The Wild Reed

Sunday, October 26, 2025

“A Power Grab the Likes of Which This Country Has Never Seen”

Writes digital creator Jason Duchin . . .

MAGA is executing a power grab the likes of which this country has never seen. Trump isn’t renovating the ballroom for someone else to use it, he’s moving in.

In an interview with The Economist, Steve Bannon said it plainly: “Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people ought to just get accommodated with that.”

Their intent isn’t governance. It’s domination. And if you think this is hyperbole, you’re out of your fucking mind.

“At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is. But there is a plan.” Bannon added that Trump was an “instrument of divine will,” echoing, as Trump himself has, the divine right of kings.

This isn’t strategy. It’s scripture for a political cult. The manifesto of men preparing a theological autocracy. A declaration that compromise, dialogue, and democracy itself are obstacles to be eliminated. If you are a straight white conservative Christian who digs the patriarchy you are entering the Golden age… however, for the rest of us.

Bannon and the MAGA machine see this moment as a state of war, not against a foreign enemy, but against their fellow Americans. Against liberal America. Against anyone who believes in equality, pluralism, and law. They intend to march forward with unrelenting action, counting on the left’s apathy and disorientation, disregarding constitutional history and treating power as destiny, not responsibility.

If you were facing a nuclear power that openly declared it would use its weapons against you, would you sit and negotiate or fight with everything you have to disarm them before it’s too late?

That’s the moral equation before us now. We have no choice but to act simultaneously and without hesitation on two fronts:

• Resist Relentlessly. We must confront this growing authoritarian movement through protest, organizing, voting, and unyielding instances of civic courage. We cannot meet divine-right zealotry with apathy. For most of us, this will be the first time in our lives we’ve been called to defend democracy. Carrying on with a “business as usual” mindset is delusion. Figure out a way to get involved. Now.

• Rebuild from the Ground Up. We must abandon the poisoned, performative politics of our era and return to something human. Build community-centered bridges of trust, care, and shared purpose. The more we connect locally, the less control authoritarians have over our fears. America must be rebuilt, not from Washington, but from our neighborhoods, schools, and streets. Find a way to begin that work.

They have money. They have power. They have a group of zealots willing to trade freedom for submission. But we have numbers. We have each other. And we have the unshakable belief that democracy is still worth fighting for.

They’ve told us loudly and repeatedly what they plan to do. The question is no longer if they’ll try to end democracy. The question is whether we’ll listen and whether we’ll act before it’s too late.

– Jason Duchin
via social media
October 26, 2025

Saturday, October 25, 2025

No, Hitler and the Nazis Weren't Socialists

Hitler wasn’t a socialist. The Nazis weren’t socialists.

The fact that they called themselves the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was designed to fool people 80 years ago. The reason why they pretended to be socialists was because of the failures of capitalism in the previous election [which caused a majority of people] to vote for the communists and socialists. Adolf Hitler himself wrote about this, basically saying we’re pretending to be socialists.

The fact that [there are people] 80 years later still falling for this propaganda and who actually think that the most fascist people in modern history we’re socialists says a lot about the lack of education in the United States of America.

If you actually believe that the Nazis were socialist in practice then you have to believe that the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is actually a democracy.

– Stephanie Ann Diaz
via social media
October 25, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
The Nazis Weren’t Socialists – They Were Hypercapitalists: An Interview with Ishay Landa – Nils Schniederjann (Jacobin, August 26, 2022).
Adolf Hitler Was Not a Socialist – Jane Coaston (Vox, March 27, 2019).
The Nazis Were Not Socialists – Full Fact (September 25, 2019).
Nazism, Socialism and the Falsification of History – Matthew Fitzpatrick and A. Dirk Moses (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 30, 2025).
No, the Nazis Were Not Socialists – Scott Sehon (Jacobin, October 9, 2020).
Leaders of Republican Youth Movement Praise Hitler and Joke About Holocaust in Internal Discussion – Jacob Crosse (World Socialist Web Site, October 15, 2025).
Nazism, Big Business and the Working Class: Historical Experience and Political Lessons – World Socialist Web Site (October 20, 2025).
Hitler Was Not a Socialist: Here’s the Evidence – Explaining History (February 28, 2025).
No, The Nazis Were Not “Left Wing” – Flashback History (August 2, 2025).
Were the Nazis Socialists? Historians Debunk and Explain – Dr. Eric Kurlander, et al (YouTube, May 2, 2021).
Putting The “Nazis Were Socialist” Nonsense To Rest – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, January 24, 2020).

