It was a change in name only, thankfully.

But anyway yeah I guess I know what they mean though; a Louis XIV style absolute monarch, who was basically a crowned, heriditary dictator anyway.

One of the reasons why "No Kings" hits better than say "No Dictator" in the American context is historical. U.S Conservatives (and liberals, but especially conservatives) use to pride themselves as inheritors and extenders of Classical Republicanism. Both parties more or less descend from and have called themselves at different points republican parties, with the more monarchy-positive Federalist Party having died out in the early 19th Century. 

George III plays the role of a tyrant in the founding myth (even if the reality was a lot more nuanced.) 

The American population is 90% small "r" republican if you go by polls. 

So "No Kings" has a lot of symbolic meaning here that "No Dictators" likely wouldn't. With the latter, you'd pretty much just get the radical right (which controls the GOP now) responding with things like "If Trump is a dictator then Lincoln was a dictator. Trump isn't doing anything he didn't." You also capture Trump's flamboyance-ness with "No Kings" and therefore target the whole populist spectrum, as that is something which disgusts large segments of the populist-right. 

Never mind, I had a whole post on this but the system keeps eating it. The gist of is that most of us don’t want a king, whether it’s an autocratic monarch like the Saudis or even a figurehead in a crown. Trump, however, absolutely would wear a gold crown and ermine robes as long as he had the powers of the Gulf oil kings he admires.

US senator says he wants Congress to OK any military force against Iran

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is filing a resolution to require that Congress authorise a declaration of war or any specific use of military force against Iran.

“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” Kaine said.

The resolution would require any hostilities with Iran to be explicitly authorised by a declaration of war or specific authorisation for use of military force but would not prevent the US from defending itself from imminent attack.

Congress passed a similar resolution in 2020 during Trump’s first presidential term.

US aircraft carrier sails towards the Middle East

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left Southeast Asia after cancelling plans to dock in Vietnam and is headed to the Middle East as Israel and Iran do battle. At 13:45 GMT, the carrier was travelling through the Malacca Strait towards the Indian Ocean, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.

An unnamed Vietnamese official confirmed to AFP news agency a planned reception aboard the USS Nimitz on June 20 – as part of the ship’s expected June 19-23 visit to Da Nang, Vietnam – had been cancelled. The official shared a letter from the US embassy announcing the Pentagon cancelled the event because of “an emergent operational requirement”.

The movement of one of the world’s largest warships came on day four of the escalating air war between Israel and Iran, with no end in sight despite international calls for de-escalation.

“The concern is that this war will continue and expand, that Iran might hit US targets, including some of the military installations that the United States has in the region,” said Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC.

“So I would look at the movement of aircraft carriers and other equipment to deter Iran. I don’t think the Iranians are eager to bring the United States into what is already quite a devastating conflict for them.”

Trump says Iran should talk about de-escalating ‘before it’s too late’

Iran wants to talk about de-escalating hostilities with Israel, and should do so immediately “before it’s too late”, President Trump said.

“I’d say Iran is not winning this war … and they should talk immediately before it’s too late,” he told reporters at the start of a meeting with Canada’s PM Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis.

Nobody will be winning this war... If the US joins in offensively things are only going to get much worse.

Peace president...

Feels like we're on the cusp of going to war. Trump warns Iranians to evacuate Tehran, leaves the G7 conference and then convenes in the Situation Room. I feel like Israel doesn't really need the help, as they seem to clearly have stronger offensive and defensive capabilities, but I could see Trump trying to capitalize on the situation and try to finish the job...

10 out of the 90 million Iranians live in Theran. You can't just evacuate 10 million people.

Iran is also 74x larger than Israel, this is not like bringing Hezbollah down. The US couldn't even stop the Houthis in Yemen...

Hopefully someone talks some sense into Trump as further escalating this conflict while have dire consequences for the entire world. 

Trump’s Tehran ‘evacuation’ warning ‘extremely troubling’: Analyst

Matthew Duss, the executive vice president of the Washington, DC-based Center for International Policy think tank, said that Trump’s warning that Tehran’s entire population should evacuate the city was “frankly terrifying”.

“This is a metropolitan area of over 15 million people. Evacuating a city of that size is impossible, even before you consider the fact that people don’t have access to gasoline. They would have to be fleeing on foot,”

“But, unfortunately, it’s hard to know how seriously to take what Donald Trump says… But still, this kind of language from a president of the United States is extremely troubling. We should all be concerned,” he said.

Trump had earlier written in a post on his Truth Social platform: “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”

Pentagon chief deploys more troops to the Middle East

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says he has directed the “deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East over the weekend.

“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” he said in a post on X.

The announcement came amid reports that the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz had left Southeast Asia after cancelling plans to dock in Vietnam, and is on its way to the Middle East. The Nimitz will be joining the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which is currently in the Arabian Sea.

