Mehdi Hassan

I immigrated here from the United Kingdom.

You want to talk about no kings?

The UK still has a king.

King Charles III.

But even he has less gold in his palace than Donald Trump has in the Oval Office right now.

Even King Charles has more respect for democratic norms and traditions than the whiny authoritarian man-child trying to send troops into as many blue cities as he can.

All week, I've heard Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican members of Congress say that this rally, the No Kings rally, is a hate rally.

A hate rally.

the people who can't get through a single day without hating on late night comedians and overweight soldiers and Muslim politicians and Mexican immigrants and Palestinian refugees and black women and transgender kids and peaceful protesters and Mr. Fricking Potato Head, they are lecturing us on hate?

Really?

I'm not here out of hate.

I'm here out of love.

I'm here because I love this country.

I love America.

I love the First Amendment.

I love our democracy.

I love our diversity.

Yes, our diversity.

And I am not willing to sit back and watch our glorious American multiracial, multicultural, democratic experiment, our constitutional republic destroyed by the guy from Home Alone 2.

Not going to do it.

Because I did not inherit America.

I did not inherit America.

I chose America.

I wasn't born here.

I immigrated here.

And we immigrants, we love this country often more than the people who are born here.

Because we chose to move here, live here, swear an oath to the Constitution here.

An oath that the guy down the street violates every morning and every night.

I'm here because I love this country.

I love America.

I love the First Amendment.

I love our democracy.

I love our diversity.

Yes, our diversity.

And I am not willing to sit back and watch our glorious American multiracial, multicultural, democratic experiment, our constitutional republic destroyed by the guy from Home Alone 2.

Not going to do it.

He just went to see the Egyptian President Sisi, who is a military dictator, runs one of the most repressive regimes on earth.

And he went there and he said, I want to praise your fantastic leadership and your low crime rates.

This is who he loves.

This is the autocratic leader he aspires to be.

And of course, he was in Egypt hailing his Gaza peace plan, which is a ceasefire, yes, but not a peace plan.

Donald Trump, the man who uses Palestinian as a pejorative, as a slur, has no plan.

for Palestinian freedom, no plan for Palestinian statehood, no plan for justice for the Palestinians who have been massacred and starved and genocided and ethnically cleansed for the past two years, including the past nine months of his presidency.

Meanwhile, Israel for the past week has violated the ceasefire again and again, killing Palestinians with impunity.

Yesterday they killed seven Palestinian children during a ceasefire.

There is no peace in the Middle East because as Dr. King said, peace is not just the absence of violence, it is the presence of justice.

So these are dark times, genocide abroad, fascism at home, which is why it's so crucial that we gather, we organize, we rally like this.

We mobilize, we pluralize, we bring people into the tent, we register voters, we defend voters, we become voters if we're not already.

The great irony is, of course, that Donald Trump is the son of an immigrant, the grandson of an immigrant, and married to an immigrant.

In fact, two of his three wives were immigrants, proving yet again that immigrants will do the jobs that even Americans are not willing to do.

And you know, they say we don't reach out to the other side.

We don't reach out to conservatives or Republicans, that we're in an echo chamber.

Well, let me say to every Republican and conservative watching, aren't you the ones who said no more big government, no tyranny in America?

So if you believe that, what are you doing defending masked federal agents in unmarked cars, bundling people off of the streets, including American citizens, and disappearing them?

How are you okay with that?

And if you're not okay with it, then come over to our side.

the side of the Democrats, the small D Democrats, not the big D Democrats, not the Democratic Party, those of us who are from all parties and none, but those of us who care about saving America so that we can get to our 250th birthday and still be free when we reach 250 years.

Come over to our side, the side of no crowns, no thrones, no kings, the side of freedom, of liberty, of the Constitution, the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the 14th Amendment, the 22nd Amendment, which says two terms means two terms.

And if you're not worried about Donald Trump trying to stay on for a third term, you should be.

He's literally selling merch.

So I worry about free and fair elections in 2028.

But then I say, why should I worry?

I see all of you here today.

What is there to worry about?

We here today are not spectators.

We are citizens.

We are not bystanders.

We are proud and patriotic Americans.

And we Americans, we the people, will not allow our country to be taken over by demagogues and dictators.

We will not stand for it.