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
Excerpted from “'No Kings’ Protests Are Just Not Enough”
Current Affairs
October 20, 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
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