This is going to be quick. I'm on the subway headed to JFK to catch a plane to Atlanta to catch a plane to Chicago to cover the No Kings Protest for the Pacifica public radio network. You can listen live tomorrow if you want to, either on the Internet or your local Pacifica Radio station if you're old school — we’ve got correspondents in most major cities and we'll be reporting all day.
I hope you won't be listening all day, though. I hope you'll be on the ground at a No Kings Day protest near you.
In the guide to protesting I wrote a couple months ago, I talked about the many valid reasons someone might decide not to go to a protest for their own health and well-being. Going or not going is a personal decision that only you can make. There are good reasons to go to tomorrow’s protest if you can — even if you think it's a waste of time and even if you're nervous about going.
The Trump administration has made it very clear that they would like you to stay home. They've made a very big show of declaring “Antifa” a domestic terror organization and loudly stated they're going to prosecute anyone who aids and abets these so-called terrorists, including the organizers of this march. It's not just words; yesterday, the administration brought charges against members of a so-called “Antifa cell” that allegedly facilitated — not engaged, but facilitated! — an attack on an ICE facility in Dallas. This is how it always starts: prosecute someone unlikely to garner sympathy to establish precedent, then use that precedent to go after everyone else.
As the administration signals its intent to treat dissent as domestic terrorism, high-profile Republican congresspeople and multiple members of the administration are describing tomorrow's No Kings Day protest as a “Hate America” rally. House majority leader Mike Johnson claims the rally will consist of “the pro-Hamas wing” and “the antifa people,” egged on by the Democratic Party’s “terrorist wing.”
You can do the math. You're meant to do the math. If you go to this protest, you're Antifa. You’ve fallen afoul of NSPM-7’s prohibition on “anti-Americanism,” which means law enforcement could arrest you for “foment[ing] political violence” even if you commit no crime at all. You've seen what ICE is doing to regular people in the wrong place at the wrong time. You're meant to be scared. You're meant to stay home.
Please do not stay home.
Trump wants you to believe his reach is long enough, his power total enough, that he can prosecute everyone who expresses views he considers anti-American. It isn’t. Your odds of being targeted personally are higher than they were a few months ago, but they are still very close to zero.
The No Kings march on June 14th was one of the biggest — possibly the biggest —protest in American history; participation estimates range from 2.2 million to 6 million people. Organizers anticipate an even higher turnout this time. The administration can make all the threats they want from behind their lecterns, but it makes no difference: they currently lack the ability to crack down on a movement millions strong. They don't have the personnel. They don't have the jail space. They can't even afford to get you fired from your job; six million people losing their jobs all at once would kneecap our already-faltering economy. All the administration can do is scream and shout and hope to scare enough people off that they can feasibly target the people who remain.
This time, the protest isn’t just about Trump's unconstitutional overreach, the fascist policies, or the escalating state-sanctioned violence (though it is also very much about that). October 18th’s No Kings Day is about standing up to intimidation. We need to send a clear message to this administration: it won't work. You can't silence us. We are Americans, an infamously loud and beligerant people, and we will not submit to you or anyone.
You don’t need a sign. You don’t need special clothing. All you need is yourself.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are people on the left who see these protests as glorified parades and a waste of time. They point out that such parades cannot topple a regime that is carrying out Air Assault operations on Chicago buildings, ramming civilian cars, and arresting whoever they please with no oversight or limits.
It's true that No Kings by itself is not enough. What these protests do, however, is lay a foundation for more active mass resistance. These protests show our fellow Americans and the world that the administration is lying about the will of the people and the totality of his mandate. People who despise what Trump is doing are not as alone or as isolated as he would have them believe. And hundreds of thousands of people gathering in defiance of all those directives and actions I listed above creates a visual illustration of Trump's impotence. He cannot actually crush dissent the way he'd like to.
No Kings won't gain us any ground, it's true. But No Kings helps us hold the line — a line that is very much at risk. There can be no mass movement if the masses succumb to fear and despair.
Speaking of mass movements: almost every meaningful, impactful form of resistance involves a group of some kind; as an individual, you can only do so much against the overwhelming power of the state. Protests like this are a potential opportunity to learn about groups that already exist in your area, or to meet people interested in forming one with you. And if you're already in a group like that? What a great place to talk to people who are looking for ways to get involved beyond the protests! What a great way to lay groundwork for something bigger, more sustained, more impactful.
We don't derive our right to speak freely from the Constitution: a piece of highly flammable paper with some words on it. Freedom of speech is a fundamental, non-negotiable human right; our rights are the things that make us human. They cannot be taken away or revoked. They can only be violated.
If that isn't worth showing up for, nothing is.
I'll be at one in my union uniform. Debating on taking my Ft. Sumter flag.
THE PEOPLE.
UNITED.
WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED.
And that's about the most "conservative" viewpoint ever. I'll be there, clinging to this outmoded idea, as well as the idea that we will, eventually, have justice. Because totalitarians want you to stay home and shut up.