He’s Not My King.
UPDATED 10/19/2025: 5:00pm
Yesterday’s No King Day filled me with hope. I spent the day bouncing between coverage from across the U.S. and the World. For the first time in months, I was proud of our nation and we Americans.
Early estimates by NO Kings organizers estimated approximately 7,000,000[i] Americans rallied to the call and showed up in person to make their voices heard. All 50 states participated with a total of about 2600 – 2700 protests. Other sources estimated similar numbers, and in one case significantly higher.
Numbers from the earlier No Kings Day on June 14, 2025: attendance between 2 to 4.8 million protestors, 2,000 events, in 50 states.
Overall, 10/18 No Kings Day was possibly the largest single day political demonstration in U.S. history, excluding Earth Day 1970 protests which were organized in a different way. And the George Floyd 2020 protests which occurred over several days.
It’s important to note that two governors[ii] felt it necessary to place National Guard on alert. Trump and Republicans tried to paint the protests as “Hate America Rallies” or as “UN-American” or as a “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party and “Antifa-linked.”
There is no evidence to give any credence to these claims. They are lies.
If you attended any of the protests or followed them on TV or online, as I did, you would have seen there was a positive mood. Some protestors wore humorous costumes. There was a forest of critical and creative placards that pointed to Trump’s authoritarian behavior and his disdain for we the American people. Many protestors brought small children. There were many young people.
The organizers had prepared the marchers on how to behave and stressed the need for non-violence and respect. Unlike Trump rallies in which he ridiculed people with medical challenges and encouraged violence toward protestors and news people. He also promoted violence by police and law enforcement in the course of their professional duties.
Today, Trump and the Republicans actively look for a fight by imposing military, federal and National Guard, troops on American cities, claiming that they are battle zones and crime infested. Again, these are blatant lies aimed at provoking violence and justifying further oppression of us.
Remember that he has called peaceful Americans exercising their Constitutional Rights to speak out against injustice and criminality, “the enemy of the people.”
As I said at the start, I am proud of my fellow Americans and the U.S. We are slow to organize but resolute in our defense of Democracy. We show that we follow our principles. All along, polls have shown that about 70% of Americans oppose Trump and the Republicans, while 30% support his autocratic criminality. The time is now to vote these criminals and their abettors out of office and hold them accountable for the harm they have done.
[i] The highest number for attendance was by Strength In Numbers: 5.2 to 8.2 million. A newly formed Substack channel founded by journalist G. Elliot Morris. He ran a respected data analysis site, 538 from 2023 until 03/2025 when it was closed by Disney/ABC during an altercation with Trump.
Strength In Numbers is on Substack. https://substack.com/home/post/p-176533569
[ii] Governors Greg Abbot, Texas, and Glenn Youngkin, Virginia.
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