MS NOW host Ali Velshi and former GOP congressman-turned MS NOW darling Joe Walsh joined forces on the former’s Saturday show to hype the day’s No Kings protests. According to both, President Trump is a king, a fascist, and a tyrant.
Velshi began by framing the day’s events not as Trump versus anti-Trump or left versus right but as small-D democrats versus everyone else, “This is not about whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or where you stand on a myriad of important issues. And there are many. This is about are you on the side of democracy and keeping this republic.”
Ali Velshi portrays the No Kings protests as non-partisans versus Trump “This is not about whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or where you stand on a myriad of important issues. And there are many. This is about are you on the side of democracy and and keeping this… pic.twitter.com/auBY9khDzP
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 28, 2026
Walsh, who was wearing a “F*ck Trump” shirt, agreed, “Oh, Ali, spot on. This is about are we American or not? I was listening to Ezra and I loved what he said. I’m down here in D.C. outside Arlington Cemetery. We took the Metro down and I can’t tell you hundreds and hundreds of people, all of us on the Metro, all ages, all colors, all sizes. And Ali, everybody was smiling. Everybody was high-fiving.”
He then echoed Velshi’s monologue earlier in the show where the host referred to Trump as a “tyrant,” claiming, “There is a joy out here in, like, publicly identifying, ‘I’m an American. I effing love this democracy.’ And Ali, it’s like the sense of urgency. You said it at the top. It’s here. Trump is a king. He is a fascist. He is a tyrant.”
Velshi’s examples of tyranny were quite underwhelming. One example was claiming Trump tried to get ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel pulled off the air. As is tradition for the media, there was no reference to what Kimmel actually said. A second example was the Iran War, which Velshi said was unpopular, but if being unpopular is proof of tyranny, then every politician in America today is a tyrant. Velshi also lamented Trump may do something similar with Cuba while also falsely claiming Trump used ICE to turn cities into police states.
As it was, Walsh continued giving MS NOW’s audience what they like to hear, “Ali, I come from the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party movement abandoned all of those beliefs. And we don’t want a tyrant in the White House. But my god, it’s here now. And I think that sense of urgency. There actually is the very thing our founding fathers feared is in the White House. And every day we’re bombarded with it. Happy warriors, Ali, who all over the country today feel like this country, we’ve got to save it right now.”
If Velshi and Walsh want people to seriously believe that the main political divide in America today is between those who believe in democracy and those who don’t, they should not claim democracy is whatever Velshi’s preferred immigration and foreign policies are.
Here is a transcript for the March 28 show:
MS NOW Velshi
3/28/2026
10:13 AM ET
ALI VELSHI: This is not about whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or where you stand on a myriad of important issues. And there are many. This is about are you on the side of democracy and keeping this republic.
JOE WALSH: Oh, Ali, spot on. This is about are we American or not? I was listening to Ezra and I loved what he said. I’m down here in D.C. outside Arlington Cemetery. We took the Metro down and I can’t tell you hundreds and hundreds of people, all of us on the Metro, all ages, all colors, all sizes. And Ali, everybody was smiling. Everybody was high-fiving.
There is a joy out here in, like, publicly identifying “I’m an American. I effing love this democracy.” And Ali, it’s like the sense of urgency. You said it at the top. It’s here. Trump is a king. He is a fascist. He is a tyrant.
Ali, I come from the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party movement abandoned all of those beliefs. And we don’t want a tyrant in the White House. But my god, it’s here now. And I think that sense of urgency. There actually is the very thing our founding fathers feared is in the White House.
And every day we’re bombarded with it. Happy warriors, Ali, who all over the country today feel like this country, we’ve got to save it right now.