See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts on actual socialism:
• The Film United 93 – A Socialist Perspective (2006)
• Capitalism on Trial
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Obama, Ayers, the “S” Word, and the “Most Politically Backward Layers in America” (2010)
• Obama, a Socialist? Hardly
• A Socialist Perspective on the "Democratic Debacle" in Massachusetts
• Jonty Langley: Quote of the Day – August 17, 2011
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2011
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and Democratic Socialism
• Hope, History, and Bernie Sanders (2016)
• Jesse A. Myerson: Quote of the Day – July 31, 2016
• Jonah Walters: Quote of the Day – September 5, 2016
• John Wight: Quote of the Day – June 8, 2017
• Progressive Perspectives on Jeremy Corbyn’s Achievement in the U.K. Election
• A Timely Reminder
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• Bernie Sanders’ “Revolution” Is Ultimately One of Values – the Values of Justice, Hope, and Love
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• The Biblical Roots of “From Each According to Ability; To Each According to Need”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• “Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism (2025)

Image: Artist unknown.

Friday, October 24, 2025

The Gospel of Jesus Vs. Project 2025

In the hour-long video below, author, social commentator, and former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson interviews Brian Recker (right), public theologian and author of Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love.

Recker, a former Evangelical pastor, is an influential figure in the Christian Deconstructionist Movement. As Williamson notes, “[Recker] explains a journey taken by millions of Christians in America today who feel strongly that a Jesus of love, not retribution, should guide our hearts.”

Continues Williamson in introducing her October 15 conversation with Recker:

Jesus was neither oppressor nor hater nor promoter of theocracy. There are those who claim to speak for him at times, however, who are all of those things. One of the primary forces behind Project 2025 is a political movement called Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism speaks not of the teachings of Jesus – feeding the hungry, helping the poor, healing the sick, and kindness to the stranger. Their vision is not about love, but power – specifically a version of power that transgresses basic American Constitutional principles (subjugation of women, primacy of Christianity over other religions, and more). Progressive Christians are rising up in response, bringing to the theological as well as political sphere a voice that is much needed at this time. Theirs is a Jesus of the Gospels, recognizing love and love alone as the salvation of the world.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

A Dazzling and Eternal Soul

Change me, Divine Beloved, into One who is freed from the illusion of time.

Protect me from the toxic views this culture holds about age. Help me be open to a miracle of regeneration in every way.

May I know I’m a dazzling and eternal soul, not a chronological number.

– Tosha Silver
in Change Me Prayers:
The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender
Atrua Books, 2015

Related Off-site Link:
Worried About Turning 60? Science Says That’s When Many of Us Actually Peak – Gilles E. Gignac (The Conversation, October 14, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Surrendering in Sacred Trust
• The Way of Love and Healing
• Trust and Surrender
• Jesus and the Art of Letting Go
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Love’s the Only Dance
• Sweet Surrender
• Be Just in My Heart
• I Sureender to You
• Turning 50 (2015)

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Secret Language of the Heart

By Steven Charleston

I know the secret language of the heart
How it speaks in whispers about the pain it has known

How it talks of loves lost and dreams deferred,
The wordless memories of a lifetime

Sharing a story that cannot be contained by words
But expressed only in the sound of rain.

It is the collective sound of all those voices
All those stories, all those moments of joy
That I seek to raise up to the listening skies

To hold up as high as I can in prayer
That the angels of the night will hear us
All of us with the dignity of our own story

And know that we are still here, still together
Still doing what we can to make hope have meaning.

Keep speaking the poetry of the heart.
I am listening. Many of us are listening.
We do not need language to tell the same story.

– Steven Charleston
in Spirit Wheel: Meditations
from an Indigenous Elder
Broadleaf Books, 2023

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Abode of the Heart
• The Way of Love and Healing
• Be Just in My Heart
• Adnan and the Winged Heart

Image: Artist unknown.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

“Performative Resistance Alone Won’t Change Anything”

Over at Current Affairs, John Ross and Nathan J. Robinson have published one of the most cogent and insightful commentaries I’ve read to date on the “No Kings” movement. Following are excerpts.

