We did it.
We set out to puncture Trump’s aura of inevitability. He wanted his military birthday parade to be a projection of overpowering strength, straight from the authoritarian playbook. He wanted to cow the opposition into submission. He wanted everyone from regular people to businesses, law firms, universities, media institutions, and other political leaders to see his might and bow down.
As our good friend Reverend Barber says: A king only becomes a king when we bow. And we didn’t bow.
Almost nobody came to Trump’s pathetic party. And ours was one of the biggest in American history -- literally.
You’ve seen more images of the 2,169 No Kings Day protests than you can count. We’ve got a montage of events in all 50 states you can watch if you’d like to lift your spirits a bit more this Monday.
In small towns and large cities. In Republican strongholds and Blue meccas. From rural America to the suburbs to the city centers. In 27 countries all across the globe. Free people stood up and said No Kings! (Except for a few exceptions like the constitutional monarchies of Canada and Britain, where they said “No Tyrants!”)
Meanwhile, Trump spent the week leading up to the march issuing threats against peaceful protestors and escalated his rapacious and vicious attacks on LA immigrants and native-born alike. Trump’s parade, while a fiasco and boondoggle, was a troubling display of the weakness of our democratic institutions -- a reminder to the world we are led by an incompetent jackass with self-delusional visions of grandeur.
Personally, I found the day fun, joyful, moving, inspiring, and overwhelming in the best way. Leah and I joined together in Philly with members of Dr. King’s family -- MLK III and Arndrea King -- Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, Lorella Praeli of Community Change, and our friend Reverend Barber -- along with about 100,000 fellow Americans showing up for democracy. You can see the full livestream (with Leah and my speech closing out the rally) here. What a day!
All told, this is shaping up to be one of the largest protests in American history. It’s at least 50% larger than the then-record-breaking April Hands Off! protest. And in addition to being notably larger, the crowds were notably diverse in age and race. It was a real demonstration of what pluralistic democracy looks like in this country.
While recognizing the significance, impact and power of the protest, I want to also recognize that the day began and ended with tragedy. As we got up to prepare to march, we saw the news of the right-wing political assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and another attempted assassination of a state senator. In the evening, we got news of a tragic shooting at an event in Salt Lake City.
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo (who went by “Afa”) was a 39-year-old man with two young children showing up for democracy at a peaceful protest on Saturday. As we wait for additional information, we strongly encourage the Indivisible community to show up for his family by contributing to their GoFundMe.
As we move forward, the only effective response to this chaos and hatred is broad-based, ideologically diverse, geographically dispersed, peaceful protest. No Kings Day was historic. No Kings Day was not the end. There is more to come this week -- I hope you will join the No Kings coalition tonight for the “What’s Next Call” tonight and join me and Leah for a special Wednesday edition of What’s The Plan.
As Arndrea King, MLK III, and I wrote in an op-ed over the weekend, “Authoritarian moments can feel permanent. But they never are... Trump is counting on our fear. We’re betting on our courage. Trump wants a crown, but we won’t bow. We will rise.”
We rose this weekend, and we’re not bowing anytime soon.
In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director
Indivisible