Trump flees White House as peaceful protestors descend on nation’s capitol
ALSO INSIDE: Adelita Grijalva calls out Arizona Republicans’ silence
Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky.
Since day one of Trump’s political career, people have desperately attempted to normalize his absurd abuses of power and blatant corruption – and 10 years later, much of corporate media remains a victim of their own attempts to return to a sense of normalcy.
It’s time to stop sane-washing the insanity.
What Happened
President Donald Trump made a hasty retreat from the White House on Friday as over 200,000 Americans made their way to Washington, DC, to protest his presidency.
The DC rally was held in coordination with thousands of protests nationwide, where more than 7 million people joined as part of the “No Kings” movement, sparked by Trump’s rapid consolidation of power under the executive branch. The president’s abrupt departure from the capitol due to mass unrest mirrors the actions taken earlier this year by the heads of state in Nepal and Madagascar where both leaders fled amidst protests and ultimately abdicated their position at the demands of the people.
“In 1776, with extraordinary efforts, the founders of our country announced to the world that they would no longer be ruled by the King of England,” US Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) said at the rally in DC. “In this dangerous moment in American history, our message is exactly the same: No, President Trump. We don’t want you or any other king to rule us.”
While previous protests were largely ignored by Trump, his administration spent weeks deriding the planned rallies as “Hate America” events. Once safely in his private resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump appeared to monitor the protests obsessively, publishing dozens of posts to Truth Social of him donning a crown, defending his militarization of US cities, and defecating on protestors from a military aircraft.
Organizers of the No Kings protests believe the October rallies represent one of the largest movements in US history, and have only seen momentum grow since Trump took office. The first large-scale protest this year took place in April and drew out 3 million people; two months later, the following nationwide rallies attracted 5 million protestors. With October’s showing of 7 million, the movement’s base grows steadily closer to the reaching something known as the “3.5% rule,” a political science theory that says once 3.5% of a population actively opposes their government, its leaders will be forced to relinquish power.
“We are committed to building our peaceful People’s Movement and achieving 3.5% participation,” protest organizers said after April’s rallies. “History shows that when just 3.5% of the population engages in sustained peaceful resistance -- transformative change is inevitable.”
Organizers of the No Kings movement hope to cross the 3.5% threshold soon, and their current trajectory shows a clear path to achieving that goal. Protests in the US would need to see a turnout of just under 12 million people to reach this theoretical tipping point, at which time some politicians believe the most effective way to demonstrate their movement’s power is through an economic boycott by way of a general strike.
“There are some billionaires and corporate leaders that want us to have sympathy for them — and they have just received the greatest tax cuts at the expense of healthcare, and housing, and education, and transportation, and good paying jobs,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said at Saturday’s rally. “Here’s what we need to do in this moment: if my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history or this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do the same today.”
A nationwide labor strike has never taken place in the US, but it has proven an effective revolutionary tactic places it‘s been implemented. A wave of general strikes in 2011 allowed the public to demand changes to working conditions and low wages in Honduras and Algeria, ground transportation to a halt over public service cuts in Portugal, and led to the removal of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh amidst his violent attempt to retain power.
Attempts to Sanewash
Far-Right Spin
How did Trump respond to No Kings protests? With an AI fighter jet and a sword
Speaker Johnson rips ‘No Kings’ rallies: if Trump were a king, things would be different
‘No Kings’ protests dot the map, from Mar-a-Lago to the Border
Millions gathered over the weekend across the country to protest the Trump administration — but what demonstrated the breadth of the “No Kings” movement was not only massive crowds in city centers, but the thousands of smaller protests that dotted the map.
An estimated 4,000 protestors waited to greet Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, where he retreated over the weekend to avoid the large-scale opposition in Washington, DC. The rally was held only a few miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and was one of over 80 protests planned in Florida alone. US Rep. Lois Frankel, who attended the Palm Beach rally, told CBS 12 News that silence in the face of an authoritarian administration is no longer an option.
“I’m so proud of our community. They’re not afraid,” said Frankel. “We know that silence is deadly, and people want change, and what better place than to have this rally in Palm Beach County while our president is visiting?”
Smaller still was the group that converged in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, where about 200 of the town’s 16,000 residents showed up to Saturday’s No King’s protest. Event organizer Renee Montelongo said protestors came together to demand accountability for elected leaders, fair elections, and to restore protections for fundamental human rights.