_____________

Some activists and commentators on the left have characterized No Kings as a kind of cringey carnival of liberalism, and they aren’t totally wrong. Chris Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union, asked “No Kings Day is big ass Parades when are we going to withhold our labor for idk maybe Genocide??” Butch Ware, Jill Stein’s former running mate and current Green Party candidate in California’s gubernatorial race, observed that “mass mobilization without any specific demand and without any organization is actually detrimental because it wastes potential energy that could be directed into effectively organizing against systems.” Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of the Grayzone, points out that No Kings messaging “does not include opposition to U.S.-Israeli wars” despite officially referencing Ukraine.

It’s understandable why people feel cynical. Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have personally endorsed No Kings, with Pelosi posting a video of herself ripping up a paper crown, echoing her theatrical tear-up of Trump’s State of the Union speech in 2020. Cory Booker and Adam Schiff showed us what democracy looks like. Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, unironically posted a photo of himself holding a sign that reads “If Kamala had won we’d be at brunch!” Undoubtedly, many of the attendees would indeed be at brunch if Kamala had won. Notably, Emhoff currently works for a law firm that cut a deal with the Trump administration, pledging $100 million in pro bono work and agreeing to drop DEI-based hiring, to avoid a threatened executive order targeting his firm. Moreover, the “No Kings” messaging itself may backfire, because Donald Trump obviously loves that liberals think of him as a king. On the day of the rally, he even posted an AI video of himself wearing a crown while piloting a “KING TRUMP” jet, dumping shit on the protesters from above. May we suggest “No Fascists”?

While No Kings protests successfully make Republicans look foolish, and provide a valuable demonstration of the scale of opposition to Trump, they are unmoored from a political program, and exemplify the worrying Democratic tendency to build an entire platform around opposing Trump. There is seemingly no greater vision or demand underlying the protests beyond getting rid of the “man who would be king.” Other protest movements had coherent demands, such as “Votes for Women Now,” “No Blood for Oil,” or “Ceasefire Now.” But No Kings seemed, for many, to just be a way of blowing off steam, of expressing frustration at our inability to halt the rightward slide of American politics.

. . . [Yet] for all its flaws, we on the left shouldn’t be so dismissive of those who attend events like No Kings. These rallies represent a contingent of voters who are genuinely alarmed by the political direction of the country and searching for ways to resist it. Even though the rallies were uniformly peaceful, the Trump administration has already begun treating these protesters as enemies of the state.

Nor was the protest just full of centrist liberals – in New Orleans, there was a visible presence of communists, socialists, and pro-Palestine activists. There was an entire contingent of tables devoted to Palestine advocacy, including Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace (which John helped organize), the Party for Socialism and Liberation, NOSHIP (a New Orleans-based organization that works to end all aid to Israel), Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Palestinian Youth Movement among others. Just as Zohran Mamdani’s campaign used No Kings to highlight the Trumpian qualities of Andrew Cuomo, the leftists used it to draw a parallel between Trump’s fascism and America’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and to the continued struggle for Palestinian liberation, especially since Israel has already violated the so-called “ceasefire” agreement 47 times as of this writing. JVP handed out hundreds of flyers promoting the Break the Bonds campaign, an initiative calling on local governments, unions, universities, and religious institutions to divest from Israel bonds, which directly fund the Israeli military and government. Organizers at the pro-Palestine tables had mostly positive experiences in their conversations with attendees, many of whom seemed like “winnable” voters for the socialist left.

No Kings is not a revolutionary event, nor does it pretend to be. It lasted only a few hours, and in New Orleans, organizers explicitly asked us not to take the streets. Unless protests are ongoing, there’s no incentive for the system to care. . . . No Kings, by contrast, did not make any tangible demands, which is why the left should make an attempt to fill the vacuum.

Performative resistance alone won’t change anything. Unless it is coupled with sustained organizing, events like No Kings will remain an empty spectacle that is quickly forgotten. But it’s still necessary for the left to participate in acts of performative resistance, because if we cede these spaces to Lincoln Project alumni and “independent” liberal influencers who are secretly funded by the Democratic Party, then “resistance” becomes whatever they say it is.

. . . The idea that a political establishment which has enabled the very militarism, corporate power, and bipartisan corruption that paved the way for Trump can credibly oppose his authoritarianism is not only absurd, but also dangerous. When these people position themselves as the bulwark against fascism while promoting lame centrists like Pete Buttigieg or Gavin Newsom, they drain the concept of “resistance” of its meaning.

