Israel’s and the United States’ Rationale for War on Iran Is “All Bullshit”

Early this morning, Saturday, February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump released a video following the strikes saying they were necessary to “defend American lives,” while according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz the “preemptive” attacks were launched to “remove threats to the state of Israel.”

According to reports, among the sites struck in today’s joint U.S./Israeli attack on Iran were two schools, including an elementary school where 53 girls were killed and many more injured.

Iran has responded to the U.S. and Israel’s unilateral military attacks by targeting U.S. military installations across West Asia. The Irainian-backed Houthis announced that they would resume attacks on Israeli and U.S. commercial ships in the Red Sea.

There are also reports that Iran has closed the all-important Strait of Hormuz. About this development, Ahmed Eldin writes:

This is no longer a regional war, it is economic warfare on a global scale. The Strait is a narrow chokepoint, just 21–33 km wide at its tightest, between Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south. Roughly 20–30% of global seaborne crude oil – about 20–21 million barrels per day – moves through it. Major exporters including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar depend on this single route to supply global markets. A multi-day closure would guarantee that oil not only spikes past $100, it rockets. . . . [The closure of the Strai of Hormuz will] affect every single person on this planet who drives a car, heats their home, or buys anything that was transported by oil. The real weapon of mass destruction is control of the global energy arteries. Iran just reminded the world that while they may not have aircraft carriers, they have geography, leverage, and the power to make the entire global economy feel their pain.

In the 12-minute video below, Rational National podcast host David Doel discusses the “breaking news of Trump’s action on Iran, what Trump and those around him has said previously, how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is responding” and how this response betrays his previous remarks at Davos about U.S. power in the world.


Following this video is Bruce Fanger’s commentary, “Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War.”

Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War

By Bruce Fanger
February 28, 2026

Benjamin Netanyahu has been under indictment for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust for years. His corruption trial has staggered forward while he maneuvers politically to stay in power. Coalition deals. Judicial overhaul fights. Street protests. Every time the legal noose tightens, the security temperature rises.

Now missiles fly.

Donald Trump’s name resurfaces in Epstein reporting just as subpoenas and public pressure begin circling again. Old associations. Old photographs. Old questions that refuse to die. And what dominates the global stage instead?

Bombs over Tehran.

You do not have to invent conspiracy to notice pattern. Leaders under legal strain have powerful incentives to change the subject. War reshapes narrative. War demands unity. War makes critics hesitate. War compresses oxygen in the room until scandal suffocates.

Both men frame themselves as indispensable. Both cast themselves as guardians against existential threat. Both are allergic to personal accountability. Both now preside over escalation that risks igniting a region.

Netanyahu’s legal jeopardy is real. Trump’s legal exposure is real. So is the blood that flows when men in that position decide history must revolve around them.

This is not about defending Iran’s regime. It is not about minimizing real security threats. It is about recognizing when political survival and military force start to blur.

When leaders facing courtroom reckoning escalate militarily, citizens should not shrug. They should scrutinize. War cannot become a legal shield. Missiles cannot become jury nullification by spectacle.

History is littered with men who wrapped themselves in flags to outrun subpoenas.

We should not be so naive as to pretend that power does not calculate. And we should not be so timid as to stay silent when the calculation carries global consequences.

No one is above the law. Not in Jerusalem. Not in Washington.

– Bruce Fanger
“Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War”
via social media
February 28, 2026