Trump to hold meeting with NSC as US sends additional forces to Middle East

There are reports by US media that Donald Trump has requested the National Security Council to convene in the situation room as he returns early from the G7 summit in Canada.

Trump’s early departure on Monday evening from the G7 came as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier in the day that he had ordered the deployment of additional US military capabilities to the Middle East.

Hegseth did not disclose the type or size of the US force that would be sent to the region. But the Reuters news agency reported the movement of a large number of US military refuelling aircraft and an aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

The aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, was reported to be leaving the Southeast Asia region after cancelling a scheduled visit to Vietnam and was tracked heading through the Malacca Strait towards the Indian Ocean, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.

‘Blow-by-blow’ fight between Israel, Iran to continue for near term: Analyst

Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the New York-based Soufan Center, said that the “blow-by-blow” fighting between Israel and Iran will likely continue over the next 24 to 48 hours at least.

“The United States is moving a lot of military muscle into the region to help the Israelis, and so I think we are likely to see continued fighting and escalation, at least for the near term,” Clarke told Al Jazeera a little earlier.

“Beyond that, President Trump has expressed some optimism that the Iranians are willing and ready to come to the negotiating table. But I have my own doubts about that based on what I’ve seen,” he said.

“It’s still too early for a formal battle damage assessment. But symbolically, both sides are absorbing blows – pretty significant blows. We’ve seen the recent Iranian attack against Israeli energy infrastructure in Haifa. And the Israelis, now with air superiority and air dominance, have had their pick of going after various surface-to-air missiles and Iranian anti-missile defence systems. So this is a real knock-down, drag-out conflict. It’s really what we’ve all been hoping to avoid since October 7, 2023.”

Trump hits out at ‘kooky’ Tucker Carlson

Trump has taken a swipe at conservative commentator Tucker Carlson over his opposition to US involvement in Israel’s attacks on Iran.

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!'” Trump wrote on Truth Social late on Tuesday.

Trump’s broadside comes after Carlson, a former Fox News host, accused the US president of being “complicit” in Israel’s “act of war” against Iran.

“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the US at the center of last night’s events. Washington knew these attacks would happen,” Carlson wrote on his website on Friday.

Iran has exposed divisions in the MAGA coalition, factions of which were drawn to Trump over his stated opposition to overseas wars.

Republican legislator announces push to ‘prohibit US involvement’ in Israel-Iran conflict

We’ve been covering separate efforts in the US Senate, by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, to limit US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.

There now appears to be a similar push in the US House of Representatives by a member of Trump’s Republican party.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie announced on X a short while ago that he will introduce a bipartisan War Powers Resolution on Tuesday “to prohibit our involvement” in the conflict.

“This is not our war,” he wrote. “But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”

This is not our war.

But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.

I’m introducing a bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow to prohibit our involvement.

I invite all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 16, 2025

Iranian-American lawmaker slams Trump’s call to evacuate Tehran

Yassamin Ansari, who became the second person of Iranian descent to be elected to the US House of Representatives last year, has described Trump’s suggestion that “everyone” leave the Iranian capital as “callous and horrifying”.

“Tehran is a massive city of nearly 10 million. Iranian people deserve freedom, but Trump’s threat of murdering innocent civilians, a mass casualty event, or another endless war is not the answer,” Ansari said on X.

Both of my parents fled Iran so this is personal. Trump's words are callous and horrifying.

Tehran is a massive city of nearly 10 million. Iranian people deserve freedom but Trump’s threat of murdering innocent civilians, a mass casualty event, or another endless war is not the… pic.twitter.com/lQLBBYNaaR

— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) June 16, 2025

Trump weighing use of US bomb on Iranian nuclear facility, NYT says

The US president is deliberating whether to enter the conflict with Iran to bomb its nuclear enrichment facility at Fordo, according to The New York Times.

The facility can only be reached using the US’s biggest “bunker buster” bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, using American B-2 bombers, according to The Times.

“If he decides to go ahead, the United States will become a direct participant in a new conflict in the Middle East, taking on Iran in exactly the kind of war Mr. Trump has sworn, in two campaigns, he would avoid,” reporters David E Sanger and Jonathan Swan write.

Notably, the piece is tagged under “analysis” instead of news, and does not cite a source or sources for its contention that such a strike is under consideration.

Given the response from a large segment of Trump's base, if the U.S attacks Iran, I am skeptical there will be a United States at the end of this decade.

Everything is stretched too thin as it is and the polity has been meta-stable since 9/11 and the Great Recession.

Another war like this likely leads to the end of the United States. The only Americans who want this are a majority of Christian Nationalists and the Neo-Cons. And while they are large groups they're only, generously, a fourth of the population.

This could lead to a French Revolution/Russian Revolution event in the U.S, in my opinion.