For What It's Worth

After a month of conflict in the Levant and Western Asia, the global economy on the verge of irreversible collapse, with Tehran and Tel Aviv in ruins and U.S., Iranian, Israeli casualties mounting on escalation spin cycle, millions took to the streets in protest of, well… I’m not really sure. I can’t say for sure that thousands showed up here at home with real demands, but the No Kings marchers definitely let onlookers know they hated Trump.

Well, get in line. Most of the country can’t stand this Neo-Caligula, but he’s not an aberration. Caitlin Johnstone writes, “Donald Trump is a US president who is doing US president things.”

US presidents consistently murder people with unforgivable acts of mass military violence, mistreat immigrants and marginalized communities, and promote tyranny for the benefit of corrupting special interests in defense of the US empire and the capitalist status quo. That’s what their job is. If they weren’t willing to do these things, they wouldn’t get the job.

If we want to believe the inflated numbers provided by the organizers, a national aggregate confirmed by no one and laundered through media outlets everywhere, eight million people showed up rather than feel irrelevant. Where were they when Tyrant Trump’s predecessor bailed out the banks, arrested whistleblowers, or droned civilians, even US citizens, in or out of battlefield zones, back when the peace movement slipped into a coma?

The aerial shots of the No Kings protests were impressive. Why do you suppose the streets are not flooded with antiwar protesters today?

This might be a good time for No Kings and Indivisible organizers to marshal their partisan resources for a genuine, sustained antiwar resistance before US troops are forced to assault an impregnable Hormuz kill zone in another illegal war of choice.

Maybe, until the vast partisan divide that has existed since the Obama years is narrowed and Liberal (whatever that is now), Dem, GOP, and MAGA start resisting the national pro-war, neoliberal agenda together, demanding real change, the U.S. will continue to accelerate in its downward spiral of imperial collapse on steroids.

So far, No Kings I, II, and III have been mostly enormous Trump rant-fests, promoted and funded by oligarchs like George Soros and the Walton family. Do you think if Netanyahu apologists like ‘I am a Zionist’ Biden or AIPAC Kamala were occupying the White House waging war on Iran, providing more arms for Israel or Ukraine, arresting, deporting or detaining pro-Palestinian protestors, expanding mass surveillance on U.S. citizens and more, that Open Society or 50501 would sponsor or promote one more No Kings pep rally?

That’s what I thought.

Don’t get me wrong. I support enormous street demonstrations. Solidarity can be invigorating. I’ve participated in my share, on my own dime, for decades. As a member of Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace I demanded with others an end to the bloodshed in Iraq and elsewhere with not a single oligarch sponsoring our efforts, or a politician - aside from Dennis Kucinich, of course - acknowledging our existence. Most of us knew why we were there, unlike several No Kings participants I spoke with between harangues. The rest learned a few things they never would have been exposed to on CNN or MSNBC (now MS Now) or reading NYT; including valuable antiwar strategies to energize others at home.

We’re all angry, devastated emotionally, but clearly partisan, anti-Trump hate-fests every six months are not the answer. During the Bush/Cheney years, with a son in Iraq, I was livid. My hate meter red-lined hourly for W and Rumsfeld, but no more or less than for Trump and Dumb McNamara.

But hate is not a strategy, and a rant is not a weapon for change.

Written in 1966 by Stephen Sills, For What It’s Worth remains a powerful anthem of the Vietnam era's social dynamics. While it is often viewed as an anti-war song, its true meaning lies in its commentary on the societal tensions of the 1960s, particularly the conflict between youth culture and authority. With fewer inflatable flamingos and more zip ties and tear gas in the streets, it could be more relevant today.