But that’s precisely why the left must show up to challenge, contest, and redirect the narrative. Even flawed events can be repurposed into opportunities for real organizing. The lesson of No Kings isn’t that such protests are pointless, it’s that their potential is wasted when the left dismisses them outright instead of trying to redirect the energy toward concrete struggle. And redirect it we must, because without being channeled into organizing, the energy of the No Kings protests will be squandered, and the right will prevail.

. . . The No Kings demonstrations cultivate a sense of solidarity. They embolden people. They show that there is a base of opposition to this sickening president and his sordid agenda. But at the end of the day, the right has to be thrown out of power. In states like Louisiana and Florida, that means working to end right-wing rule in the state government. In blue state cities, that means electing city officials who are going to effectively resist Trump’s meddling rather than rolling over or staying silent. Around the country, it means people with progressive values need to start running for office themselves. But wherever you are, it means taking the next step beyond carrying signs, and strategizing to take back power and enact more just and humane policies.

– John Ross and Nathan J. Robinson
Excerpted from “'No Kings’ Protests
Are Just Not Enough”
Current Affairs
October 20, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“No Kings” Rallies Count, But We Need Bigger and More Sustained Civil Resistance – Peyton Fleming (Common Dreams, October 21, 2025).
The “No Kings” Day Project Must Evolve From Protest to Civil Disobedience – Phil Wilson (Common Dreams, October 23, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “We Intend to Defend Our Democracy”: The “No Kings” Protests of October 18, 2025
• Authoritarianism With a Blue Sticker
• Thoughts on the Eve of “No Kings Day” 2.0
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025

Image: Michael J. Bayly (“No Kings” protest in St. Paul, MN – Saturday, October 20, 2025).

Celebrating Moonlight

Nine years ago today Barry Jenkins’ 2016 film Moonlight was released in theaters. It remains one of my all-time favorite films.

To mark the occasion I share “Moonlight: A Deconstruction,” a 10-minute video essay by Karsten Runquist. Enjoy!

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Stephen A. Russell on Moonlight, “the Most Beautiful Gift to Cinema in Countless Years”
• Vulnerability Is Power
• Love as Exploring Vulnerability

Related Off-site Links:
“Moonlight” Undoes Our Expectations – Hilton Als (The New Yorker, October 17, 2016).
The Unbearable Intimacy of Moonlight – Richard Brody (The New Yorker, October 28, 2016).
Moonlight Is the First LGBT Movie to Win Best Picture. Here’s Why It Matters – Nico Lang (Salon, February 28, 2017).
Will Moonlight Finally Change the Way White People See Black Men? – Jeremy Helligar (SBS, March 22, 2017).

Monday, October 20, 2025

He’s Gone

These are the thoughts that you keep inside
And you smile from your window
And stand all alone
And pour all the love that you keep inside
Into a song
Like “He’s Gone”

And like the leaves on the trees
Like the Carpenters’ song
Like the planes and the trains
And the lives that were young
He’s gone
And it feels like the words to a song

– From “He’s Gone”
by Brett Anderson and Neil Codling of Suede
and from the band’s 1999 album, Head Music

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan – October 20, 2024
• Silver Lining
• Ghosts

Image: Michael J. Bayly – Minneapolis, October 20, 2025.

Sunday, October 19, 2025

October Sweet

Come down, O love; may not our hands still meet,
Since still we live to-day, forgetting June,
Forgetting May, deeming October sweet –
– O hearken! through the afternoon,
The grey tower sings a strange old tinkling tune!
Sweet, sweet, and sad, the toiling year’s last breath,
Too satiate of life to strive with death.

And we too – will it not be soft and kind,
That rest from life, from patience and from pain;
That rest from bliss we know not when we find;
That rest from Love which ne’er the end can gain? –
– Hark, how the tune swells, that erewhile did wane!
Look up love! – ah, cling close and never move!
How can I have enough of life and love?

– William Morris
From “The Earthly Paradise”

Quote of the Day

The violent denunciations of the October 18 “No Kings” demonstrations by Trump and the Republican fascists, accompanied by threats of violence, express the terror of the capitalist oligarchs over the growing opposition and political radicalization of the population. They see in every manifestation of protest the specter of a socialist revolution. In their fascistic world view, even the toothless reformist appeals of the Democratic Party, the oldest capitalist party of the American ruling class, is viewed as inciting rebellion and legitimizing socialism.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The Democratic Party is deeply hostile to the mass opposition on display Saturday and is working rapidly to downplay its significance. It shares to a great extent Trump’s economic and social policy aims and is opposed to any mass movement against Trump.

