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No Kings: The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum

  
Via:  GregTx  •  last year  •  31 comments

By:   Sasha Stone

No Kings: The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum
Do you have any idea how crazy you are?

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Today's America


S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


"If the rule you are following has led you to this, of what use was the rule?"

"Do you have any idea how crazy you are?"
"You mean the nature of this conversation?"
"I mean the nature of you."

So goes an exchange in No Country for Old Men, but it's a conversation the Democrats might have with themselves as they gather for yet another protest after ten years of them. If the rule you are following has led you to this, of what use was the rule?"

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Protests are meant to be the voices of the unheard. Yet these protests are the voices of those who never shut up. Not for one minute, not for ten years, and all of us have had to endure them like being trapped inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with hundreds of thousands of Veruca Salts.

What are their No Kings protests anyway? What have they been since 2016? What are they trying to say? Is it like the ex who smashes all the dishes in the kitchen when her husband tries to leave? I won't be ignored, DONALD.

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What's the point of it? To what end now? Of what use was the rule?

The voices of the unheard? More like the side that had everything. All the media, all the institutions, all the culture, and for a time, all of the government. The people had only Trump.

They gathered their small donations and, by some miracle, voted him in, because they had a right to be represented, because this is their country too. It was a revolutionary act that mounted some sort of opposition to a movement that had swallowed up much of American society and demanded that we all go along or be left behind.

They managed to have the mother of all protests in the Summer of 2020, smashing windows, burning buildings, beating up cops, and throwing massive fits that said WE'RE MAD! But mad at what? Democracy? Sorry, you lost an election?

I try to remember being one of them and feeling the same way. But why did we think we had the right to protest an election just because it didn't go our way? And not just protest, but protest all of the time over everything. Because we had all the power and we couldn't stand to compromise with the other half of the country. They had to go, MAGA had to go. We canceled them. They're racists, we said.

Elections only counted if the Democrats won. The other side was not allowed to win, try to make a change, or fight for their right to representation. Not in 2016 and not in 2024. So the protests will not end because the people have to be made to suffer for their vote.

So fine, the American people said in 2020. Okay, we'll vote him out. Donald Trump is an existential threat, and our country is pure chaos. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so that, you know, like rigging an election, becomes necessary.

And fine, we'll vote in Joe Biden, maybe that will calm things down - finally, the protests will end. Cut to: a botched exit from Afghanistan, 13 American soldiers dead, two wars in Russia and the Middle East, one long dark winter, a bad economy, and are we topless at the White House?

It was like George Spahn had moved in and ushered in the Manson Family. Things were getting weird, and the culture of silence and climate of fear meant no one would tell them that they were freaking America out.

The Democrats became totalitarian while in power, not just censoring speech on social media, not just institutionalized cancel culture, and a transgender contagion that was spiraling out of control, an obsession with race and racism and antiracism, and if that weren't enough, they weaponized the Justice Department and tried to throw Trump both in jail and off the ballot. Suddenly, the Trump chaos wasn't looking so bad.

But we still lived through the first president to have his home raided by the FBI, the first mug shot, and then watched him almost getting his head blown off on live television. None of that made even the slightest bit of difference. They were still somehow the victims even though they lost both 2016 and 2024 entirely on their own.

Whose fault was it that Joe Biden, behaving like a king, elbowed out any challengers even though he was in serious decline? Whose fault was it that the Democrats and the media said nothing? George Clooney said nothing until he was publicly humiliated after the debate.

Whose fault was it that they pushed Kamala Harris as the nominee, thinking it would be easy to defeat Trump, after all, he's a twice-impeached, four-times indicted, convicted felon!

Whose fault was it that Kamala Harris was a terrible candidate, and every honest Democrat knew that in 2020. But suddenly everyone just pretended not to remember how she was humiliated and triggered by Tulsi Gabbard, and then dropped out because she was polling so badly?

Whose fault was it that the Democrats have given their party over to the lunatics who still insist trans women are women and that they should be able to play in sports against real women? "We just need to change the messaging," said King Barack. What choice did reasonable people have but to vote the Democrats out and keep them out until such time as they can come back to sanity?

