Why Billionaires Can't Cancel Melat Kiros

A Zionist billionaire and Democratic incumbent tried to sabotage our campaign rally. Here's why they failed, and why they will never stop true grassroots campaigns.

Left to right: Donovan McKinney, Melat Kiros, and Justin P. Pearson on the steps of the Denver Capitol building.

Sunday was a day full of questions in Denver, Colorado: Where is the Power to the People rally? Another venue canceled? Where to next? They canceled, too? Are the speakers still interested? Do we have security? What do we tell the DJ? Will anyone show up? Are we even going to have a rally? Is this campaign doomed?

While the organizers’ Signal chats and Slack groups were flooded with requests for updates, one thing was never in doubt. No one ever asked, “Why is this happening?”

For the last few months, local organizers tirelessly planned the Power to the People rally. The venue was booked, the speakers were recruited, and the vendors were selected. Volunteers from Denver DSA, Sunrise Movement, Working Families Party, and other progressive organizations worked long nights and early mornings to ensure that when the political world gazed upon our iconic city, they would see the best we had to offer.

Big-name leftists from across the country descended on Denver to amplify Melat Kiros’s mile-high momentum for her Democratic Socialist allies. The original speaking slate included Melat Kiros (CO-1), Justin P. Pearson (TN-9), Donavan McKinney (MI-11), Julie Gonzalez (CO-Senate), and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. Everything was in place. The anticipation was growing. We were excited. But then last week, the venue canceled. The managers at ReelWorks, a supposedly “progressive” queer bar, said their HVAC system broke. Yet they had already booked another event for our original time slot. So we found another venue. That one canceled too. Then we found another, and you can guess what happened.

The original rally flyer.

It quickly became clear that Melat Kiros’s incumbent opponent, Diana DeGette, and her corporate allies took a page from the Donald Trump playbook. Rather than trying to compete with Kiros on policy, in which DeGette is laughably outmatched, the establishment chose to suppress the speech rights of the very people they claim to represent.

Two of the venues that canceled are run by Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is owned by Colorado’s wealthiest man, Philip Anschutz. A staunch Zionist and conservative political activist worth over $26.6 billion, Anschutz loves the grossly unjust capitalist system that Melat Kiros, Justin P. Pearson, and Donavan McKinney are trying to change. And why wouldn’t he? It’s made him unbelievably rich and unjustly powerful. Though not as wealthy as Anschutz, the owners of the Stanley Market, the third venue to cancel, are members of Denver’s corporate class, which is tightly linked to the Democratic establishment and Diana DeGette. By ordering his venues to cancel, Philip Anschutz has shown just how terrified the capitalist class is of politicians who challenge the status quo. If the elites felt they deserved their money, fame, and power, they would defend it on the merits. A simple rally would be of no concern to them. So, why are they petrified of a few thousand Denverites listening to Hasan Piker in a gay bar? Because they know better than everyone else that they didn’t earn their prestige, but have acquired it through good fortune and poor ethics. Rightfully insecure, the 1% fells the need to crush every spark of dissent, or risk it turning into an uncontrollable flame.

So while many questions flew around Denver on Sunday, none of the rally organizers asked why this was happening. We knew. Those who have built the Melat Kiros campaign know damn well she has Philip Anchutz, Dianna DeGette, and every other member of the Epstein Class shaking in their boots. Melat Kiros, Justin P. Pearson, and Donavan McKinney cannot be bought off. Anshutz’s money had a better chance of bribing Sunday’s rain clouds than the Justice Democrats slate. And by the end of our last-minute rally on the steps of the Colorado Capitol building, everyone in attendance knew that too.

The crowd from Sunday’s rally.

Undeterred, crowds braved the spring showers to hear Melat Kiros, Donovan McKinney, and Justin P. Person speak.¹ Though each comes from a different background and faces unique political challenges, they were unified in their uncompromising willingness to speak truth to power.

All the way from Tennessee, Justin P. Pearson invigorated the crowd with his fight against resegregationist Republicans, who recently gerrymandered him out of Tennessee’s only majority-Black district. As Pearson and his fellow Southerners know better than all else, the illegal gutting of the Voting Rights Act is not just a threat to Black Americans, but to all Americans. The MAGA project is a counter-revolution against the gains of the Civil Rights and other social justice movements. And we’re not going back. As Justin P. Pearson reminded us, Reconstruction remains unfinished. It is the duty of our generation to defeat the last gasp of the Confederacy and build a country with dignity and justice for all.

Hearing Mr. Pearson speak, I couldn’t help but recall the epitaph on General William Sherman’s tombstone — No North. No South. The Union Forever.

Justin P. Pearson is an absolute legend.

Hailing from the iconic union town of Detroit, Donavan McKinney proudly carried the banner of organized labor for all to see. A union man to his core, McKinney’s speech showed the crowd why unions are the engine of social progress; from Walter Rutherford’s UAW building four hundred planes to smash the Nazi war machine, to the modern AFL-CIO fighting for the release of political prisoner Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If victorious, McKinney would be the youngest person of color elected to federal office in Michigan history. Hearing him speak, I can’t think of anyone more deserving of that honor. It’s also no wonder that socialist icons Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib see Donavan McKinney as the next great American labor leader.

