.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, will never consent to be ruled by a king. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.