. . . In the lead-up to the October 18 protests, top Democrats ignored that they were even happening. Only on the eve of the demonstrations, when it became clear how large they would be, did party leaders issue tepid statements of support. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted photos of himself marching alongside union officials in New York City, declaring blandly, “We have no dictators in America”—a statement contradicted by the fact that Trump is, with Democratic Party complicity, acting as a dictator.

The intervention of the Democrats is aimed entirely at defusing opposition and channeling the immense anger of millions back behind the party’s own reactionary, pro-war and pro-capitalist agenda. This became even clearer the following day, when leading Democrats acted as if the largest protest movement in US history had never occurred.

. . . The “No Kings” demonstrations represent a significant political turning point. Since the last demonstrations in June, Trump’s conspiracy to erect a dictatorship has accelerated, generating enormous opposition throughout the country. Hostility to Trump is rapidly extending to his collaborators in the Democratic Party, as NBC noted in a report from the Washington demonstration, quoting a construction worker as saying, “I don’t have a lot of faith in the Democratic Party right now.” Another worker commented, “By and large, the Democratic Party is also bought by corporate interests, and they fail to stand up for the average working people.”

– Socialist Equality Party (U.S.)
Excerpted from “The October 18 “No Kings” Demonstrations
and the Fight Against Trump’s Dictatorship”
World Socialist Web Site
October 19, 2025

Saturday, October 18, 2025

“We Intend to Defend Our Democracy”: The “No Kings” Protests of October 18, 2025

Earlier today I participated in one of a number of the planned “No Kings” protests that took place throughout the Twin Cities metro area.

The largest of these protests was in downtown Minneapolis (right) where an estimated 30,000 people gathered to send the message that they intend to defend democracy and the rule of law from the authoritarian rhetoric and actions of the Trump administration.

My friend Joseph and I attended a smaller protest of around 3,000 people in St. Paul, at the intersection of Randolph and Fairview Avenues (left).

The message of defending democracy against Trump’s increasingly dictitorial presidency was the same here as it was in Minneapolis and at each of the 2,600 “No Kings” protests that took place across the country and in every state. Indeed, with close to 7 million people nationwide attending today’s peaceful protests, it was the largest single-day of protest against tyranny in U.S. history.

Following are images that I took at today’s “No Kings” protest in St. Paul. They are accompanied by a number of excerpts from articles about “No Kings Day” 2.0. (For my post about the first “No Kings Day” in June, click here.)

[Today in Washington, D.C.] was awesome. We had hundreds of thousands of people on the street to protest Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. It was passionate, then it was joyful. There was a dance party on the steps of the Labor Department where people inflatable costumes. There were hysterical signs.

But there was a really clear message that we intend to defend our democracy by exercising our democratic rights. We’re not capitulating to Donald Trump and his authoritarianism, his effort to scare us into submission.

I think that Trump’s authoritarianism is getting worse and mobilizing more people, but I think his effort to intimidate is failing as well. And each time people turn out, each time people protest, each time people stand up, it makes it easier for the next set of people to do that. So we think that today, when all is said and done, it will have been the largest day of protest in American history.

All to defend our democracy, oppose the ICE raids, oppose the National Guard on our streets, oppose the illegal firings of federal employees, opposing the illegal shutdown of agencies. And more people want a government that works for us, not for Donald Trump and his oligarch friends.

. . . [P]eople are really worried about the fate of our country and understand that, in total, what Trump is trying to do is take away our democracy and replace it with authoritarian regime.

So some people may be more motivated by the pressure on universities or by the illegal abductions of immigrants or by the deployment of the National Guard, or by the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that’s protecting us from financial fraudsters, or by the weaponization of the Department of Justice.

But everybody understands whatever the thing that gets them going, it’s all part of a bigger tapestry of this authoritarian agenda, and they’re ready, willing, and passionate about standing up to it.

– Robert Weissman
Quoted in “‘We Intend to Defend Our Democracy,’
Says ‘No Kings’ Protest Organizer”
PBS Newshour
October 18, 2025

Authoritarianism feeds on fear. The No Kings Day protests showed that fear can be broken. Peaceful demonstrations signal more than opposition; they reveal a widespread sense of being ignored. The No Kings Day protests make visible what millions already know: Republican representatives understand their constituents are being harmed by this administration and have chosen silence. They no longer hold town halls. They no longer answer questions. Instead, they parrot Trump, labeling the protest a “hate America” rally, and frame participants as radical leftists or terrorists. The message is unmistakable – this administration not only refuses to listen, it no longer cares what people think.

