Why The No Kings Rallies Have No Real Impact

Organizers of today's No Kings rallies expected a nationwide attendance of 9 million people.

It is quite possible their expectations could be exceeded.

But even if this comes to pass, I believe the No Kings rallies have no real impact.

Oh sure, there will be plenty of press coverage today and tomorrow.

But by Tuesday or Wednesday, it will be a fleeting memory for most Americans.

I am not saying these rallies shouldn't be held.

Americans should be given every opportunity to vent their displeasure of the Trump Administration, and a large public protest is one way to do so.

After all, Trump behaves like a monarch or a dictator who is not subject to the law whether by tearing down the East Wing of the White House for an ornate ballroom, demanding an end to mail-in voting for everyone but himself  and placing his signature on U.S. currency. To say nothing of the cruelty of ICE up to and including murdering American citizens. All things considered, it is understandable that large numbers would turn out in St. Paul.

Yet it must be remembered the reason why the protests worked in Minneapolis-St. Paul is because they were sustained over an extended period of time. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances. The city was under siege by the federal government and the people, aside from showing their displeasure in the streets, banded together in person and online through ad hoc measures to protect their neighbors from ICE. The federal government disrupted the day-to-day lives of the people of Minneapolis-St. Paul and the people adapted to those circumstances by trying to restore a semblance of order.

Then there was the abhorrent behavior of the federal government in Minnesota which saw fit to justify the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti all the while excluding the state government and local authorities from investigating these acts. The final straw was former Border Patrol goon Gregory Bovino claiming the ICE agents who murdered Pretti were actually the victims. Bovino would soon be replaced by Tom Honan. While it cannot be said that ICE agents have left Minneapolis, they have a far lower profile.

My point here is that the No Kings rallies are held sporadically on a Saturday morning or afternoon and then it is over like it never happened. For protests to work, they must be sustained day and night until such time that certain objectives are achieved (i.e. ICE getting out of Minneapolis even if only partially). 

While there certainly exists tremendous public discontent against the Trump Administration, it is far from certain that Trump and Trumpism is finished. Barring any electoral shenanigans by Republicans, Democrats will likely win the November mid-terms. But if that comes to pass then surely there will be unfavorable scrutiny of Democratic majorities in the House and Senate especially if they fall short in containing the Trump Administration's excesses.

And who can say that Trump won't run for a third term, constitution or no constitution? Even if Trump doesn't run in 2028, there is certainly a chance we could elect a JD Vance, a Marco Rubio or a Tucker Carlson to continue Trumpism. If we choose another Republican President in 2028, it will be Trump who is still calling the shots with a good portion of the country being just fine with it.

I'm sure there will be one, perhaps two more No Kings rallies before the end of 2026 with more planned before the 2028 election. I'm sure the numbers of people participating in these rallies will grow. And then they will be over and people won't remember one ever happened by the time they enter the voting booth.

While there might be a scenario in which we see a sustained local level protest such as the one in Minneapolis-St. Paul which cause the Trump Administration to bend, I cannot see such a thing happening in this country at the national level. Not unless, we lost everything and we had nothing left to lose. By that, I mean food, fuel and water shortages like there have been in Iran followed by the regime killing of tens of thousands of protesters. We're not there yet. 

Indeed, while Iran has tens of thousands of Renee Goods and Alex Prettis, I doubt very many of the people who attended the No Kings rallies today stood in solidarity with the Iranian people clamoring for their freedom. One can quarrel with Trump's military action in Iran while recognizing that millions of Iranians want the current regime toppled. While we have legitimate grievances, so do the Iranian people and a great many anti-Trump people are not prepared to acknowledge this fact.

There is no question that President Trump is marching this country down the road to authoritarianism and it is our duty to make our disagreement and displeasure known. But in order to stop that march we need to agree on certain principles and what is to be achieved. I, for one, will not be part of a movement which tolerates anti-Semitism. What is to be gained from exchanging one form of tyranny for another?

I don't question the sincerity of most of the people who took time out of their Saturday to attend No Kings rallies wherever they happened to be. 

I would ask these people one question. What happens next Saturday?