Commentary by Jerry Lanson
In my community, Falmouth, Massachusetts, upwards of 1,000 people packed the Village Green, spilling across the street in front of the Congregational Church on one side and the Episcopal Church on the other.
Rather than the dark gathering of terrorist sympathizers and criminal agitators depicted in advance by White House officials and numerous GOP congressmen, the protestors were retirees and families, neighbors and acquaintances, enjoying a day peacefully and humorously with a bit of political theater.
As my granddaughter, who attended the huge Boston rally put it, “I really liked that people were excited and not angry.”
In Falmouth, I saw one protester dressed as an orange man in striped prison garb and a woman dressed in green, crown and all, as the Statue of Liberty. There was song and speeches, laughter, chants and chitchat with friends.
From what I can tell, all across the country crowds collectively cast as “up to 7 million” massed in similar ways, peacefully, sometimes humorously and, judging from photos and videos, with gusto.
Much of the day’s fun came from finding creative signs. “No Crown for the Clown,” read one, complete with a hand-painted president trussed up for the circus. Others were more serious, such as, “When cruelty becomes normal, compassion looks radical.”
I’ll leave you with two thoughts:
1.) The demonizing of the great American tradition of peaceful protest has to stop.
That demonizing was coordinated and unrelenting in the weeks leading up to No King II and its purpose was to frighten. That backfired badly.
2.) Even those of you who still admire Donald Trump should look closely at the activities of his growing private paramilitary force. Increasingly, they are operating outside the law.
I think both were big factors boosting turnout Saturday, along with lots more, from the erosion of public health and medical insurance to the renewed efforts to suppress free speech and fire public servants too often for no other reason than upholding the law.
If No Kings seemed celebratory it also was serious. Many people in this country are deeply concerned by the erosion of democratic norms. There’s always room for vigorous debate on economic issues or social issues. People disagree. But it’s not possible to split the difference on freedom.
Lanson’s SUBSTACK is From the Grassroots.
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More commentary on Saturday’s No Kings protests -- The No Kings protest is going to look like a country-wide furry convention, which will make it much harder for King Trump to have his Kent State moment. Attendees need to hold the line on non-violent protests because Trump is itching to start shooting. Then again, maybe if he starts killing us, we'll learn to love him. –KE Bell
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MONDAY 10/20/25