High Winds and Hot Air in Carson City

The Crowd and the Ruckus They Raised

A gaggle of self-righteous moral mechanics, with more signs than sense, blew into town Saturday to holler at the sky and each other about the supposed tyranny of one Donald J. Trump and Governor Joe Lombardo. The crowd, numbering some 2,000—though half of them looked lost and the other half looked paid to be there—spent a good portion of the afternoon waving cardboard commandments and decrying the downfall of democracy from the comfort of megaphones made in China.

The ruckus got stirred up by a pair of local tempest-in-a-teapot outfits–Indivisible Northern Nevada and something called 50501 NNV, which sounds less like a civic group and more like the combination for a safe that holds other people’s money. They set up camp in front of the Legislature, full of vim and vinegar–hoping to shame Lombardo for speaking plain truth at a Republican shindig earlier this month.

His crime? Saying what everyone’s thinking—that these protests are less about principles and more about paychecks. He also dared to call out the Democratic Party as the party of handouts–which is like saying the Walker River’s wet—provocative only if you ain’t been paying attention.

Present and preening–were Assemblymembers Erika Roth, Max Carter, and Natha Anderson, who took turns casting curses at Trump’s tariffs and Lombardo’s candor. They wept and wailed about Elon Musk, too–who’s the new ghost haunting their dreams. The trio blamed Trump and Musk for everything from bunions to broken dreams, claiming the duo has destroyed workers’ rights, gutted healthcare, and stolen grandma’s pension—all while failing to mention how many jobs Musk’s factories provide or how Trump’s policies brought manufacturing back from the grave like Lazarus with a MAGA hat.

Now let me tell you something plain and simple–it takes a special kind of dishonor to wag a finger at a man like Trump, who, love him or hate him, speaks like a man without a leash. And Lombardo, too, deserves more praise than scorn as last checked, Nevada could use more straight talk and less emotional interpretive dance from the steps of the Capitol.

In truth, the folks hollering on Saturday didn’t look much like the salt of the earth—they looked more like the foam. Loud, frothy, and gone with the next gust of wind.

If democracy is in peril, it’s not from too much Trump—it’s from too many folks mistaking Twitter for the Constitution and treating every difference of opinion like a declaration of war. So, to Mr. Trump and Governor Lombardo, keep talking.

And to the protestors–if you’re gonna accuse a man of tyranny, at least bring more than a clever slogan and a compostable sign.