I went to No Kings in June, and I would be at No Kings in NYC today if I wasn’t leading a food tour.
We should always be in the streets when others are, but don’t fool yourself: No Kings is not a movement.
It’s an astroturf campaign to rehabilitate pro-genocide Democrats while giving libs a performative outlet to feel like they are fighting fascism while they parade about in costumes waving signs about “Save our democracy” before heading to brunch.
Tonight MSNBC gushed over No Kings. Hosts and guests breathlessly talked of millions in the streets and sinking polls for Trump like the Red Army was about to storm the Winter Palace and oust the Czar. James Carville, the apologist for every Democratic Party horror, exulted over No Kings, saying he was behind it “a hun’red percent” and was going to find a protest to join.
Leaders of No Kings declared they had nothing to do with antifa, meaning they were letting Trump determine their politics for them in declaring they are not actually against fascism.
To put an emphasis on the point, the No Kings parade in Portland has refused to march to the ICE building where protesters in inflatable animal outfits have been courageously confronting the Gestapo for weeks.
But that didn’t stop Rachel Maddow from delivering a monologue where she kept saying “we” over footage of the Portland protests. In effect, she was stealing the valor of activists actually putting their bodies in the gears of the deportation machine and trying to transfer that on to No Kings.
Meanwhile in California, No Kings has said it is going to throw its efforts into a redistricting plan to deliver more seats to the Dems to counter Trump’s gerrymander. In other words, “Vote Blue, No Matter Who.”
Marching protesters into the graveyard of the Democratic Party aligns with how No Kings operates. Its led by Indivisible, which is run by former Democratic Party congressional staffers. It welcomes the left because that gives it credibility with activists who have no real say over strategy, which is to create enthusiasm for voting for Democrats in the 2026 midterms.
Because, you know, if the Democrats take back the House they have a robust plan of strongly worded emails and more pink placards to take down Trump.
The strategy, insofar as there is one, is to change the faces in power who will once more turn right-wing atrocities into bipartisan policy ensuring we keep slipping down the slope of barbarism.
And since when was a social movement relentlessly promoted by a $100 billion corporate media outlet (Comcast) that gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee?
Shamefully, left media like Democracy Now, the Nation, Jacobin, and In These Times enthuse over this astroturf movement calling it a “revolt” and “mass movement,” and that it be “safe” for babies. It’s more evidence of the bankrupt whiteness of No Kings because they think they can be safe while ICE Nazis brutally assault brown and Black families, children, and pregnant women in their homes, vehicles, and streets.
The whole point of No Kings is not to confront power. It’s symptomatic of the liberal pathology that we can have social change with zero cost or risk.
So join in, engage people, see who you can win over to real socialist and revolutionary politics. But don’t imagine this libriot will amount to anything more than the same failed Democratic politics of the last 50 years.
From a Canadian perspective, it always amazes me that in a country where you can choose from a gazillion brands of shampoo, there are only two parties to choose from. Maybe it’s time to do something about it.
This information is much appreciated. From here in Canada I was thinking No Kings was a real movement. Thanks for the information, it puts things in context.