Rachel Maddow spots terrifying trend for GOP as Trump rocked by 'Red State spring'
MS NOW's Rachel Maddow identified a fascinating trend in this month's No Kings protests against President Donald Trump — and one that should leave the Republican Party terrified.
"There is now a 10-foot-tall golden toilet on the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. It says, quote, 'A throne fit for a king,'" said Maddow. "In a time of unprecedented division, escalating conflict and economic turmoil, President Donald Trump focused on what truly mattered: remodeling the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. The plaque next to the 10-foot-tall gold toilet says Trump is, quote, 'an unwavering visionary who looked down, saw a problem and painted it gold.' The gold toilet president this weekend was also the target of one of the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in American history. Organizers say more than 8 million Americans protested against President Donald Trump this weekend."
But organizers noticed something else, too, said Maddow: "they'd noticed kind of a Red State spring happening."
"More signups, more planned protests against Trump in red states and in places specifically, even within red states that voted for Trump," she continued. "They had said to expect that based on what they'd seen from signups. And then that's what happened this weekend."
"Look, this is what No Kings protest looked like this weekend in northern Alabama, in Huntsville, Alabama," said Maddow, showing pictures. "Also in red state, Alaska, in Anchorage, in The Villages in Florida, which is the biggest retirement community in the country. It's famously a nest of Republican votes for Republican politicians. But this was The Villages' huge No Kings anti-Trump protest this weekend."
"Also check out Jonesboro, Arkansas," said Maddow. "The county where Jonesboro, Arkansas, is, Trump won that in 2024 by a 37-point margin. But now look, this weekend, Jonesboro, Arkansas, is No Kings. This is Nebraska. Hastings, Nebraska up there in the upper left. Adams County is where Hastings, Nebraska, is. Trump won there in the last election by 40 points. But now here's Hastings, Nebraska, No Kings. Look at North Dakota. In the last election, Trump won that state by the largest margin in that state in a presidential election in more than 70 years. But you're looking in the upper right there. You're looking at Minot, North Dakota, where Trump won by nearly 50 points. Well, yeah, that was then. This was Minot, North Dakota, this weekend. No Kings."
Maddow continued, showing images of massive protests in Idaho, Montana, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.
"Now we've had this big tent peaceful protest movement against Trump, against this president, trying to assume the powers of a king and the breadth of what people have been able to build, the geographic spread of where people are organized," said Maddow. "The sheer number of protests at each of these just goes up and up and up."
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