Related Off-site Links:
“The Behavior of Rogue States”: Global Revulsion as U.S. and Israel Launch War on Iran – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
U.S. and Israel Launch Unprovoked Attack on Iran, Risking Broader Regional War – Democracy Now! (February 28, 2026).
Oman’s Foreign Minister Said U.S.-Iran Deal Was “Within Our Reach.” Then Trump Started Bombing – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
We’re at War with Iran – Marianne Williamson (Transform, February 28, 2026).
Israel Strikes Two Schools in Iran, Killing More Than 80 People – Al Jazeera (February 28, 2026).
Trump Says Bombing of Iran to Continue “Uninterrupted” After Reported Killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Is Killed in Israeli Strike, Ending 36-Year Iron Rule – Jackie Northam, James Hider, and Peter Kenyon (NPR News, February 28, 2026).
“Bombs Will Be Dropping Everywhere”: Trump Launches Illegal Regime Change War Against Iran – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 28, 2026).
Trump Wants to Distract Americans From Scandals at Home with a Diversionary War – Christopher S. Chivvis (The Guardian, February 28, 2026).
The Suicidal Folly of a War with Iran – Chris Hedges (The Chris Hedges Report, February 24, 2026).
U.S. Intervention Would Worsen Iran’s Crisis: An Interview with Phyllis Bennis – Institute for Policy Studies (January 20, 2026).
Despite Ongoing Talks, Trump Administration Is “Obsessed” with Destroying Iran: An Interview with Jeremy Scahill – Democracy Now! (January 20, 2026).
Wait, Why Is Israel Allowed to Have Nukes? – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, June 20, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Phyllis Bennis on the “Stark Danger” Posed by Israel’s Attack on Iran (2025)
• Saying “No” to War on Iran (2020)
• Veterans for Peace Strongly Condemns U.S. Aggression Towards Iran (2020)
• Major Danny Sjursen: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2019
• Jeff Cohen: Quote of the Day – January 29, 2011

“They Were Alive. Then They Were Not”

Early this morning my friend Kathleen and I visited the people’s memorial for Alex Pretti at the site of his murder by Border Patrol agents three days ago.

The pictures I share this evening of our visit to this sacred ground are accompanied by some recent writings on both the killing of Pretti and of Renée Good, also murdered by federal agents earlier this month on the streets of Minneapolis.

They were not symbols when they woke up that morning. Renée Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti were Americans moving through ordinary days, trusting that rules still mattered and that authority still carried restraint. They had names, routines, people who expected them home. Whatever arguments came later, whatever justifications were rushed into place, that truth does not change. They were alive. Then they were not.

Their deaths were not accidents. They were not confusion. They were the result of a system that has begun to treat force as efficiency and accountability as optional. Once a government crosses that line, citizenship becomes paperwork and innocence becomes irrelevant. Power stops pausing to think.

What makes this unbearable is not only the loss of two lives, but the speed with which language is bent to explain it away. The careful phrasing. The quiet shifting of blame onto the dead. This is how a republic teaches itself not to feel. This is how violence becomes procedural instead of shocking.

We mourn Good and Pretti because they deserved more time, more care, more restraint from those sworn to protect. But we also mourn something larger. A country that once demanded power answer to law is now asking its people to accept killings as background noise. To scroll past. To move on.

A republic does not collapse in a single moment. It frays. It excuses. It explains. And one day it wakes up realizing that mourning has replaced expectation.

Remember their names. Not as slogans. Not as ammunition. As people. Because a nation that forgets who was lost will eventually forget who it was supposed to be.

– Bruce Fanger
via social media
January 26, 2026

What makes that video so unbearable to watch isn’t only that an ICE agent killed Alex Pretti. It’s that in the middle of being shoved, struck, and repeatedly blasted in the face with chemical spray, his body kept doing one thing: reaching.

Reaching for a woman who had just been knocked down. Reaching for clarity through the burning in his eyes. Reaching to put himself between her and whatever was coming next. You can see that he is disoriented, choking, and staggering but still his instinct is PROTECTION.

He isn’t posturing or trying to be a hero for a camera. He’s trying to focus so he can shield somebody else. His nervous system is under assault, his vision is blurred, his lungs are on fire, and yet his moral center doesn’t collapse inward. It expands outward toward another human being in danger.

Maybe he knew her. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t know. But that’s almost beside the point. What the footage shows is a man whose first reflex under state violence was not self-preservation at all costs, but solidarity. Care. The ancient, almost forgotten impulse to say, “you are not going to face this alone.”

That is what makes his killing so devastating. The state didn’t just shoot a protester. It shot someone in the act of trying to protect a woman. It shot a man whose last visible choice was compassion. Whose final posture was not aggression, but guardianship.

And that is the deepest obscenity of the footage. It’s watching a system built on force extinguish a body that was, even in terror, still reaching for love. Damn.

– Stacey Patton
via social media
January 25, 2026

Indigenous people in Minneapolis are very concerned.
And at the center of that concern is a human being.

Alex Pretti was not a symbol.
He was a son.
A family member.
A trusted presence in his community.