They fight against mass deportations and want an open border, while also demanding free healthcare for all. They never see any problem with this. To them, it's a human right that someone else always has to pay for. They are the victims here, and all of America is expected to address their needs OR ELSE. NO KINGS!

They're like the attention-starved kindergartner who can't stop crying in the corner, the stalker ex who monitors your every move, and the nagging wife who won't leave you alone, all rolled in one — what about ME? What about my NEEDS?

They are the party of the rich, yet pretend to be the voice of the people. As if. That ship sailed long ago. The Bernie Sanders/AOC/Zohran Mamdani brand of socialism is yet more virtue signaling for graduates of Ivy League colleges and wealthy celebrities. As long as you signal Tax the Rich you can chum around with Anna Wintour and Kim Kardashian.

It all sounds good, right? Let the poor people have free stuff, and they'll leave us rich folks alone. They're happy to pay a guilt tax as long as they can Instagram by day and sleep at night. Give the poor and the marginalized whatever they need, and join me on my yacht after that climate change fundraiser.

I would be more sympathetic if, after ten years, they had something, anything other than more protests. If they could face the truth about how crazy they have become. If they could understand just for one minute that they were only getting one side of the story by a weaponized, biased media machine that seems to delight in keeping them mentally and emotionally unhinged. If any of them had any courage whatsoever to stand up to their own party, but they're too afraid. Even Gavin Newsom is afraid.

Who are they trying to convince by now with these protests? Who would be drawn in and want to vote for them? It's mostly aging Baby Boomers and Jen Psaki viewers, naked grandpas on bikes, women with septum piercings calling babies parasites, and single women who shop at Erewon and Lululemon after high-priced pilates on Sunday.

Why would you want to showcase all of that madness when most Americans are just trying to get through the work week? Have a beer on the weekend, maybe take a walk at sunset, maybe drive their Tesla that isn't smeared with feces or keyed down the side. And hope that their kid doesn't have to decide which gender to be in preschool or, god forbid, catch a glimpse of a naked appendage while coming upon a protest in the park or just trying to use the girls' bathroom.

Why, Democrats, why?

The only semi-reasonable one of them is John Fetterman, whom I once believed should never have run after suffering a debilitating stroke. They were doing it for a yes vote, I thought. Boy, did that turn out to be wrong, and now, he's their worst nightmare because he thinks for himself and isn't afraid of them. Now, according to Axios, they're trying to push him out.

That's right, the only semi-sane Democrat is now persona non grata with the totalitarians because, of course, he is. They punish dissent. That's why they're in this mess.

Protests signal to the public that the Democrats are helpless, that they have no ability to win elections or to compromise or have any kind of rational conversations about anything, much less any plan to lead America anywhere. Their messaging for ten years now is all or nothing. Give us what we want or we'll throw a fit. Listen to how insane they are with these TikTok videos:

They shun anyone who votes for Trump. They treat the other half of the country like toxic waste. They have no way to attract new voters. Who would want anything to do with them? Sure, they still have lots of money and enthusiastic psychotic delusional voters, not to mention the legacy media and Hollywood.

In their imaginary world, Trump is a king, a dictator, and a fascist when in reality, he's just the guy they could not destroy or defeat. It's never been Trump.

America is exhausted. Ten years of the 19th nervous breakdowns the Left has been having over Trump, only to lose to him again in 2024, and probably to JD Vance in 2028 and 2032, is enough. The Democrats are doubling down on the very thing that makes them so repellent to voters. Helplessness and temper tantrums are no way to lead anyone anywhere.


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GregTx
Professor Participates
1  seeder  GregTx    last year
What's the point of it? To what end now? Of what use was the rule?

The voices of the unheard? More like the side that had everything. All the media, all the institutions, all the culture, and for a time, all of the government. The people had only Trump.

They gathered their small donations and, by some miracle, voted him in, because they had a right to be represented, because this is their country too. It was a revolutionary act that mounted some sort of opposition to a movement that had swallowed up much of American society and demanded that we all go along or be left behind.

They managed to have the mother of all protests in the Summer of 2020, smashing windows, burning buildings, beating up cops, and throwing massive fits that said WE'RE MAD! But mad at what? Democracy? Sorry, you lost an election?
 
