Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) announced the deployment of their states’ National Guard in anticipation of “No Kings” protests.
Abbott was the first to announce the deployment of the Texas National Guard to Austin through a foreboding statement on X, warning that any disorder wouldn’t be tolerated.
“Today, I directed the Dept. of Public Safety and National Guard to surge forces into Austin ahead of an Antifa-linked protest. Texas will NOT tolerate chaos. Anyone destroying property or committing acts of violence will be swiftly arrested. Law and order will be enforced,” Abbott said in a post on X.
Youngkin spokesman Peter Finocchio told VPM News that the governor’s office put the Virginia National Guard in a state of readiness in anticipation of the protests.
“The Governor has authorized state active duty for training to help ensure the Guard will be ready to respond if needed to help keep people safe,” he said, adding that the governor’s office was coordinating with both law enforcement and protest organizers.
Virginia National Guard spokesman A.A. “Cotton” Puryear told the outlet that it hadn’t received a formal request for assistance, but personnel “will be on state active duty conducting training.”
An internal Virginia National Guard document obtained by the outlet showed detailed plans for the protests, establishing a task force consisting of a “Quick Reaction Force” and “Ready Reaction Force” staged outside of Richmond on Friday, including a “Non-Lethal Weapons Platoon.”
The document said the task force “may be employed as a unit to a single incident site, or by distributing squads to multiple incident sites, dependent on the needs of the supported agency.”
There are 2,500 planned “No Kings” protests across 2,200 cities on Saturday, including cities outside the U.S., such as Madrid, Paris, and London.
LEFT GREENLIGHTS POLITICAL VIOLENCE ON EVE OF ‘NO KINGS’ REVOLTS
The last “No Kings” protests in June went by largely without incident, but Saturday’s protests come amid a far more heated political climate. The assassination of Charlie Kirk last month and an attack on a Dallas ICE facility have triggered anxiety from conservatives about rising political violence. President Donald Trump declared antifa a terrorist group in response, buoyed by cells around the country’s violent involvement and agitation in protests.
Conservatives have grown increasingly worried about the threats posed by antifa after increasingly brazen terroristic actions, such as an armed assault on a Texas ICE facility in July. Abbott notably featured the network in his statement on deploying the National Guard to Austin.