He was an ICU nurse – someone whose daily work was keeping people alive in their most fragile moments.
Someone trained to stay calm when bodies are breaking,
to act with care when others are afraid,
to move toward suffering, not away from it.

That matters.

Because when someone who lives a life of care is killed,
the questions do not stop at what happened.
They move toward how power responds when harm is done.

For many people, this may look like a single event –
a moment to analyze, to debate, to file away.

For Indigenous people, it lands differently.

Encounters with armed authority do not live in isolation for us.
They arrive carrying memory –
of patrols and removals,
of borders enforced through force,
of systems that have long decided whose lives are protected
and whose deaths require explanation.

So when force is used,
when official accounts shift,
when video and statements do not align,
our bodies recognize something before our minds do.
This is not fear.
This is memory.

And let me be clear – carefully, and without accusation:

This is not about demonizing law enforcement.
This is not about disorder.
This is not about political sides.

It is about responsibility.

Alex was known as someone who showed up for others.
Someone who believed presence mattered.
Someone whose instinct was to help, to witness, to care.

So when a life like that is lost,
the community has the right – and the responsibility –
to ask for truth that does not bend under pressure.

Indigenous peoples have not always lived under overlapping jurisdictions –
federal, state, municipal –
and when harm happens, accountability too often dissolves in those seams.

We are watching carefully.
Not with rage, but with attention.
Not to inflame, but to understand how power is moving in this moment.

Because safety cannot exist without trust.
And trust cannot exist without truth –
truth that does not change depending on who is speaking.
We are asking for clarity.
For transparency that does not circle back on itself.
For investigations that do not feel pre-written.

This is not radical.
This is relational.

In our teachings, responsibility is carried forward – not deflected.
We call this wâhkôhtowin – the understanding that everything exists in relationship, and that relationship requires care, honesty, and accountability.

We hold space for Alex’s family.
We hold space for those who worked beside him.
We hold space for a community trying to make sense of loss without being rushed past it.

This is shared in good faith.
With firmness, yes – but also with care.

We will continue to watch.
We will continue to speak.
And we will do so in a way that protects life –
especially the lives of those still coming.

Ekosi.
And so it continues.

– Standing Bear Network
via social media
January 26, 2026

We are not okay. But we are still helpers. We still see human. And that is why they will never win.

– Emily Solberg
via social media
January 26, 2026

Related Off-site Link:
Minneapolis Left to Decide Future of Streetside Memorials to Renée Good and Alex Pretti – The Associated Press via MPR News (February 15, 2026).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts on the resistance to the Trump regime’s fascist occupation of Minnesota:
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Photo of the Day – December 5, 2025
• Susie Hayward on What’s Happening in Minneapolis
• Doing What We Can to Stop Unjust Arrests of Immigrants
• Great Event, Great Sign, Great Nails
• Christmas Eve Musings
• May We Do Likewise
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like” – January 7, 2026
• “It Was Murder”: 12 Powerful Responses to the Death of Renée Nicole Good
• Omar Fateh: “Folks Are Waking Up”
• A Good Faith Appeal and a Grim Response
• Why Minnesota?
• Chris Hedges on ICE: “I Have Seen These Masked Goons Before”
• Steven Donziger: “Let’s Get Real . . . ICE Is a Domestic Terrorist Organization”
• Historian Kyle Dekker: “It’s Not Nazi Ideology We Are Fighting. It’s American”
• Knowing Our Rights
• Mike Figueredo on Why Trump Might Be Pushing the U.S. to the Brink of Collapse
• A “Red Alert Moment for American Democracy”
• Dispatches from Occupied Minnesota
• Marianne Williamson on How to Psychologically Endure This Moment
• What Moral Clarity Looks Like in Minnesota This MLK Day
• Nemik’s Eulogy for Renée Nicole Good
• “It Was Never About Keeping America Safe”
• “ICE Out!”: The Minnesota General Strike – 1/23/26
• “This Was a Flat Out Execution”
• “Organized Sustained Systemic Resistance and Self-Defense Are Our Only Options”
• Honoring Alex Pretti
• George Conway: The Trump Administration Is a “Criminal Organization”
• In the Face of Fascist Lies, MN Governor Tim Walz Sets the Record Straight
• Adam Serwer on How “Every Social Theory Undergirding Trumpism Has Been Broken on the Steel of Minnesotan Resolve”
• “Trump Is Scared Shitless”

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

“A Case Study in How a Bully Behaves When He Can’t Rely on Fear”

Michigan-based digital creator Bruce Fanger has written the most insightful commentary I’ve read so far on yesterday’s extraodinary (some have said “bizarrely chummy”) meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Bruce titles his piece, “Thirty Minutes in the Lion’s Den: The Interview Trump Thought He Controlled.” It’s reprinted in its entirety below.