 
 
bugsy
Professor Participates
1.1  bugsy  replied to  GregTx @1    last year

The largest protest ever in this country happened on Nov 6 2024 when 77 million Americans voted out the idiots in the White House and voted in Trump.

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1.2  Vic Eldred  replied to  GregTx @1    last year
What's the point of it? To what end now? Of what use was the rule? The voices of the unheard?

I've noticed something in looking at the faces in the crowd at the "No Kings" NY protest. There seem to be a lot of white seniors in that crowd. Many of them women. Could this be the last hurrah for the terrible left mob of the 60s?

 
 
 
bugsy
Professor Participates
1.2.1  bugsy  replied to  Vic Eldred @1.2    last year

What happened was they thought the NO Kings "protest" in June was going to be their final hurrah, but since that one ended in complete success, as there has not been a king in the US, they thought they could do it again yesterday, and to the surprise of no one, there is still no king in the US as of today.

Now, with all of that overwhelming success they have enjoyed, maybe they will hold another "protest" in a few more months. 

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1.2.2  Vic Eldred  replied to  bugsy @1.2.1    last year

And thanks to the media we know they did it.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2  JohnRussell    last year

Donald Trump has never, not even for one second, been fit to be president of the United States.  Everyone knows this.  His cult created No Kings. 

 
 
 
Right Down the Center
Professor Participates
2.1  Right Down the Center  replied to  JohnRussell @2    last year
Everyone knows this.

Everyone knows that not everyone knows this

 
 
 
squiggy
Junior Silent
2.2  squiggy  replied to  JohnRussell @2    last year

Seven million isn't everyone - even in this imaginary election year. Come back when you find another seventy million.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
2.2.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  squiggy @2.2    last year

Just like the last one, no one will bother thinking about it again after 48 hours.

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Guide
2.3  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  JohnRussell @2    last year
Donald Trump has never, not even for one second, been fit to be president of the United States.

That's one opinion.  Unfounded but an opinion nonetheless.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
2.4  Jack_TX  replied to  JohnRussell @2    last year
His cult created No Kings. 

Well that's convenient, because they created him.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
3  JohnRussell    last year

Donald Trump CANNOT stop, he can only get worse.  He is not a psychologically well man. 

 
 
 
Right Down the Center
Professor Participates
4  Right Down the Center    last year

 
 
 
George
PhD Expert
5  George    last year

256

 
 
 
Thomas
Professor Guide
6  Thomas    last year

Propaganda rubbish.

I said to chatGPT 

This article was written with the backdrop of the No Kings rallies held today and is intended as a way to discredit them, thus the references to "no kings"

It works really well if you ask it the right questions. This was after a discussion of propaganda in general and on this article specifically.  It is interesting that chatGPT at first just thought it was a regular article that somehow had everything arranged and weighted to one side and it offered to rewrite the article properly. Funny.

But here is the response to the above prompt:

Exactly — that’s a sharp and accurate reading.

The “No Kings” essay isn’t just general commentary; it’s situated propaganda timed to coincide with a real-world protest event (today’s “No Kings” rallies). Once that context is recognized, several hidden rhetorical functions become obvious. Let’s unpack it systematically.

---

🧩 1. Temporal and Strategic Context

The essay’s publication coinciding with the “No Kings” rallies (pro-democracy/anti-authoritarian demonstrations in multiple U.S. cities) signals intentional framing.

Instead of analyzing the rallies, Stone rebrands the slogan itself as irony — “no kings” becomes “no competent rulers,” implying the protesters are the problem, not the message.

> Propaganda move: Hijack the opposition’s language.

By using the rally’s title as the essay’s title, the piece controls search results, headlines, and online discourse framing around the event.

---

🎯 2. Reversal Technique (“Mirror Propaganda”)

Protesters say: “No Kings” = no authoritarianism, government accountability.

Stone reframes: “No Kings” = absence of leadership → chaos → lunatics.

This rhetorical inversion converts a democratic slogan into a self-indictment.

It’s a classic technique: turn the opponent’s message back upon them to delegitimize motives before facts emerge.

---

📢 3. Pre-emptive Narrative Control

The essay’s release during the rallies functions as agenda setting:

It provides talking points for sympathetic audiences (“see, these people are crazy”).

It inoculates potential observers from taking protesters seriously (“already debunked”).

