Yes, JD Vance has a Bluesky account. And Donald Trump reposted the above reverie on his Truth Social account. (The vice president knows how to please president. Good Veep, good Veep.)
And what’s the pretend king’s wish regarding the millions of Americans who reject kings?
Aren’t the VP and the President masters of satire (as Speaker Mike Johnson insists)? Ha ha ha!
Anne Applebaum suggests why this imagery is critical for the wannabe authoritarian/pretend king:
For those using the oldest tools in the authoritarian playbook, the nature of the smear is unimportant. What matters is the intention behind it: Don’t answer your critics. Don’t argue with them. Don’t let them win over anyone else. Describe them as dangerous radicals even when they wear frog costumes. Imply, without evidence, that they were bribed to speak out, because there can’t possibly be any sincere idealists who criticize the Party and its Leader out of a genuine desire to help other Americans. Dump AI-generated sewage on their heads to discourage anyone else from joining them. And if they keep coming out, make the messages even harsher.
Don’t dare disagree with President Donald J. Trump. Whether he’s a king or an autocrat or an out of control president, dissenters can’t be tolerated.
It’s a hate America rally. — Mike Johnson
The White House agrees that dissenters are beyond the pale. “The Democrat Party’s main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.” — Karoline Leavitt
The day before the rallies
Ezra Levin (co-founder of Indivisible) talked with Dana Bash about the goals of the second No Kings day of protests:
Our enemy here is not Trump; it’s not the regime. It’s not Democrats who refuse to fight back. Those are opponents from time to time in the campaign. Our enemy is fatalism and nihilism and cynicism. The sense that we are just victims of world events and there’s just nothing that we can do.
By showing up in historic numbers we burst that bubble. We show that we are not afraid, that we can indeed exercise our First Amendment rights. That’s goal one.
But a protest, even a historic protest — this will be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history — even something as big as this is a one day protest. And the real measure of success is not just in how big and how peaceful and how joyful it is. It’s also how many people plug in to on the ground organizing going forward. And that’s what we’ve got to go next.
Five million Americans turned out — in protests across 2,600 venues — without violent clashes or arrests.
Gloria Molina Grand Park, October 18, 2025