_____________________

There’s a strange thing that happens when you watch the full thirty-minute interview instead of the clipped version the internet tosses around. The edges soften. The masks slip. And you start to see the actual geometry of the interaction – where power sits, where insecurity leaks, where the tone changes, where the truth speaks by accident. The viral clip makes it look like a moment. The full meeting reveals a dynamic.

This wasn’t a showdown. It wasn’t a humiliation. It wasn’t a triumph for either man. It was something far more revealing: a case study in how a bully behaves when he can’t rely on fear, and how a principled politician behaves when he refuses the role of the victim.

The meeting begins as all Trump meetings do – with noise. The first five minutes are pure Trump: monologues disguised as greetings, numbers inflated beyond physics, scattered recollections of the 1980s like the era froze and preserved him in amber. You can practically hear his brain flipping through its greatest hits, trying to set the tone: This is my room. My chair. My story.

But Mamdani doesn’t react to any of it. And that is the first hinge of the meeting.

A man like Trump needs emotional feedback to function. Fear works. Flattery works. Even anger works. Mamdani gives him nothing. He sits there with the calm of someone who refuses to let the other person set the emotional tempo. It’s a small thing, but with Trump, it’s enough to break the cycle.

Then comes the shift – the “gracious Trump” phase.

People mistake this for maturity or diplomacy. It’s not. It’s a reflex Trump only deploys when he can’t dominate the room. The tone goes soft, the eyebrows lift, the compliments come out in forced, syrupy bursts – “You’re doing great work.” “New York is lucky to have you.” “You’re a very smart guy.”

It sounds statesmanlike until you remember the same man called him a communist threat two weeks earlier. What’s happening here isn’t respect — it’s adaptation. A chameleon trying to match the color of the wall. Trump is gracious when graciousness benefits Trump.

As Mamdani shifts to policy, Trump drifts into autobiography. This is the most telling stretch – minutes twelve to eighteen. Mamdani tries to talk like a mayor-elect: transit, housing, Rikers, federal cooperation, immigrant protections. Real issues, real stakes, real governance.

Trump responds by vanishing into his own mythology. Crime statistics from memory that don’t exist. Grievances about prosecutors. Stories from “the old days.” Complaints about how unfairly he’s been treated.

It’s not sabotage – it’s incapacity. Mamdani is speaking a civic language Trump’s brain can’t decode. They aren’t having the same conversation. They aren’t even on the same continent.

Then comes the moment everyone’s dissecting – the “fascistic tendencies” line.

And yes, it happened in the room, not after. Mamdani doesn’t weaponize the word. He doesn’t turn it into a headline. He does something more dangerous: he analytically names the pattern. Immigrant raids. Political retribution. Targeting dissent. Erosion of checks and balances. Threats against the judiciary. He lays out the evidence and names the behavior: fascistic tendencies.

Trump nods and smiles like someone being told he has an excellent golf swing. It’s not bravado. It’s not denial. It’s something almost sadder: he doesn’t understand the language of critique unless it’s blunt and emotional. Mamdani moved the discussion into the realm of political analysis, and Trump’s instincts don’t live there. So he simply . . . accepts it. Not because he agrees, but because he can’t absorb what the words actually mean.

The last ten minutes are the clearest portrait of Trump’s psyche. Once Mamdani refuses to bend, Trump compensates by overcorrecting into flattery: “You’re going to surprise people.” “I feel very comfortable with you.” “We’re going to get along great.”

It’s dominance disguised as benevolence. When Trump can’t conquer, he tries to adopt. He folds the other person into his narrative: You and I are the same. We’re allies. You approve of me. I approve of you. It’s a kind of political camouflage – digest the threat by complimenting it.