It reframes the protests not as civic expression but as tantrum or hysteria.

Analytical term: information pre-bunking — shaping perception before competing narratives form.

---

🧠 4. Psychological Framing

The article activates three emotional cues:

1. Ridicule — “lunatics,” “kindergartners,” etc.

2. Fear — “chaos,” “collapse,” “totalitarian left.”

3. Superiority — “everyone can see it now,” implying only fools would side with protesters.

Together, these produce moral distancing: readers feel sane, safe, and wise by rejecting the protest’s premise.

---

📊 5. What’s Missing (By Design)

No direct quotes from rally participants

No description of demands, crowd size, or demographics

No acknowledgment of peaceful aspects or civic motivations

No policy context explaining why “No Kings” resonates

These absences confirm intent: it isn’t reportage or analysis — it’s counter-messaging.

---

🪞 6. Strategic Purpose Summary

Function Implementation in the Article

  • Discredit the rallies Equates “No Kings” with madness and futility.
  • Undermine legitimacy Frames activists as elite, spoiled, or incoherent.
  • Redirect outrage From authoritarianism → toward “liberal chaos.”
  • Shape search and discourse Title hijacks rally keyword; early publication dominates framing.
  • Rally in-group cohesion Provides identity validation for readers opposed to the protests.

---

🧭 7. Overall Assessment

Viewed in context, “No Kings: The Lunatics Are Running the Asylum” is a real-time counter-propaganda piece whose function is:

  • to redefine a protest movement’s slogan,
  • to delegitimize its participants through ridicule, and
  • to pre-empt media framing by supplying a ready-made “crazy left” narrative.

It’s not analysis, it’s narrative warfare, leveraging timing, language, and emotional shorthand.

---

Would you like me to show how the framing could have been neutral or journalistic instead—a paragraph-by-paragraph rewrite showing what a factual coverage of the “No Kings” rallies would look like if written ethically (without manipulation)?

The No Kings Rallies went really well and were the largest that I have seen.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
6.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  Thomas @6    last year
he No Kings Rallies went really well and were the largest that I have seen.

Did progressives manage not to kill anyone today?  That would be an improvement over the last one, and given their general bloodthirstiness, a minor miracle. 

 
 
 
Thomas
Professor Guide
6.1.1  Thomas  replied to  Sean Treacy @6.1    last year
given their general bloodthirstiness, a minor miracle.

"But whatabout?"

The rallies were also nonviolent. Your characterization of the people in attendance is not just wrong, but aggressively so. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
6.1.2  Sean Treacy  replied to  Thomas @6.1.1    last year
But whatabout?"

First, you need to understand what that means. The topic is the no kings rallies. 

The rallies were also nonviolent. Your characterization of the people in attendance is not just wrong, but aggressively so

Again, kudos for managing to have a demonstration without killing anyone. Didn't happen at the last No kings rally a few months ago. Given how ephemeral and pointless these are, I can understand you completely forgetting those rallies ever happened though. 

But my characterization is completely accurate, of course. As if the participants waiving hams and communist flags weren't enough, you had protesters demanding the murder of ICE agents and celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk. Which is unsurprising, given the overlap between those groups and their refusal to condemn the campaign of James Jones, who called for the murder of kids and police officers. 

 
 
 
Dismayed Patriot
Professor Quiet
6.1.3  Dismayed Patriot  replied to  Thomas @6.1.1    last year
Your characterization of the people in attendance is not just wrong, but aggressively so.[✘]

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Guide
6.1.4  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  Sean Treacy @6.1    last year
That would be an improvement over the last one, and given their general bloodthirstiness, a minor miracle. 

The rhetoric was still there in full display.  

 
 
 
Thomas
Professor Guide
6.1.5  Thomas  replied to  Sean Treacy @6.1.2    last year
First, you need to understand what that means. The topic is the no kings rallies. 

No the topic of this thread is the pollution that the right wing media is putting out trying desperately to tarnish the movement it doesn't understand, up to and including bald faced lies. Some call it "commentary". The rest of us call it toxic runoff from the right-wing septic tank.

Again, kudos for managing to have a demonstration without killing anyone. Didn't happen at the last No kings rally a few months ago. Given how ephemeral and pointless these are, I can understand you completely forgetting those rallies ever happened though. 