President Trump continues to pretend he’s a dictator, we are standing up again to push back against his hateful, authoritarian actions,” said Montelongo. “Our peaceful day of action brought together local residents from all walks of life who share a simple message: We don’t do kings in America.”
The energetic crowd played music, danced, and included a number of attendees in goofy, inflatable costumes, a now-emblamatic symbol of the peaceful nature of protests against the Trump administration. The protest attire is an attempt to dispel the disinformation from the administration and its propaganda affiliates that protestors are waging war in cities like Portland and Chicago.
But they aren’t, so camera teams and far-right media personalities have been sent out with federal law enforcement to stage carefully crafted scenes where protestors wearing masks are in tense scenarios with law enforcement. There’s cinematic smoke, yelling, shaky camera shots, and the appearance of nonstop violence and aggression.
Making those scenes believable is hard to do when the camera cuts to a group of inflatable cartoon characters getting beat up by a bunch of ICE agents — angry, incoherent thugs who coincidentally are now masked and dressed the same way the far-right has conditioned their audiences to associate with anti-fascists, or the “antifa domestic terrorists.”
The costumes were popularized by Portland protestor Seth Todd, and have spread to Douglas, Palm Beach, and every rally in between.
It’s easy for individual members of Congress to get overlooked by national outlets as they quietly skate to reelection again, and again, and again. The following is an overview of different congressional representatives you may not have heard of, with fun facts about their origin stories they’ve tried to keep out of the public narrative.
Appointed Ohio US Sen. Jon Husted
Since taking office in 2025, Husted has:
Reported a personal wealth of anywhere from $1.4 million to $3.3 million
Sponsored 24 bills, none of which have been signed into law
Wants to grant AI tools access to rewrite federal law in an attempt to cut out “useless and burdensome” rules and regulations
Purchased non-public stock from Boxabl a month before they announced plans to go public
Finally relinquished a controversial paid board seat at Heartland Bank
Fun Facts
Husted scored a US Senate seat in a battleground state with only one vote cast: that of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who appointed Husted to finish Vice President JD Vance’s term earlier this year. Husted already abandoned his plans to run for governor and is instead running to keep his seat in 2026, but could face the same fate as former battleground appointees Sens. Martha McSally and Kelly Loeffler.
Husted doesn’t have the financial backing of tech oligarch Peter Thiel, like his predecessor did, but his history of courting unsavory campaign contributions indicates he’ll have no trouble filling his war chest. He received a $1 million contribution in 2018 from an Ohio energy company that bribed Husted and his colleagues in the Ohio General Assembly for a $1 billion bailout. It’s since been turned into an HBO documentary.
Husted’s bribe from FirstEnergy was undisclosed, and it wasn’t until 2024 that Cleveland reporter Jake Zuckerman uncovered the dark money trail. Husted claims to have no knowledge of the bribery scheme, despite texts revealing that Husted asked FirsEnergy executives for a donation, and the $1 million was contributed, after which Husted became the bailout’s fiercest supporter. He has thus far evaded prosecution, but other state legislators involved have been sentenced to years in prison, and a trial for FirstEnergy’s former executives is scheduled for January.
Before his private utility bailout bribe, Husted successfully provided one of his corporate donors a $200 million payout. He did this by rewriting the state’s charter school laws, shutting down Ohio’s Legislative Office of Education Oversight, and pushing through more than $1 billion in public education funds to the failed online school ECOT.
As a reward, Husted received $36,000 in campaign contributions — and an honorary diploma from the failed educational institution.
Arizona Republicans silent on Speaker Johnson denying Grijalva seat in Congress
It’s been 27 days since Adelita Grijalva was elected to Congress, but she still hasn’t been sworn into office, leaving southern Arizonans taxed without representation.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s Republican congressional delegation—David Schweikert, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Abe Hamadeh, and Juan Ciscomani—are radio silent.
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His whole family are cowards. TANK cowards. His grand was too cowardly to serve in Germany so he fled here like a coward. And he supported hitler too. dRUMPf's daddy was a coward too and I believe they are person non grata wjhen they wanted to return. WE know TACO dRUMPf is a coward. potus BOBE SPURS.