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No Kings on Presidents' Day [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-17
Every year on Presidents Day, it’s traditional to bake a cherry pie in honor of George Washington. The tradition is a nod to the famous tale of the cherry tree that Washington allegedly chopped down as a young kid—and then fessed up to his father because he could not tell a lie.
Pie is good. But this year, there’s a better way to honor George Washington’s birthday—join one of the many rallies being held across the nation to protest the current occupant of the White House, a president who seemingly cannot tell anything but lies.
These protests are organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for "50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement," a grassroots movement that grew out of a Reddit forum. You can check out their webpage and find an event near you here:
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
Given the symbolism of Presidents’ Day, it’s a perfect day to protest a president who could not be more at odds with the original spirit behind the holiday.
Although the third Monday in February is popularly referred to as Presidents’ Day and seen as a day to celebrate the US presidency in general, the official federal holiday is a celebration of George Washington specifically. Congress made Washington’s February 22 birthday a federal holiday in 1879. In 1971, this holiday was moved to the third Monday in February as part of an effort to create more three-day weekends. However, the origins of the celebration are much older, as a recent article in the New York Times explains.
In fact, the first recorded celebration of Washington’s birthday dates to 1778, when Washington was leading the Continental Army against the British. Stationed at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, a group of soldiers gathered outside Washington’s quarters to celebrate his birthday with drums and fifes. It was a deliberate PR gesture, a way of thumbing their nose at the king they were fighting to defeat. As historian Jeffrey Engel is quoted as saying in the article, Washington’s birthday celebrations “began as a snub to King George.”
After Washington became president, his birthday continued to be regularly celebrated, often in grandiose style, including with balls and fireworks in his honor. However, this was not because he loved the spotlight. In fact, Washington was a humble man who preferred to spend his birthday quietly puttering around his Mount Vernon Estate or attending to his correspondence.
“Washington did not love the limelight; he did not have patience for excessive praise or nostalgia, but he understood the importance of mythmaking,” says Alexis Coe, a presidential historian and Washington biographer. “He was well aware that he was a unifying figure.”
What a contrast with the current occupant of the White House. A narcissist who thrives on divisiveness. A president who actively tried to subvert democracy in 2020 and openly flirts with the idea of staying beyond his elected term. A would-be king who acts like he is above the law and whose illegal and extreme power grabs are already plunging our country into a constitutional crisis mere weeks into his presidency.
Like the drummers and fifers snubbing their nose at King George back in 1778, use this Presidents’ Day to send a clear message. The idea of a president with the power to act like a king is fundamentally at odds with the very notion of our nation. We have to do everything in our power to fight Trump’s attacks on democracy and the rule of law. If you can’t hit the streets this Presidents’ Day, find some other way to get involved and to take action. Then eat some cherry pie.
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