Scarborough Goes on a Lengthy Rant Defending ‘No Kings’ Protest: Republicans Are ‘Trying to Whip People into a Frenzy’

LEMIRE: “Meanwhile, millions of people are expected to gather at more than 2,000 rallies across the country on Saturday, in what demonstrators are calling a second ‘No Kings’ Day. Organizers say they expect this to be the largest protest in modern American history, with major events planned in Washington, New York City, Chicago, and other cities. The protests are playing out against the backdrop of a government shutdown, National Guard deployment to several states, as well as ramped up immigration enforcement. They aim to send a message to both President Trump and Democratic leaders that people want change. That’s what organizers say the mission is. Republicans, meanwhile, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have labeled these protests as ‘Hate America’ rallies and linked them, without evidence, to Antifa and pro-Hamas groups. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer also suggested that Democrats are holding out on the shutdown in order to appease these protesters.”
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Johnson: “I encourage you to watch. We call it the ‘Hate America’ rally that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxist in full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic. And we do. And that’s what we’re here doing every single day.”
(...)
EMMER: “The only thing that I will predict today is that the Democrat Party of yesterday is headed to the ash heap of history. These guys are playing to the most radical, small and violent base in the country. You’ll see them on Saturday on the mall. They just do not love this country. And these guys are afraid of them. Chuck Schumer et al. Are afraid of them.”
BARTIROMO: “Yeah. So you agree that that’s what this is about, that they want to be there and sort of, you know, punch their chest there, that they’re fighting Trump in this ‘No Kings’ rally. That’s what this is about.”
EMMER: “We call it the ‘Hate America’ rally because you’ll see the hate for America all over this thing when they show up. Yeah. I mean, that’s the rumor. Maria, that the rumor is that they can’t end this shutdown beforehand because this small but very violent and vocal group is the only one that’s happy about this.”
BARTIROMO: “I see.”
EMMER: “If they shut it down beforehand, then they’ve got to deal with that group beforehand. If they make it through that, then at least they’ve made it through their ‘Hate America rally’ and then they can get this thing done.”
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SCARBOROUGH: “You know, I mean, I guess I’m old. I guess I’m naive. I mean, I — I just would have never heard that in a million years when I — when — when I was in Congress or under under other presidencies. I mean, these people have — they have talking points, talking points where they are trying to call Chuck Schumer and Democratic leaders violent, trying to call Democrats violent. Tom Emmers in a press conference called them terrorists. Called them terrorists. These peaceful protests that happened before you. You even had earlier Jonathan Martin talk about how most of them were like the NPR tote bag carrying crowd. But the fact that they’re trying to whip people into a frenzy and — and — and — and especially here we are several weeks after the horrible violence, the tragedy committed against Charlie Kirk to be calling peaceful protesters — people have already protested last year, peaceful protesters, calling them terrorists, saying they’re violent, and proudly — they are proudly calling Americans that are going to go out and exercise their First Amendment rights calling them the, quote, ‘Hate America’ crowd. You see — you see what’s happened in 2025. You now have a guy who said that he was ruling by The Bible, who actually won’t swear in an elected leader because she will help Congress get to the bottom of the biggest sex trafficking ring in modern American history. That guy who says things that just aren’t true every day is proudly and with a smile on his face saying, if you disagree with Donald Trump, if you believe in congressional and judicial checks and balances, if you believe in Madisonian democracy — this is basically what he’s saying — then you hate America. What does that inspire? What does that inspire. You know, we — this is — again, these are the same people who have lectured us for years. And now, again, they have talking points where they are calling people who disagree with them members of the, quote, ‘Hate America’ crowd, and calling these, quote, ‘Hate America’ rallies. It is dangerous and it is beneath contempt. And they really, again, for God’s sake, for the sake of America, for the for the sake of our politics, not just now, but for in the future, for the sake of the precedents that they are breaking every day and that we need to rebuild brick by brick, they need to stop. They just need to stop. Because in the end, they only hurt themselves.”