Mamdani doesn’t take the bait. He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t flatter. He just continues speaking plainly. Which leaves Trump in the one position he hates most: performing civility for an audience that isn’t fooled.

The full interview isn’t about Mamdani calling Trump a fascist. It’s not about Trump pretending to be gracious. It’s not about a progressive mayor meeting an authoritarian president.

What the meeting showed is simpler and more damning: Trump is only powerful when the room fears him. Take the fear away, and he becomes oddly gentle, strangely polite, and completely unable to dominate the conversation.

People think tyrants rage because they’re strong. But the truth is they only rage when they know the room will absorb it. Mamdani didn’t absorb it. So Trump didn’t rage. He folded. Nicely. Neatly. Like a man who knows the cameras are watching and doesn’t want the world to see what he looks like when the mask cracks.

And if there’s a lesson here for the rest of the country, it’s this: Fear is the oxygen of authoritarianism. Take it away, and even a strongman starts to sound like a man.

– Bruce Fanger
“Thirty Minutes in the Lion’s Den:
The Interview Trump Thought He Controlled”
via social media
November 21, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
After Threats Throughout NYC Campaign, Trump Lauds Mamdani at White House – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, November 21, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Knew How to Handle Donald Trump – Peter Dreier (Jacobin, November 22, 2025).
Trump and Mamdani Meet in Oval Office After Months of Trading Insults – Liz Landers and Ali Schmitz (PBS Newshour, November 21, 2025).
Mamdani Announces “Partnership” with Hated Would-be Dictator Trump – Joseph Kishore (World Socialist Web Site, November 21, 2025).
“Cheering for Him”: Key Takeaways from Trump-Mamdani White House Meeting – Alastair McCready (Al Jazeera, November 22, 2025).

UPDATES: Who’s Afraid of a Socialist Mayor? The Corporate Media – Ari Paul (Common Dreams, November 23, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Pragmatic Socialism Is Paying Off – for Now – Jeet Heer (The Nation, November 24, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Won on Substance, Not Just Style – Ashley Bishop and Spencer Snyder (Jacobin, November 24, 2025).
Despite the Smiles, Mamdani Must Know That Trump Remains a Fascist Rattlesnake – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, November 25, 2025).


See also the following Wild Reed posts:

ZOHRAN MAMDANI
• U.S. Democratic Socialists: Quote of the Day – November 21, 2025
• Matthew Cooke on the Real “Mamdani Effect”
• “The Answer, Actually, Is Hope”
• Progressive Perspectives on Zohran Mamdani’s Win in New York City
• Zohran Mamdani and the Future of the Democratic Party
• Memes of the Times – September 2025
• The Rational National’s Take on Zohran Mamdani
• How Democrats Can Start Winning Again
• Dorothy Lennon: Quote of the Day – June 26, 2025
• A Timely and Important Conversation


THE RISE OF FASCISM IN THE U.S.
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• “This Is Fascism”
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• Tony Pentimalli on Trump’s “Death Warrant for Democracy”
• The “Creeping Fascism of Trump’s America”: A View from Australia
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – October 6, 2025
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• Will Potter on Trump’s War on Dissent: “This Is What Fascists Do”
• Staying Strong in Trump’s Fascist America
• The Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel: “This Is What Fascism Looks Like in Practice”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Brent Molnar on the “Cold War in Our Own House”
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Brent Molnar on the MAGA Cult and Its Intentions
• The Choice Before Us
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• The Declaration of Resistance
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025


Image: U.S. President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani shake hands as they meet in the Oval Office on November 21, 2025. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Thoughts on the Eve of “No Kings Day” 2.0

I wholehearted agree with the following by Richard Moser.

In choosing “No Kings” as the frame for protest, the Democratic Party leadership, as represented by Indivisible or 50501, is committing an act of mass distraction. We do not face a monarchy, we face contemporary capitalism. The corporation has merged with the state and rules us with a heavy hand.

It’s the dictatorship of big money at home and global military supremacy abroad. These are precisely the conditions that have encouraged fascism. In fact, the “leaders” of No Kings are doing Trump a big fat favor by hiding the SYSTEM that created him. They cannot help doing so because the Democrats are a foundational part of that system.

