History organizations do not have the option of operating in isolation from the world around them. June 14, 2025, was an historic day:
It was the 250th anniversary of the founding of the army celebrated with a parade in the nation’s capital.
It was the 79th birthday of the president of the United States celebrated with the parade for the anniversary of the army.
It was a nation-wide protest by over five million people of “No Kings Day” probably the largest such protest in American history.
America’s third civil war then ratcheted up with the deployment of troops to Los Angeles. Remember we are not only celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we are reliving it. History may not repeat itself but it certainly does rhyme.
The current civil war combines elements of all three American civil wars.
First there is the king versus no king confrontation.
Second there is the renaming of the American bases after Confederate generals combined with the ongoing suppression of the supposedly enfranchised voters of the wrong skin color.
Third there is MAGA versus Woke.
As John Adams claimed, the population is divided into thirds among Loyalists, Patriots, and “just leave me alone so I can get on with my life without having my farm ravaged, so too, today one may speak of We the People as the perhaps not so silent majority. Whichever side can claim the loyalty of We the People wins.
LOYALISTS
The Loyalists today are following a similar strategy to the one initially followed by the British – occupy the cities beginning in 1775, 250 years ago. Britain first targeted Boston (Harvard), New York (King’s College/Columbia), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). This time Los Angeles is the first to be occupied by loyalist forces as an admittedly trial run for other major cities in the now larger United States. In fact, Trump has specifically designated Democratic-run cities as the source of the rebellion.
The policy is encountering some problems.
First ICE does not have manpower to capture the requisite number of illegal aliens to meet the 3000/day standard for deportation which the Loyalist faction has set. So far in 2025, it has not come even remotely close to deporting the millions the King stated would be deported. Even with the mobilization or cannibalization of armed personnel from every federal institution under the sun, the reduced goal of 3000/day seems unattainable. Finding locations for the captured people seems more of a challenge than ICE can reach at present. The new budget includes tens of billions to build such facilities such as with Alligator Alcatraz.
Second, even identifying the people to be deported has been problematic. Such identification is a retail operation. Besides being time consuming and prone to error, it rips people from local communities where they have long-lived and are welcome. The people being deported are not some nameless horde of subhuman violent criminal barbarians invading this country as originally promised but people from next door, hard-working people in the community who pay taxes, send their kids to school where they participate in school activities, and are members of a local church. The idea that they are terrorists simply is nonsense.
Third, local businesses are often bearing the brunt of ICE’s sweeps as their workers are forcibly removed. They want it stopped.
Fourth, ICE’s actions are arousing even more opposition.
This brazen exercise of power has several complications.
First, it is illegal.
Second, it is stupid as Marines are forced to wile away their time in the dreaded activity of “wait.”
Third, it has been poorly executed. National Guard people have lives, they have families, they have jobs. They have been abruptly removed from all that without even being paid for their new assignment (so far).
Fourth, despite all the talk of invasion, occupation, and a city out of control, over 53,000 people braved the trek to Chavez Ravine, to watch the Dodgers and Giants battle for first place in their division. The number of people living their normal lives far exceeds the wild claims of the Loyalist forces.
Five, the abduction of women and children has taken a toll on ICE. True they wear masks but underneath those masks are regular Americans who also have been removed from their homes, work long hours, and did not sign up for this. They would rather be doing the work the work they were hired to do.
The longer the Loyalist forces remain in Los Angeles, the weaker their position becomes and the stronger the rebel position becomes.
REBELS
We have already seen the first glimmerings of the Rebel cause with the celebration of the ride of Paul Revere (Ride Paul Ride: The 2025 Showdown between Patriots and Loyalists). At that time, the rebels wisely embraced the language and flags of the patriots from the American Revolution.
USA Today
Now the No Kings Day is here and not simply an announcement as it was in April. Over 2000 events were held nationwide. The Loyalists simply do not have the forces to occupy so many communities. So although the day coincidentally is Flag Day, the anniversary of the origin of the army, and the birthday of the President, the event that garnered the biggest numbers in the millions was the protests against the rule of a king. For someone infatuated with crowd size to the point of even lying about the crowd size on his very first day in office in 2017, this nationwide expression of opposition to the his rule must be a bitter pill to swallow.
Of course, the actions June 14 are not the end of the story. The rebel position will continue to increase. Just as King George was mocked for his mental health, so too his American counterpart. His deranged rhetoric about an invasion, about occupied cites, about the need for military force to take back our country will become more and more hollow to anyone who actually visits, works in, or lives in those cities. People will commute, people will attend ball games, people will attend concerts. The only carnage is when ICE continues to subdue elected Democratic officials from New York to California. His takeover of the American 250th at the federal level as a bungled celebration to himself will only serve to spur more celebrations at the grass roots level.
Right now schools are in recess. But NPS history sites are busy scrubbing their websites to present a cleansed view of American history. Just in time for people who want to visit sites where staff has been Muskacred, websites have been scrubbed, and history is being rewritten.
So what artifacts are you saving for your community?
