The October 18 ‘No Kings’ protests that swept through all 50 US states may be nowhere near emerging as a vibrant resistance movement against America’s slide into authoritarianism under President Trump.
The White House and his ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) brigades have ripped up the rule book and governed with an iron fist, systematically trampling upon the legislative branch and ruling solely through executive proclamations even in matters where Congressional assent is explicitly ordained under the constitution.
The assaults on higher education, the crackdown on free speech, criminalising dissent, stripping basic healthcare benefits, and the inhumane treatment of undocumented migrants have, to say the least, betrayed the basest tyrannical instincts of President Trump.
To be sure, the ‘No Kings Day’ slogan, coined by the 50501 group—a progressive formation that stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one movement”—could not be a more aptly evocative appellation. The term gained currency when President Trump staged a controversial $40 million military parade in Washington DC on June 14 to commemorate the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
His critics mocked the celebration as marking the President’s 79th birthday. Saturday’s rallies, its second iteration, drew even larger crowds across more than 2500 locations, according to the organisers.
On the face of it, Saturday’s rallies from Washington DC to Atlanta and San Francisco seem more akin to a Western version of the Gen Z street protests that have convulsed several countries in the developing world. Just as with their counterparts in Asia and Africa, you cannot put a face to the fragmented protests.
The ‘No King’ champions are an amorphous and heterogeneous agglomeration of students, women’s activists, transgenders, middleclass professionals, war veterans, senior citizens and many others. As yet, they seem to lack the kind of leadership and strategy that can channel their anger into a constructive platform, let alone nail down definite end goals to work towards.
One commentator has contrasted the recent gatherings with Martin Luther King Jr’s stewardship of the civil rights movement in the 1960s that culminated in the enactment of the Voting Rights Act.
The one big piece missing in this puzzle has been the Democrats. Out of the White House and without control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the party seems to be entertaining the dangerous delusion that come the 2026 midterms, the political and electoral tide will turn in their favour.
Their calculation apparently is for a repeat of the 2006 Democratic sweep, midway through George W. Bush’s 2nd term, which led to Barack Obama’s tenure. Such a gamble rests on a risky and foolhardy proposition that a lame duck president, one who has sworn retribution for the “stolen” 2020 contest, would opt to play by the rules. Not to be taken lightly is also the looming threat of him seeking a 3rd term. The Democrats should join the anti-King chorus.