I have video of McKinney’s speech. But I can’t post it because I scream “F-ck yea!” after every single thing he said.

Last but certainly not least, Melat Kiros took the stage. In less than ten minutes, Kiros showed the world that she has more integrity and leadership in one pinky finger than all of her detractors combined.

For months, Melat Kiros has weathered every slander you can imagine, each more despicable than the last. Dianna DeGette has falsely labeled her a “social media influencer,” as if a young woman of color could only rise to prominence through TikTok algorithms rather than her own merit. As the Kiros campaign pulls ahead, DeGette and her allies have resorted to outright racism. A recent attack amplified by the DeGette camp accused Melat of “rationalizing the killing of Jews,” weaponizing the offensive trope that immigrants of color must all be violent antisemites. On top of all this, whispers were coming in that DeGette was behind the latest venue cancellation. Needless to say, Melat Kiros had a right to be pissed off on Sunday afternoon.

A poor politician would have let this anger consume them, devolving their speech into red-faced nothingness. A good politician would have taken advantage of the situation and asked their supporters to rush to their personal defense. But Melat Kiros is neither of these. She is neither a bad politician nor a good one. Rather, Melat Kiros is a phenomenal leader.

Denver’s next congresswoman, Melat Kiros.

Without a quiver of a lip or a tremble in her voice, Melat Kiros defied those who tried to silence her. Railing against the political establishment that elevates the feelings and desires of the privileged few over the needs and wants of the deserving many, Kiros called for the end of the Gaza genocide, the hefty taxation of the world’s first trillionaire, and condemned the Denver elite who colluded to protect their incumbent lapdog. Though these issues appear unrelated, Kiros’s masterful oration connected the dots and showed how these calamities are all expected outcomes of a system that enriches those who work the least while impoverishing those who work the most; a system that empowers the corrupt while disempowering the honest masses, the only ones with a divine mandate to control our collective destiny.

Though she would have been well within her rights to, not once did Melat Kiros complain about being the personal target of DeGette and Anschutz’s racist, undemocratic lies. Where corporate politicians stumble, Melat Kiros rises.

Instead of focusing on herself, Melat Kiros spoke to the people. Not just those on the Capitol steps, but throughout Denver, Colorado, and America. Here I will speak for Melat, but only because I have heard her say this herself many times before.

The reason Melat Kiros will win is the same reason the oligarchy is trying to sabotage her, which is the same reason they cannot sabotage her. Melat Kiros is not running for Congress. We are running for Congress. If Melat Kiros were yet another opportunist who paid lip service to working-class issues but cozied up to donors, then Philip Anschutz could have canceled her. One phone call, and the rally would be over. “Venue canceled. Sorry. Go Home.” But that’s not what happens when a people-powered campaign is told “No.” Suddenly, everyone in the campaign orbit drops everything and starts working: searching for a new venue, coordinating VIPs, securing permits, sending turnout texts, arranging food and water, building booths, moving merch, and a thousand other crucial details we have to get right. Without going into too much detail, I have never felt prouder to be part of such a selfless, principled group of organizers than I did on Sunday. Everywhere I looked, someone was moving heaven and earth to make this rally happy.

Much like the enthusiasm of the thousands of Denverites who braved the rain to hear Melat and company speak, only inspirational grassroots campaigns earn this degree of volunteer dedication. By running as unapologetic socialists, Melat Kiros, Donavan McKinney, and Justin P. Pearson have earned the support of their base and put the political class in a bind. When the elite try to suppress them, they only reinforce grassroots energy and dedication. The volunteers work extra shifts, the candidate grows bolder, and voters, who are much smarter than Diana DeGette’s political consultants believe, see as clear as day the powerful are scared of these candidates. But the establishment can’t compete on the merits, so they double down, and the cycle repeats. As the saying goes, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”

By trying to cancel a sold-out rally, the political establishment showed Denver voters that Melat Kiros was correct all along. Yes: the regressive forces of Zionism, corporate corruption, and political insidership are not only present in our city but are colluding against the interests of everyday Denverites. It is time to put a stop to this. It’s time to put the people in charge. And that starts with electing Melat Kiros, Justin P. Pearson, and Donavan McKinney to Congress.

As the ruling class is about to learn, you cannot cancel the truth. You can only reveal it.

---

If you appreciated this essay, please click the ❤️ to help it rise in Substack’s algorithm. Don’t forget to subscribe so future articles are delivered to your inbox.

And if you can swing it, here are links to support Justin P. Pearson, Donavan McKinney, and Melat Kiros. They could really use your time, talent, and treasure.

In Solidarity — Joe

1. Julie Gonzales released this statement explaining why she didn’t participate. Hasan Piker had justified safety concerns about a last-minute outdoor venue. He didn’t attend, but he hosted the candidates on his stream and came to the after-party. Cool dude. Taller than I thought. I got #heightmogged