No Kings!
A patriotic, peaceful protest
Around seven million American patriots peacefully protested President Donald J. Trump’s authoritarianism, corruption, and general stupidity during yesterday’s No Kings events held throughout the United States. Furthermore, as of the time of this writing, many police departments are sharing data about incidents and arrests during No Kings events in their communities, and all I’ve seen so far is “zero.” I attended the No Kings event in Washington, D.C. with about 200,000 fellow freedom-loving Americans and like the other events, it was peaceful and empowering.
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson did not mince words leading up to the October No Kings events. In summary, he accused those who would attend No Kings of being every MAGA pejorative in the book, the best of which was “Antifa,” to denigrate anyone with the courage to even simply be present at any one of these events. (Antifa, or anti-fascist, is a moniker I believe most Americans embrace in spirit because it is simply an organic response to fascist authoritarianism from those inclined towards democracy, and not a formal organization as some suggest. Similarly, “MAGA,” which has many adherents, is not a formal organization but an organic response to the right’s own fear of non-white, non-straight, non-cisgender, non-Christian, etc. people living in a country they perceive to be exclusively their own.)
Speaker Johnson’s messaging was clearly ineffective given yesterday’s huge turnout. Now that this round of No Kings has come and gone peacefully, and Speaker Johnson cannot gloat about left-wing violence, it falls on him to spin this a different way - to remind us that if President Trump were really a king, the government would be open right now. Never mind that Republicans can reopen the government without Democratic votes. Others have suggested that we could never have had these protests under the rule of a “King Trump.” It is correct to say that President Trump has not yet found a way to strip Americans of their first amendment rights, but there are no guarantees that he will not try to curtail them perhaps under the guide of a national emergency. Furthermore, Speaker Johnson’s post-No Kings commentary reminds us of his tendency to miss or ignore the point: We all understand that Donald Trump is not actually a king, but he wants the power of a king and to be let loose of the constraints imposed on his power by the Constitution. Hence, “No Kings.”
Bottom line: MAGA adherents will continue their fearmongering. Do not let them make you afraid to exercise your free speech, free assembly, and free expression as they continue to disparage people who peacefully demonstrate against President Trump. They will continue to accuse protesters of being somehow unpatriotic, somehow unamerican, somehow evil, bad, etc. Please ignore them and keep showing up! You will be in good company and if you want, you can wear a costume, carry a sign, cheer, or just do what I do and mosey around, enjoy the atmosphere, and take photos. Just be there.
Here are some photos from the No Kings protest in Washington D.C., on October 18, 2025. I focused on protest signs - one of the best parts of a protest, in my opinion. Please enjoy!
