On Oct. 18, millions of Americans from Aurora, across Colorado and across the nation will gather under a pointed banner: No Kings.
An estimated 2,500 protest locations are planned nationwide so far, according to “No Kings” protest organizers, likely drawing millions of protesters, just as they did in June.
Despite the sneering from allies of President Donald Trump, the “No Kings” message is far from partisan. It is profoundly patriotic.
The movement isn’t about left or right. It’s about remembering what it means to be American, and ensuring our political leaders adhere to the rule of law, and especially the U.S. Constitution.
The protests are about standing up, peacefully and visibly, for the simple principle that the presidency is a unique public trust, not a throne. In a nation founded on the rejection of monarchy, this weekend’s marches remind us that every generation must reclaim that spirit of independence when it’s most at risk.
That would be now, apparently.
In many nations, dissent is treated as disloyalty. In America, dissent is democracy. The First Amendment guarantees the right “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” It doesn’t just permit protest, it enshrines it as sacred.
President Trump and his sycophant co-conspirators are bending and breaking the law, effusing an arsenal and propaganda, exaggerations, misstatements and outright lies in an attempt to undermine the will of Americans and the mechanism of American government that gives them voice and power.
When millions of ordinary citizens fill the streets with urgent signs and hopeful voices, they are participating in one of the oldest, most powerful rituals of the American republic. From the Boston Tea Party to Selma, from anti-war marches to the Women’s March, the pulse of American progress, and trouble, has always been felt first in the streets.
The “No Kings” protests belong squarely in that lineage.
Nine months into his second presidency, Donald Trump has governed less like a steward of a democratic republic and more like a ruler above it. He has openly demanded loyalty to himself, not the Constitution and the principles it protects. His rhetoric has turned disagreement into grievance.
Protesters will be marching with a clear understanding of why they’re marching. Across the nation, citizens have coalesced around a consistent list of grievances. It’s a list that reads less like political talking points and more like a diagnosis of democratic decay.
Among the most critical demands of the protests:
• Trump and his followers must end the growing cult of personality and Trump’s loyalty tests. Whether you lead a three-person company, a high school or a nation, valid leaders solicit feedback and dissent. Trump’s demand for personal allegiance over public duty is the essence of the autocracy defining his presidency. American democracy depends on loyalty to the law, not to one person.
• Among the most immediately dangerous exploits the “No Kings” protests shine a light on are Trump’s deceits and disinformation in an effort to delegitimize U.S. elections. Despite his whining and insistence, no evidence has ever been presented to any court to back any of his claims of election fraud in 2020 or 2024. None.
• Trump and nearly every member of his administration regularly provide the media and the public with disinformation that is often not even loosely based on the truth or reality. Regular fact checks by nearly every credible news media source increasingly explain to the public not just what’s misleading, but critical details that are dead wrong. Among his recent fabrications? Portland, Oregon, is not a city under siege. It actually does have sewers, and windows are not boarded up. Also, despite administration claims to the contrary, the Trump administration has provided no proof to Congress or the nation that fishing boats targeted and bombed by the U.S. military near Venezuela were carrying illegal drugs and drug traffickers. And one of the biggest, recent outright lies by Trump and his sycophants is that Democrats moved to “shut down” the government because “they want to have illegal aliens come into our country and get massive health care at the cost to everybody else.” This lie has been repeatedly debunked, yet he and other members of his administration continue to promote it. Republican and Democratic political scholars have long agreed, the deliberate distortion of the truth is the fuel of authoritarianism.
• Trump regularly rebukes the rule of law, delegitimizing the American system of government and justice, ensuring political favoritism does not interfere with the workings of all levels of government. He immediately undermined the justice system by washing away sentences against hundreds of criminals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 as violent, insurrectionist thugs trying to undermine the presidential election for the benefit of Trump. He has made a mockery of the U.S. justice system and his own administration by touting on social media posts how he has and will weaponize his administration to harass and persecute people he perceives as his political enemies. Kings and dictators are expected to behave like that. U.S. presidents are prohibited from carrying out such atrocities.
Any of these blunders warrants grave concern. Together, they form a portrait of creeping authoritarianism that all Americans, from the right, the left, the center and disinterested, cannot permit or overlook.
Colorado has long stood for both rugged individualism and civic conscience. In Aurora, thousands are expected to gather near South Havana Street and Parker Road to make clear this city will not tolerate the dissolution of the United States into a fiefdom for wannabe kings.
This is no accident. Aurora has long been a symbol of the new American protest culture: diverse, determined, and disciplined. Organizers have been careful to emphasize peace, order, and inclusion next week. There will be appreciation of and a demand for the rule of law, for the very idea of America that allowed us to break from ideologies linked to kings, dictators and tyrants. Join them, or honk and wave when you drive by.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
“Millions will gather” across 2,500 protest locations would equate to a minimum of 800 protesters at each location. Does anyone believe that the protests in Parker, Castle Rock, Montrose, Highlands Ranch or Greeley are going to attract 800 people per?
How many mega-protests are expected? Twenty cities at 10,000 each would still only be 200,000 people– or about .05% of the country.
“Millions will gather.” Do you think your readers are really this gullible?
Yes, people certainly have the right. But don’t expect the 99.95% who aren’t protesting to bow to your imaginary “millions.” Radically moderate Independents don’t give much weight to such hyperbole.
It was estimated that over 5 million people turned out to protest nationally at the June 14th No Kings Day. I suspect there may be more this time. Keep up!
Five million as “estimated” by whom? Show us a city-by-city breakdown that totals to 5 million. It doesn’t exist. It would require 50 cities with 100,000 protesters observed at each. Did even one protest crack 100K?
These claims are total BS being fed to those short on critical thinking. And I say this as a radically moderate Independent who did not vote for Trump.
Just Google it. Quit with your silly math that has no basis in fact. It doesn’t take “critical thinking.”
Well Dave, you could have shortened this whole editorial to, ” I and the Sentinel Blog, really don’t like our President, Donald Trump nor any of his policies. If you agree with me come out and meet at Parker and Havana this Saturday and we’ll call it, “No Kings Day”. Maybe even have a few laughs.
Then the Sentinel Blog will say it all again in next weeks reporting. Same old story.
All the Left has now is insults and rage. They offer no meaningful contributions and are unable to resume any semblance of a normal life because their DEI girl got smoked.
Aesop’s fable about an emperor with no clothes never resonated with me until this orange narcissist emerged on the scene! His first term demonstrated the extent of his disregard for the truth and his ineptness and unqualification. Evidently, the nation was more than ready for such a disrupter, as he got reelected. However, just like his first term, his campaign’s lies about what he could accomplish have revealed why his popularity for his actions fails to match expectations. I never understood why he’s popular with anyone, but that could be said about monster truck rallies, NASCAR, or UFC. Unfortunately, I will be in Iowa on the 18th at my sister’s funeral. I will be saying my heartfelt goodbys to her, but part of me will stand in solidarity with the No Kings demonstrators!
So you can’t participate in the pity party. Perhaps a private tantrum would serve the same benefit?
Donald Trump is the most profoundly ignorant president we have ever had. Past presidents have usually at least read the Constitution. Trump has demonstrated time after time that he has no idea what it says. Even if he did, he has no idea what it means, except that he doesn’t like it.
But many voters don’t seem to have read it, either. They want a strongman who will give them what they want, punish those they dislike, and ignore the law when it’s inconvenient to their desires.
This is government by ignorance and thuggery.
Perry reduced to invective and tantrums. It’s amusing to see a presumably adult man unable to move on with his life because his preferred candidate did not win. We enjoy his impotence.
What time? Where in Aurora?