Scenes from a No Kings rally

It’s about patriotism, not hating America.

Oct 18, 2025

I’m not a big fan of crowds. I’m not generally a protester. My son in the military was on leave and Saturday was his last day home. I could think of a lot of excuses to stay home and not go to my local No Kings rally.

In the end, I woke up early and the rest of of the house was asleep so I decided to put in an appearance, at least for a while. With the October 18 rallies touted as being the largest nationwide demonstration in American history and the fact that I had encouraged others to take part, I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t get out.

All photos by David Thornton- All rights reserved

I’m not a liberal or a leftist, although I will confess to being anti-fascist as well as an anti-communist. I’m a conservative whose views on the issues are mostly unchanged changed since I showed up for some of the earliest Tea Party rallies back in 2010. My only other experience at demonstrations was a silent pro-life/anti-abortion vigil sponsored by a church I attended many years ago.

It occurred to me this morning that the No Kings message is very similar to the Tea Party message. Both movements are about resisting government overreach and authoritarian executives. The difference is that the parties have largely changed positions as the occupant of the Oval Office has changed, as well as the fact that Trump’s abuse of executive power far exceeds anything Obama ever did.

Many of my former Tea Party associates are now quite happy to have a president bend and shred the Constitution and other laws because they agree with his goals (or what they think his goals are). It’s a classic case of the ends justifying the means in their minds.

What both sides miss is that the Constitution and our body of law are there to protect us all. They are not obstacles to be dismantled on the way to forcing partisan will on the other side. They are guardrails to preserve our Republic and ensure that no president becomes a king. Many of these guardrails have already been removed.

So, I went to the No Kings rally in my town, not sure what to expect. The crowd was larger than I expected with several hundred happy, friendly, polite people of all ages and ethnicities. There were a few people who looked stereotypically leftist, but most looked like people from next door, although some wore costumes. There was a unicorn, a knight, and a man in colonial garb, which may be what made me think of the Tea Party.

If these were radicals, they were disappointingly so. There were no black-garbed Antifa hoodies or people yelling at the few police officers present. Members of the crowd waved as cars went by and honked their support.

Three Trump supporters, one of whom was open-carrying a pistol, staged a small counterprotest and were almost uniformly ignored by the crowd. This stands in contrast to the large number of Trump supporters that I saw heckling Harris supporters outside a rally headlined by Tim Walz before the election.

The counterprotesters. The man wit the yellow sign and the other man holding the Trump flag plus the man in the black shirt and pants to the right. The man in black has a pistol carried openly.

Likewise, there was a small (two or three people that I could tell) contingent from the Democratic Socialists of Georgia. They had set up a table, but were likewise being ignored by the crowd. I did think the sign with their logo, which prominently featured a possum, was amusing but I didn’t take a picture.

At this Georgia rally, both the demonstrators and the counter-protesters had signs that referenced Christianity. One of the first things I saw as I approached was a woman leading attendees in singing “This Little Light of Mine,” an old Bible School song. There were also lots of American flags.

I won’t say the rally was exciting. There were a few speakers and people who led the crowd in songs, such as Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” and a variety of chants. My personal favorite was something like “Measles, COVID, and the flu, this is Trump’s health plan for you.” That one passes the fact check.

For me, the rally wasn’t about being entertained, although I had a good time mingling with the crowd and taking pictures of some of the more notable costumes and clever signs. It was about showing up and exercising my right to tell the country that I do not support what the Trump Administration is doing. I showed up because if we don’t exercise our First Amendment rights now, we may not be able to in another few years.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did end up leaving the rally early to spend time with my son before he had to fly out. My purpose was not to be there from beginning to end, but to stand up and be counted.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that our government was “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Today, we are perilously close to losing it.

After years of executive expansion by both sides, Trump and his MAGA supporters have kicked the power grab into overdrive. Even the Wall Street Journal noted that White House staffers “joke that they are ruling Congress with an ‘iron fist,’” while Steve Bannon compares the legislative body to the powerless Russian Duma. Neither is what the Framers intended.

No Kings is about preserving the Republic and our constitutional freedoms for Americans of both or even no parties. At its heart, it’s an American movement that hearkens back to our revolutionary roots.

Preserving the freedom that patriots have fought and died for since 1776, that, far more than empowering an authoritarian, even if you happen to agree with his ideology, is patriotism.

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