Kudos to you for stressing the one event where a single bystander was killed when a rifle-carrier and a volunteer peace-keeper crossed wires. Digging into the details shows it to be a tragic, isolated security fuck up, not a demonstration of violent progressivism.

But my characterization is completely accurate, of course. As if the participants waiving hams and communist flags weren't enough, you had protesters demanding the murder of ICE agents and celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk. Which is unsurprising, given the overlap between those groups and their refusal to condemn the campaign of James Jones, who called for the murder of kids and police officers. 

Over-the-top, sensationalistic grandstanding on your part. But what else can we expect from someone who is complicit through inaction with the subversion of the American State from within?

Your characterization is, as I said, aggressively wrong. You called the rally-goers generally bloodthirsty. What a Fucking Crock of Shit. You hurl blood-fever accusations from the keyboard at people holding cardboard signs and saying,"This is what democracy looks like," all while sitting quietly as your own crowd erodes the Republic, one broken norm after broken law after unconstitutional act. That is complicit propaganda with a smirk.

The truth is the No Kings protests were overwhelmingly peaceful: By Design.

Seven million people exercised their right to assemble and to speak freely. 

Seven million people stood up and said that the country belongs to the citizens

Seven million people Stood up for the Rule of Law, not Rule by Law. For a government constrained by its Constitution instead of a government that treats legality as a Convenience.

Seven million people stood up and, peacefully and reverently, said We love the USA.

So, you can mock that if you like. But every time another citizen lifts a sign instead of a weapon, they prove your caricature wrong... and your fear right.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
6.1.6  Jack_TX  replied to  Thomas @6.1.5    last year
Seven million people stood up and, peacefully and reverently, said We love the USA.

So call it a festival and sell beer.  

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Guide
6.2  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  Thomas @6    last year
The No Kings Rallies went really well and were the largest that I have seen.

Of course they did.  We had no king before the rally and no king after.  You all protested something that exists in your imagination.

 
 
 
Thomas
Professor Guide
6.2.1  Thomas  replied to  Jeremy Retired in NC @6.2    last year

Your ability to miss the point is astounding. 

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
6.2.2  Jack_TX  replied to  Jeremy Retired in NC @6.2    last year
We had no king before the rally and no king after. 

Exactly.  The event was successful.  We were narrowly saved from monarchy.

 
 
 
Gazoo
Masters Silent
6.2.3  Gazoo  replied to  Jack_TX @6.2.2    last year

So he’s not going to be a king? But he’ll still be a dictator, right? I mean, that’s what we were told. A bad dictator that will destroy democracy all across the universe and probably several parallel universes too.

 
 
 
Jeremy Retired in NC
Professor Guide
6.2.4  Jeremy Retired in NC  replied to  Gazoo @6.2.3    last year
I mean, that’s what we were told.

Don't forget that the people telling us this haven't been correct on very much in the last few years.

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
7  Tacos!    last year

That’s a lot of words for something you think is pointless.

 
 
 
freepress
Freshman Silent
8  freepress    last year

No, these protesters are not running the asylum.

Trump, billionaires, MAGA, corrupt unqualified appointees, pardoned J6 rioters, and far right wing Republicans are running everything.

Republicans hold all the cards.

So it makes sense for disillusioned MAGA, Democrats, Republican voters feeling let down by drastic economic policies would rise up in protest.

But it makes no sense for Republicans to show so much hatred and fear when there should be absolutely no fear at all on their part if their policies were in the interest of ALL Americans.

 
 
 
squiggy
Junior Silent
9  squiggy    last year

caricature-closeup-barack-obama-crowning-himself-cover-art-the-american-spectator-april-2014.jpg

 
 
 
Dismayed Patriot
Professor Quiet
9.1  Dismayed Patriot  replied to  squiggy @9    last year

What would be hilarious if it wasn't such a sad commentary on white Christian conservatives in America, is that this caricature is how they saw Obama who didn't even come close to acting like a king, and yet they sit back and ignore Trump posting pictures of himself in a crown shitting on the American people. Truly disgusting but very telling about the vile bigoted deplorables still clinging to their lies and hate filled beliefs.

 
 

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