Our government rests on majority rule, compromise, and the slow, difficult work of consensus. Dictators reject all three. Force replaces deliberation; opponents become “enemies within.” The message this regime delivers is not through debate, but through deployment—troops in the streets, mass arrests, and intimidation dressed up as law and order. Consent has been replaced by fear – the new currency of governance. I live in a community that historically votes Republican. The so-called “enemy within” are our neighbors, many of them lifelong conservatives. Like me, they have learned that when the choice is between tyranny and constitutional freedom, partisanship disappears. That is what makes the No Kings Day protests so remarkable. Their message is clear and loud: we are not afraid and we will not be intimidated.

– James Greenberg
Excerpted from “The No Kings Day Protests”
James’s Substack
October 19, 2025

Today, millions of Americans and their allies turned out across the United States and around the globe to demonstrate their commitment to American democracy and their opposition to a president and an administration apparently bent on replacing that democracy with a dictatorship.

Administration loyalists tried to claim the No Kings protests would be “hate America” rallies of “the pro-Hamas wing and Antifa people.” Texas governor Greg Abbott deployed the Texas National Guard ahead of the No Kings Day protests, warning that “[v]iolence and destruction will never be tolerated in Texas.”

In fact, protesters turned out waving American flags and wearing frog and unicorn and banana costumes and carrying homemade signs that demanded the release of the Epstein files and defended Lady Liberty. They laughed and danced and took selfies and sang. City police departments, including those of New York City, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., said they had made no protest-related arrests.

In Oakland, California, Mother Jones senior editor Michael Mechanic interviewed a man named Justin, asking him if, as a Black man, he had particular concerns about the actions of the Trump administration.

Justin answered: “You know . . . a lot of times I have a hopeless feeling, but . . . being out here today just reminds me about the beauty of America and American protests. And, you know, the fact that they tried to . . . stomp on this, step on this, you know, say it’s non-American, because that’s what I've been reading a lot about. No, this is the point of America right here: to be able to have this opportunity to protest. . . . [This] does not look like Antifa, Hamas, none of this stuff that they’re talking about. . . . [Y]ou know, this is the beauty of America.”

The No Kings demonstrations ran the gamut from hundreds of thousands of protesters in large, blue cities, to smaller crowds in small towns in Republican-dominated states. Together, they demonstrate that the administration’s claims to popularity are a lie. Such a high turnout means businesses and institutions that thought they must cater to the administration to appeal to a majority of Americans will be forced to recalculate. And the protests showed that Americans care fervently about democracy.

– Heather Cox Richardson
via social media
October 18, 2025

What happened on October 18 was a civic thunderclap. From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, from Atlanta to Seattle, Americans poured into streets, parks, bridges, and capitol steps under a single, simple banner: No Kings. Early tallies from organizers, municipal transit data, cell-mobility snapshots, and live aerial counts point to a turnout on the scale of the largest demonstrations in modern U.S. history. In city after city, the photos tell the same story: corridors of people, handmade signs, strollers and wheelchairs, clergy and veterans, students and seniors. It looked less like a rally than a referendum.

The most remarkable part was not the size. It was the discipline. Across hundreds of permitted marches and spontaneous gatherings, the overwhelming pattern was calm crowds, cooperative marshals, and largely routine interactions with local police. Volunteer de-escalators were everywhere. Medical tents, water stations, ADA escorts, “leave-no-trace” cleanups. In a political climate drenched in attempts to bait the public into televised chaos, millions refused the script.

Despite relentless efforts to frame the movement as dangerous, the arrest picture cut the other way. As of the first full sweep of police incident logs and verified media reports, there were no confirmed arrests of No Kings demonstrators for violence. The confirmed arrests tied to the day’s events were counter-protesters aligned with MAGA branding. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a woman in a Trump shirt was arrested after allegedly brandishing a firearm near marchers. In downtown Cincinnati, police took a female counter-protester into custody after she allegedly grabbed and tried to rip away an American flag from an older participant. Both cases were processed without incident. Everywhere else, the tape shows chants, speeches, and people going home.