We are duty-bound not to follow but to lead. Engage people as your courage and capacity permits.

I’ll be attending with friends the Minneapolis “No Kings” march tomorrow, and one way that I’ll be engaging with my fellow attendees is via the sign that I’ll be carrying.

It’s actually a two-sided sign and its message speaks to Moser’s observations above. I made this sign for the June 14 “No Kings” event in St. Paul, and at the time noted the following.

My message seeks to acknowledge and convey a deeper awareness of what’s being protested. Yes, Donald Trump has clear authoritarian tendencies and is taking actions that are undermining and dismantling the democratic and humanitarian institutions of the U.S. This needs to be highlighted, resisted, and stopped. For the vast majority of people, this will be their message tomorrow. I support this message. Yet at the same time, many of us don’t see Trump himself as the sole or even primary problem; we see him as a symptom – an undeniably extreme and terrible one – of a deeper reality which for decades has undermined and made a mockery of democracy in this country.

I’m referring to the corrupting influence of corporate money, of special profit-obsessed interests. I’m talking about the corporate capture of our political system; the rise and devastating influence of a corporate aristocracy, an oligarchy to which both major parties bow.

Although such subservience benefits these parties’ coffers, it has proven profoundly detrimental to the well-being of their constituents, the environment, and democracy.

In choosing to appease their corporate donors at the expense of the needs of the people, both parties can be said to be oligarchic; both parties comprise a corporatist/oligarchic duopoly, the policies of which created the economic conditions of profound inequality that make the authoritarian populism of Trump so appealing to so many.

The oligarchy we’re up against is every bit as anti-democratic and thus un-American as any king. Indeed, it’s sadly accurate to say that in the U.S. “money rules,” that “money is king.”

“King” Trump could keel over tomorrow, but the kingship of the oligarchy would remain. It’s this “money is king” reality that I’ll be highlighting and protesting at the “No Kings” rally.

Over the last few days, much has been said and written about tomorrow’s nationwide "No Kings" event. Following are some examples.

On the eve of our march, let’s speak plainly: this will not sway their hearts. Trump does not hear the cries of our cities. Troops already line our streets, and he vows to send more. They do not dread our voices – they have armored themselves against them.

So why rise?

Because some moments demand presence over triumph. The Germans convinced themselves resistance was useless, and their silence became complicity. Russians now kneel to Putin, persuaded that rebellion is a fool’s errand. We dare not drift into that same abyss.

We do not march for victory.

We march to keep our spirits unbroken.

We rise for love of country and of our true flag – not the idol they’ve drenched in venom, but the one we refuse to surrender: the banner of liberty, dissent, and the fierce right to refuse. That flag remains ours.

Win or perish, stand or shatter – silence is no option.

Let history etch this: we stood, unbowed.

– Bruce Fanger
via social media
October 17, 2023

You know Trump Republicans are worried when they slam a planned protest – more than a week before it occurs.

Last Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson described this coming Saturday’s No Kings rally as the “hate-America” rally that would draw “the pro-Hamas wing” and “the antifa people.”

I’m sure these phrases have been distributed to senior Republicans by the White House. They’re all delivering the same lines.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) claims Democrats are refusing to vote to fund the government “to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold ... a hate-America rally” on Saturday.

So what is the White House worried about? Why are they trying to discredit the rally before it’s even occurred?

Because it’s likely to be even larger than the first No Kings rally – which was the largest demonstration against Trump since his return to the Oval Office.

And it will happen all over America, so it’s likely to generate a huge number of news clips on local television.

Trump’s power depends on maintaining the illusion that he’s all-powerful, and that most Americans (apart from those he and his lapdogs label “pro-Hamas,” “terrorists,” and “antifa”) adore him.

But that illusion is harder to maintain if a significant part of the population of every town and city is on the streets decrying him. The Emperor has no clothes.

Rather than it being a “hate-America” rally, Saturday’s rally is an opportunity for all of us who love America to express our determination that our nation’s ideals not be crushed by the Trump regime.

It’s a chance for us to publicly rededicate ourselves to democracy, the rule of law, equal protection under the law, and our rights to believe what we want, say what we want, and choose our leaders without fear of recrimination.

