Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan had the best line of the day at the “No Kings” rally in Washington, D.C., a biting dig at President Donald Trump.
“The great irony is, of course, that Donald Trump is the son of an immigrant, the grandson of an immigrant, and married to an immigrant,” he said.
“In fact, two of his three wives were immigrants, proving yet again that immigrants will do the jobs that even Americans are not willing to do.” The crowd erupted in laughter at Hasan’s zinger.
Hasan, the founder of the digital media company Zeteo and an immigrant to the United States from England, was referring to First Lady Melania Trump, who is a Slovenian immigrant, and Ivana Trump, Trump’s Czech first wife.
The joke came during a portion of Hasan’s 10-minute speech where he took issue with how Republicans have described the No Kings protest as a “Hate America” rally.
“The people who can’t get through a single day without hating,” he said. “On late-night comedians and overweight soldiers and Muslim politicians and Mexican immigrants and Palestinian refugees and Black women and transgender kids and peaceful protesters and Mr. fricking Potato Head, they are lecturing us on hate? Really?”
He then pointed out that the immigrants Donald Trump is focused on deporting in ICE raids often have greater loyalty to the U.S. Constitution than Trump himself.
“And we immigrants, we love this country often more than the people who are born here because we chose to move here, live here, swear an oath to the Constitution here. An oath that the guy down the street violates every morning and every night,” said Hasan.
Republicans have been trying multiple rhetorical tactics to alarm Americans, discredit the protests, and threaten the protesters. House members, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have said the protests would be attended by “terrorists” and “extremists.” On Friday, he amplified a tenuous report from Fox News attempting to connect the protests to liberal billionaire and conservative bogeyman George Soros.
On Saturday, Florida congressman Randy Fine appeared to warn Florida protesters that they would be run over if they blocked the road, tweeting, “PSA to the idiots protesting today. In Florida, if you block the roads, you’ll hear the following sound. Thump thump!”
Footage from more than 2,600 Saturday rallies—which took place in Europe as well—paints a picture that is drastically at odds with the chaos that Republicans foretold. Images and videos show large crowds peacefully demonstrating in small towns and major cities across the country.
As of the time of writing, there have been no reports of violence committed by protesters. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a man in a Jeep sporting pro-Trump stickers was arrested for flashing his gun at protesters.
