No Kings

This weekend made me slightly more hopeful about this blasted phase of our current political climate. I ended up in 2 different marches, one in my local town in the morning, and another one 2hrs away right on the doorstep of my concert venue. As I was waiting to pass a few concertgoers at the entrance, I had to chuckle when I overheard a 6ft tall gentleman bend down to tell a 4ft tall elderly lady that he was exctied to have hung out with 4000 of his favorite liberals in town and make a ruckus on the town square. 

John Rudoff / Reuters

People in Portland, Oregon, gather for a “No Kings” protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, at Waterfront Park, on October 18, 2025.

So many people, so much yellow! 

These 2 statements from my daily read, HCR caught my eye and made me think: as messy and annoying as our politics become, the absence of it requires force.  

Scholar of social movements Lisa Corrigan noted that large, fun marches full of art and music expand connections and make people more willing to take risks against growing state power. They build larger communities by creating new images that bring together recognizable images from the past in new ways, helping more people see themselves in such an opposition. The community and good feelings those gatherings develop help carry opposition through hard moments. Corrigan notes, too, that yesterday “every single rally (including in the small towns) was bigger than the surrounding police force available. That kind of image event is VERY IMPORTANT if you’re…demonstrating social coherence AGAINST a fascist government and its makeshift gestapo.”

Such rallies “bring together multigenerational groups and the playfulness can help create enthusiasm for big tent politics against the monoculture of fascism,” Corrigan writes. “The frogs (and unicorns and dinosaurs) will be defining ideographs of this period of struggle.” [...]

Several administration videos and images have responded to Americans saying “No Kings” by taking the position “Yes, We Want Kings,” an open embrace of the end of democracy. But they are more than simple trolling. Led by Trump, MAGA Republicans have abandoned the idea of politics, which is the process of engaging in debate and negotiation to attract support and win power. What is left when a system loses the give and take of politics is force.

The idea that leaders must attract voters with reasoned arguments to win power and must concede power when their opponents win has been the central premise of American government since 1800. In that year, after a charged election in which each side accused the other of trying to destroy the country, Federalist John Adams turned the reins of government over to the leader of the opposition, Thomas Jefferson. That peaceful transfer of power not only protected the people, it protected leaders who had lost the support of voters, giving them a way to leave office safely and either retire or regroup to make another run at power.

Laure Andrillon / AFP / Getty

This aerial picture taken on October 18, 2025, shows protesters holding an American flag during the “No Kings” national day of protest on Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

via {letters from an american}

pics via {the atlantic} and {the independent}