I urge you to participate.

– Robert Reich
via social media
October 15, 2023

The more MAGA tries to demonize this protest, the more people RSVP. That alone says everything about what’s at stake. If you’re attending a No Kings rally tomorrow, stay aware, stay peaceful, and look out for each other. Document everything, travel in pairs, and keep your phones charged. Movements built on truth and courage don’t need violence . . . they just need people who refuse to be silenced. Be careful out there tomorrow.

– Brent Molnar
via social media
October 17, 2023

There are those who are saying protest is somehow disloyal. That’s backwards. The shallow version of patriotism waves a flag without asking questions. The mature version changes the oil, checks the brakes, and makes sure the bus is safe for everybody – especially those who’ve been told to give up their seats for the “more deserving,” and head to the back (or get off entirely). "No Kings" is scheduled maintenance, not malice.

So, we bring our pride, our joy, our grief. We bring our voices and our ears. We bring our commitment to a democracy that protects the vulnerable first ... not last. Please understand, “No Kings” isn't a rejection of the nation’s promise but a recommitment to it. No idols in high office. No thrones in the living room. Just ordinary people choosing one another again.

That’s not hating America. That’s how you love it like a grown-up.

– Derek Penwell
via social media
October 17, 2023

And finally, here’s author and former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson’s thoughts on “No Kings Day” 2.0 tomorrow.





Related Off-site Links:
Pro-Democracy Americans Gear Up for “No Kings” Day Nationwide – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, October 17, 2025).
Organizers of “No Kings” Protests Expect Millions of People to Join at Least 2,500 Rallies Nationwide – Democracy Now! (October 17, 2025).
Thousands Expected at Anti-Trump “No Kings” Rally in Downtown Minneapolis – Regina Medina (MPR News, October 17, 2025).
“No Kings” Rally Organizer: It’s “Quite Clear” Why Mike Johnson Is Attacking Our Protests – Jennifer Bendery and Arthur Delaney (The Huffington Post, October 17, 2025).
No to Kings, Yes to Democracy – Rob Okun (Common Dreams, October 16, 2025).
“No Kings” Protest Organizers Aren’t Afraid of Trump’s Court Jesters – Nikki McCann Ramirez (Rolling Stone, October 16, 2025).
Karoline Leavitt’s “Incredibly Dangerous” Rant About Democrats Draws Instant Backlash – Lee Moran (The Huffington Post, October 16, 2025).
Americans Are Fed Up with the Corrupt and Feckless Trump Administration – Edwin Eisendrath (Lincoln Square, October 15, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings

Michigan-based digital creator Bruce Fanger has written an insightful and inspiring commentary on “the rebel Christ” and the “theology of No Kings” that he espoused.

I consider Bruce’s commentary to be a timely reality-check for all who claim to be followers of Jesus, myself included. Thank you, Bruce!

_____________

I do not believe Jesus was killed for being kind. Rome did not crucify gentle teachers or pious mystics. Crucifixion was reserved for one crime alone: insurrection. The sign nailed above his head didn’t say Blasphemer – it said, THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS. That was not theology. That was treason.

We’ve been told to picture a meek lamb, but no empire executes lambs. During Passover, Rome staged its dominance – Pilate entering Jerusalem from the west on a war horse, iron and banners clattering through the gates like thunder. Jesus answered from the east, not on a stallion, but swaying atop a borrowed donkey, dust rising behind him like laughter at Caesar’s parade. It wasn’t humility. It was mockery. A counter-procession. A rival king with no army – but a crowd.

He wasn’t followed by philosophers or polite fishermen. One of his own was Simon the Zealot – Rome’s word for terrorist. Jesus didn’t gather a book club. He gathered men ready to die for liberation. And when he entered the Temple, he did not tidy altars – he flipped the tables. Silver exploded across stone like shrapnel. That was the financial heart of the priestly elite and Rome’s tax machine. It wasn’t a sermon. It was an act of economic sabotage.

They tested him next with taxes: “Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar?” He held the coin up – Tiberius’ face glinting like a false god. “Whose image is this?” Caesar stamped himself divine on the money. Jesus stamped God divine on humanity. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s – and unto God what is God’s.” The coin goes back to the emperor. But you – made in God’s image – belong to no throne.