That outcome was not an accident. Organizers built for it. The “peace first” posture was baked into the trainings, route plans, communications, and on-the-ground logistics. Crowd briefings reminded people how to film safely, how to avoid provocations, and how to exit quickly if needed. Legal hotlines were staffed. Rally MCs repeated the same refrain: “We are here to be seen, not to be baited.” When an event refuses to supply the violence its opponents are praying for, the narrative starves.

– Brent Molnar
via social media
October 20, 2025

They called it the “No Kings” rally for a reason.
Because power isn’t sacred just because someone grabs it.
Because democracy isn’t self-sustaining.
Because deep down, we all know that freedom has to be guarded, especially from those who crave control.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood in the shadow of an empire that demanded loyalty to Caesar. He refused. He preached a way of love, equity, and liberation so threatening to those in charge that Rome hung him on a cross. Not because he was “too spiritual.” But because he was too political for the comfort of the powerful.

When people filled the streets on October 18 shouting “No Kings”, they weren’t just talking about one man, they were invoking a truth as old as faith itself: no human being is meant to wield godlike power over others.

Not Caesar.
Not any president.
Not any would-be strongman whose ego demands our submission.

History has seen this story before. Every empire insists it’s different. Every would-be ruler says “trust me.” And every time, ordinary people have to decide whether they’ll stay quiet or if they’ll stand up.

Authoritarianism doesn’t start with military boots and torches. It starts with fear. With apathy. With churches blessing cruelty because it’s wrapped in the flag. With leaders who treat compassion as weakness and dissent as disloyalty.

That’s why progressive Christians are speaking up: because our faith requires it. The same love that moved Jesus to challenge empire calls us to do the same today.

This is not about left or right. It’s about whether we still believe in “we the people.”
It’s about whether we’ll trade our neighbors’ freedom for the illusion of control.
It’s about whether we’ll let history repeat itself or write a different ending.

Love resists empire.
It’s done it before.
It’s doing it now.
And it’s not about to quit.

– Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin
via social media
October 20, 2025

Above and below: The two-sided sign I’ve now taken to both today’s “No Kings” protest and the first one on June 14. For my thoughts on the overall message of my sign, click here.

I wore my “Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor” shirt to the “No Kings” event I attended today. The man himself took part in the march and rally in downtown Minneapolis (right and below).

For more about Omar’s campaign, one which (clearly) I support, click here, here and here.

Related Off-site Links:
“We the People Will Rule!”: Millions Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Against Trump Tyranny – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, October 18, 2025).
Millions Across All 50 U.S. States March in “No Kings” Protests Against Trump – Rachel Leingang and Edward Helmore (The Guardian, October 18, 2025).
Protesters Decry Trump Administration Policies in “No Kings” Rallies Across the U.S. – NPR News (October 18, 2025).
Minneapolis “No Kings” Rally Draws Out Thousands Opposed to Trump Policies – MPR Newshour (October 18, 2025).

UPDATES: The Country Showed Up – Marianne Williamson (Transform, October 19, 2025).
Long Live “No Kings” – William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Jim Swift (The Bulwark, October 20, 2025).
“No Kings” Protests Are Just Not Enough – John Ross and Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, October 20, 2025).
Seven Million Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Nationwide. Next Up, Massive Disruptions Backed by Unions? – Luis Feliz Leon (In These Times, October 20, 2025).
Troops on the Streets, a Polarized Country and Climbing Prices: Welcome to Trump’s “Golden Age” – Steven Greenhouse (The Guardian, October 20, 2025).
The “No Kings” Day Project Must Evolve From Protest to Civil Disobedience – Phil Wilson (Common Dreams, October 23, 2025).
Billionaires Support Groups Behind “No Kings,” But They Didn't Spend $300M to Fund Protests – Rae Deng (Snopes, October 24, 2025).
The “No Kings” Protests: An Affirmation of Democracy in the Face of Authoritarianism – Chloe Atkinson (Common Dreams, October 25, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thoughts on the Eve of “No Kings Day” 2.0
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025

Images of the “No Kings” rally in St. Paul: Michael Bayly

The Wild Reed

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Wednesday, October 22, 2025

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Tuesday, October 21, 2025

“Performative Resistance Alone Won’t Change Anything”

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Monday, October 20, 2025

He’s Gone

Sunday, October 19, 2025

October Sweet

Quote of the Day

Saturday, October 18, 2025

“We Intend to Defend Our Democracy”: The “No Kings” Protests of October 18, 2025

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