10/13/25

THE “NO KINGS 2” PROTESTS
The Good, Bad & Ugly. Mostly the Good. 

THE FIRST "No Kings'" rally in Middletown, RI, June 14, 2025

AS 2025 DRAWS TO ITS SAD, soul-shattering close, nothing I will do this year will be more important – at least to me – than showing up for this Saturday’s No Kings protest.
     If it all works out as planned, my participation will be immensely insignificant.
     That is, if the turnout exceeds the 5 million headcount that sponsors estimated for the first No Kings Day back on June 14, whether I’m present or not will be of no consequence.
     A drop of water in the ocean, one seat in a sold-out soccer stadium, a kernel of corn on a vast Midwestern farm.
     And, let’s be honest, if the day produces the largest demonstration in American history, that might have no practical effect in stopping Donald Trump’s evolving dictatorship.
     Critics will say that it was just one day, so what the heck. No practical impact. Nobody got elected. Or un-elected. No legislation was enacted. Nothing happened. Nothing changed.
     Or that, in one city, in one state, maybe in several places, the protests will turn ugly and produce enough head-banging, shots-fired viral video to accelerate Trump’s continuing campaign to turn American soldiers against American citizens.
     Or, maybe the whole thing it will be a flop. Just thousands, not millions, nationwide.
     Or, regardless of size, big, small or medium, it will provide fodder for to rightwing lies and distortions.
     House Speaker Mike Johnson got a head start on the smear campaign, according to Politico, by describing a planned No Kings event in  Washington, as a  “hate America rally.”

HERE’S ANOTHER THING. I really don’t like big protests or even bite-sized ones.
     For one thing, I’m pretty sure that somebody is going to say something stupid. They’ll say something that I completely, totally don’t agree with. But lots of people will cheer. And by being present, it will seem like I’m in solidarity, one-for-all/all-for-one. It’s guaranteed.
     I’ll give you an example that still rankles. Back in the Black Lives Matter days, egregious, vicious racist police conduct generated this slogan: “Defund the Police!”
     I know enough about government that if you want to reform some out-of-control public service, you have to spend MORE money, not less, such as bigger salaries for police, more money for training, and lots of cash for added mental health professionals and others to help police do non-police work.
     So, on Saturday, I don’t want to hear an antisemitic chant like “From the river to the sea,” or some anti-Palestinian slurs or “This time, don’t just shoot his ear.”
     For that matter, my ideal protest is an event with no-speeches, no music, no chanting, no sloganeering, and which lasts no more than 15 minutes, just long enough to get a credible headcount and maybe some drone photos to prove it. And that’s a wrap.

WHICH IS NOT HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS.
     Democracy is messy, imperfect, mixed-up, noisy, infuriating and disorganized. People have to put up with all sorts of companions, buddies and fellow travelers, including misanthropes like yours truly.
     And if ever our country needed a humongous day of protest, it is now, nearly 10 months into the most dangerous, cruelest, despotic, corrupt presidential administration in history.
     We need every single body possible to say “no” to Donald J. Trump. No to savage roundups of immigrants, no to troops on American streets, no to absurd health policies, no to acceleration of climate destruction, no to bullying professors, no to racism, no to desecration of a great country.
     So thanks for the people who are planning No Kings Day 2 in thousands of cities and towns across American. It is our privilege to protest. Our duty to protest. it’s the least we can do.
     Just don’t ask me to chant, chat or sing during the bus ride from Newport to Providence for the hopefully biggest-ever, most fantastic rally ever held at the Rhode Island State House. 
     I may try to make a small sign.