There it is: the theology of No Kings.

Let’s be honest. Jesus was not killed for preaching love. He was killed because his kingdom threatened theirs. Because his movement cornered both Pilate and Herod – empire and corrupt religion. Pilate feared uprising. Herod feared truth. One washed his hands. The other washed his conscience. Both chose order over justice.

“He took water and washed his hands . . .” Pilate wasn’t innocent. He was convenient. He condemned a man he knew was innocent because neutrality was safer. I see Pilate everywhere today – in judges, in pastors, in neighbors who whisper, “I don’t agree, but it’s not my fight.” Neutrality is empire’s favorite disguise.

What passes today as Christianity is not faith – it is endorsement. A golden calf draped in a flag. An idol with a Bible pressed in its grip. They bless border cages and call it law. They quote Christ and serve Caesar. They would crucify him again and hashtag it patriotism.

I refuse. I do not serve kings. I don’t care if they wear crowns or flags or corporate logos. “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” That is the line. If Jesus returned today, he would not be seated at their prayer breakfasts. He’d be outside the gates – with the migrant, the prisoner, the one empire has declared disposable.

That is why I stand with No Kings. Because faith without resistance is decoration. And silence in the face of empire is betrayal.

Which brings me to October 18.

They will call it chaos. Extremism. Disorder. Let them. October 18 is not about flames – it is about witness. We come not to burn, but to remember the truth Pilate could not wash away: you cannot kill a kingdom of conscience. I will not wash my hands. I will not call injustice “complicated.” I will not stand aside while kings devour the people.

Pilate took the towel.

I take the cross.

No Kings. No Idols. No Silence.

– Bruce Fanger
“The Rebel Christ: Toppling Thrones Then and Now”
October 11, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Pope Takes Aim at MAGA’s False Gospel – Sophia Tesfaye (Salon, October 12, 2025).
Still No Kings: Millions to Protest Trump On Saturday – Whitney Curry Wimbish (The American Prospect, October 13, 2025).
Republican Leaders Smear Upcoming “No Kings” Marches as “Hate America Rallies” by “Terrorists” – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, October 10, 2025).
Republican Leaders Call “No Kings” Protest a “Hate America” Rally, Baselessly Suggest Terror Link – Arthur Delaney (The Huffington Post, October 10, 2025).
They’re Calling It a “Hate America” Rally – Robert Reich (RobertReich.Substack, October 13, 2025).
Who Are the Real American? We Are – Kirk Swearingen (Salon, October 11, 2025).
We’re All ANTIFA, Donald – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, October 9, 2025).
As Trump Escalates Attacks on Dissent, October 18 “No Kings” Protests Set to Be Even Bigger Than June – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, September 30, 2025).


See also the following Wild Reed posts:

JESUS
• The King of Love My Shepherd Is
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)
• Why Jesus Is My Man
• Jesus: Mystic and Prophet
• The Mystic Jesus: “A Name for the Unalterable Love That All of Us Share”
• Jesus: Path-Blazer of Radical Transformation
• Jesus and Social Revolution – Part 1 | 2 | 3
• Mysticism and Revolution
• Jesus: Our Guide to Mystical Love in Action – Part 1 | 2 | 3
• Palm Sunday: A Sacred Paradox
• The “Incident” in the Temple
• Jesus: The Upside-down Messiah
• Time to Grow Up
• The Model of Leadership Offered by Jesus: “More Like the Gardener Than the Owner of the Garden”


CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
• Bowing to an Idol
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Memes of the Times – September 2025


THE RISE OF FASCISM IN THE U.S.
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• “This Is Fascism”
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• Tony Pentimalli on Trump’s “Death Warrant for Democracy”
• The “Creeping Fascism of Trump’s America”: A View from Australia
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – October 6, 2025
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• Will Potter on Trump’s War on Dissent: “This Is What Fascists Do”
• Staying Strong in Trump’s Fascist America
• The Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel: “This Is What Fascism Looks Like in Practice”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Brent Molnar on the “Cold War in Our Own House”
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Brent Molnar on the MAGA Cult and Its Intentions
• The Choice Before Us
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• The Declaration of Resistance
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025

Image: Artist unknown.