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

Related Off-site Link:
No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the Working Class Against Trump’s Dictatorship – Socialist Equality Party (World Socialist Web Site, October 15, 2025).

UPDATES: After the “No Kings” Protests: What Next? – Socialist Equality Party (World Socialist Web Site, October 20, 2025).
The “No Kings” Demonstrations and the Political Strategy to Fight Trump’s Fascist Conspiracy – Joseph Kishore (World Socialist Web Site, October 21, 2025).


See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts:
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History. There’s No Comparison”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• Tony Pentimalli on Trump’s “Death Warrant for Democracy”
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 20, 2025
• Rep. Ro Khanna: Quote of the Day – June 24, 2025
• “This Is Fascism”
• The Declaration of Resistance
• The Choice Before Us
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2025
• How Democrats Can Start Winning Again
• Brent Molnar on the MAGA Cult and Its Intentions
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Brent Molnar on the “Cold War in Our Own House”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• Bowing to an Idol
• Marianne Williamson on the Need for “Radical Love” in Responding to Trump’s Dismantling of Democracy
• Brent Molnar on the the Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel: “This Is What Fascism Looks Like in Practice”
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Staying Strong in Trump’s Fascist America
• Memes of the Times – September 2025
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• Will Potter on Trump’s War on Dissent: “This Is What Fascists Do”
• Marianne Williamson: We Need an “Expanded Version of What it Means to Be Political”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – October 6, 2025
• “If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”
• James Greenberg on Trump’s “Larger Design” – the Construction of a Military Dictatorship
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• Mark Sandlin: “Of Course Trump Wants Columbus Day Back”
• When Terrorism Charges “Reek of Political Theater”
• Thoughts on the Eve of “No Kings Day” 2.0
• Authoritarianism With a Blue Sticker
• “We Intend to Defend Our Democracy”: The “No Kings” Protests of October 18, 2025

See also:
• Phil Wilson Remembers “American Fascism’s First Casualty” and Warns That Donald Trump’s “MAGA Death Cult Is Coming for Us All”
• Marianne Williamson on America’s “Cults of Madness”
• “The Republican Party Has Now Made It Official: They Are a Cult”
• Chauncey Devega on the Ongoing Danger of the Trump Cult
• Jeff Sharlet on the Fascist Ideology of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene
• The Republican Party in a Nutshell
• Robert Reich: Quote of the Day – April 11, 2023
• Republicans Don’t Care About American Democracy