‘No Kings’ protest in Staunton on Saturday set against backdrop of what’s going on in LA

The stakes for this weekend’s “No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” just got raised significantly with Donald Trump sending troops to Los Angeles to try to quell anti-ICE protests.

Trump doesn’t like protests, and he isn’t going to be happy that his $90 million military parade in DC on Saturday will have to share the spotlight with more than 1,800 community protests nationwide.

The one nearest to me will be in Downtown Staunton beginning at 2 p.m. at the Augusta County Courthouse, with the local Democratic Party committees inviting the community to the party HQ at 240 N. Central Ave. beginning at noon for a sign-making party.

I’m, unfortunately, expecting things to be a bit confrontational downtown. An April 5 protest at the courthouse led to reckless-driving charges against a local towing company owner who drove by the front of the courthouse at a high rate of speed just feet away from the crowd, and a follow-up April 19 courthouse protest was marred by an Augusta County man shouting death threats at several attendees.

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ICYMI

• Staunton: Magistrate issues warrant in ‘rolling coal’ incident at April 5 protest
• Staunton Police arrest, then quickly release, man who shouted death threats at protest

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I’m seeing two other area “No Kings” events on the schedule for Saturday – in Charlottesville, at The Shops at Stonefield, the site of a future Elon Musk-Tesla dealership, from 12-2 p.m., and one earlier in the day, beginning at 10 a.m., up 29 in Culpeper.

That one in Culpeper should be interesting. Trump, who is, reinforcing here, a convicted felon, announced last month that he had pardoned the convicted felon former Culpeper County sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison for accepting $75,000 in bribes.

Jenkins fancied himself a “constitutional sheriff” who was not subject to state or federal oversight – basically, he viewed himself as king of Culpeper County, until he finished a distant third in his 2023 re-election campaign.

The full schedule of “No Kings” events is online at nokings.org.