I attended the most recent No Kings rally and protest October 18. Once again, it was reassuring and hopeful to be with thousands of people (and see the millions elsewhere) who have taken the time to come out and say, “Not in our name. No kings. Freedom!” To be around people who recognize how not normal all of this is. To be around people who give a damn.
I do not, for one second, believe supporters of Trump, MAGA, proffer the below arguments in good faith, but I want to address them for posterity anyhow.
Trump is not a king because a king would not allow such a protest in the first place.
True, Trump is not a king (and no, the argument that he won a democratic election is not a sufficient refutation, either, as would-be authoritarians, of which Trump is one, have taken that path as well), but the whole point of the No Kings movement, which slots nicely into the very American creed of opposing monarchies and federal government overreach, is to prevent a would-be authoritarian from becoming a king. Trump, as a would-be authoritarian, is amassing power and wielding power that, for all intents and purposes, would make any king of the past envious. Congress is feckless, as he misappropriates their Congressional-directed monies as he sees fit or ignores the laws they’ve passed he disagrees with. The Supreme Court is acquiescing. And where the lower courts stymie Trump, he flouts their judgments. I could go on and on and on and on about what he’s doing with power unfortunately given to the executive branch over the last few decades and beyond even that scope. But I think the simple retort is easy enough: You protest before you can’t legally protest anymore. Obviously.
Biden, Obama, Clinton did …
You hear this kind of whataboutism a lot. Such and such Democratic president did this thing, so, why are you upset that Trump is doing such and such thing, or more insidious, now that we have the power, we’re going to wield it the way we want. The argument, in either facet, is morally bankrupt and politically shortsighted. First, morally bankrupt because if you didn’t like the way in which a prior president of an opposing party wielded power, you doing the same thing once in power doesn’t make it now “right.” Principles matter. Politically shortsighted because it’s a manner of operating that suggests you think you’ll always be in power. I’d rather governmental power be viewed in this way: If someone whose views you disagreed with had such power, would you want that power available to them? In other words, I’d rather limit the scope of possible destruction a bad president could do with the power available to them.
Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, floated this one out at his first press conference after the No Kings protest: Some of the people called for Trump’s death or had an effigy of him hanging by a noose. That added to his and other Republicans’ argument that this was a “hate America” rally.
More than seven million people are said to have taken to the streets in all 50 states on Saturday, October 18, to protest Trump. In every movement, especially of that size, you will find those who take it too far. Every president has also dealt with death threats and an effigy of them hanging, and some obviously, have been outright assassinated or shot at. But for a protest of that size across a country of this size, it was overwhelmingly peaceful. As to the “hate America” part, the plethora of American flags, calls to our better angels regarding freedom and openness to immigration and opposition to the American military in our cities, and of course, the overarching “no Kings” mantra, I can’t think of much that’s more American than those components. It is those who wrap themselves up in such iconography while destroying it who do a disservice to America’s founding credo.
Again, I could go on and on playing the refutation game and listing points, but I don’t think the vast majority of Trump supporters care. In fact, a majority would favor Trump running for a Constitutionally-prohibited third term in 2028. Trump himself, of course, leans into all of this, by giving away Trump 2028 hats at the White House. Nauseating, to say the least. On the day of the protest itself, his administration, including the Vice President J.D. Vance, posted AI-generated slop of Trump with a king’s crown here, here, here, here, here and (from the White House account) here, indicating, what exactly? That the 7 million people yelling, “No Kings!” are right to be concerned? Deeply unserious people, especially if you’re defense is that it’s trolling. Worse still, Trump himself took to his social media platform to post an AI-generated slop video of him flying a “King Trump” fighter jet that dumps literal shit on Americans. That video was reshared by the official White House account on Twitter. How does anyone defend this man? It’s abhorrent and an afront to everything Americans ought to care about.
No Kings. Not in America. Not ever.
Milam's Musings 