STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

A No Kings Rally is being planned for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 14, at Hop Porter Park in Hailey.

The rally is one of more than 1,800 rallies being planned across the nation in what organizers say will exceed even the massive Hands Off! Rallies held in April. More than 800 people were estimated to crowd into Ketchum Town Square during the Wood River Valley rally on that day.

In Hailey rallygoers will gather in front of the new stage. Sabrina Robin will sing the National Anthem. Ted Macklin, Cliff Cunha and others will provide music. There’ll be a few short speeches, along with a short open mic session for those who want to add their 2 cents worth.

Then rallygoers will march to Main Street where they will wave signs for passing motorists until noon. People can create their own signs identifying their biggest concern. Or, they can grab a sign from a pile of signs that have been used in past rallies.

“I am hoping to see a big crowd,” said Kaz Thea, who is among the organizers. “We have no Kings in America.” We want to pay for Medicaid and other services for people and not have our tax dollars go to fund Trump’s big military parade that day, which is right out of a page from an autocracy playbook.”

National organizers say that No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance to reject authoritarianism and rally against a President who they say are usurping the powers of the U.S. Congress and undermining the Constitution. They say more than a hundred new rallies were organized after Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard to Los Angeles where canisters of tear gas, rounds of non-lethal bullets and flash grenades were aimed at thoe protesting immigration raids.

The rallies coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C., which reports say will cost as much as $40 million with $16 million more to repair the roads after the tanks roll down them. The parade is being billed as a celebration of U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and  Trump’s 79th birthday.