A No Kings Field Report
Thoughts and photos from downtown Montgomery, AL.
As with the event back in June, my wife and I attended the Montgomery, AL No Kings event. This time was a short march down Commerce Street from near the river to Court Square. The location of the rally was significant for two reasons. First, it was at that site that slave auctions were regularly conducted. Second, the square was the bus stop where Rosa Parks boarded the bus the day she refused to relinquish her seat.
The event was well attended. I would guess around 500 or so persons were present, which was larger than my guess from the June event. Like in June, the crowd skewed middle-aged to older and was majority White, but with a larger Black contingent this time.
The closest thing to a counter-protest was a middle-aged guy who yelled, several times, “Jesus is King” as he walked past. There was also a vlogger/”influencer” type who seemed to be trying to generate some agitation for TikTok or whatnot at the beginning, but she didn’t seem to hang around long.
What does an event like this accomplish? It is a legitimate question, as James Joyner noted this morning. Further, Quinta Jurecic isn’t wrong; there is a lot of cringe going on. I, for one, have never been a “protest guy,” save in the sense that I like events like this as an observer more than a participant. But this is now the fourth such event I have participated in over two Trump terms. I definitely find the chants and a lot of the rhetoric to be more than a bit cringe.
By the same token, given that I really do feel like democracy is under threat and that authoritarianism is looming, engaging in some public pushback is warranted. I do not expect this event to have any electoral impact locally. As James Joyner noted in his post, most of our elections are predestined. Our democracy was largely broken before Trump, and he is making it far worse. I think that we do need to send signals, even if cringey ones, that we aren’t going to just shrug our shoulders and accept what is happening.
I do think Jurecic is correct in his conclusion:
Organizers of today’s No Kings rally have emphasized that the gatherings are just one part of this broader movement, an opportunity to loudly and collectively voice the defiance already happening on the ground. The Trump administration appears to have noticed. Although June’s No Kings protests gained relatively little attention from Trump and congressional Republicans, the party has busied itself over the past week with attacking the upcoming demonstrations as a “Hate America Rally.” The mood this time is darker than in June: The government is shut down, more National Guard troops are deployed on the country’s streets, and the administration is intent on portraying its political opposition as un-American. But the protesters are coming with the Stars and Stripes in hand.
As a political scientist, I am aware of the marginal effect of something like these protests has on short-term power, but I also know that if they didn’t matter at all, people like Speaker Johnson wouldn’t feel compelled to call them “Hate America” rallies and Ted Cruz, and other administration aliies, would not feel the need to try and fearmonger about them.
At a bare minimum, a day like today helps remind people who are opposed to this administration’s authoritarian behaviors that they are not alone.
The last event generated an estimated 5 million participants. I am hopeful this one will generate more. Given that we are only 9 months into this administration, the longer term question is going to if these protests grow over the four years (as I cannot imagine this is the last such event).
Turnout in NYC looks impressive, along with other examples here via the NYT: Scenes From a Day of Mass Protests. We will await the final estimates.
At a minimum, it does create a counter-narrative to combat the notion that American streets are warzones or that, as White House Spokesperson Caroline Leavitt asserted, the Democratic Party’s base is Hamas and criminals.
I know that the gaslighting is for their base; the lies are pretty blatantly refuted by, you know, reality.
While there were no frogs, a la Portland, in Montgomery today, there were at least four T. rexes, a Snoopy, a Hippo, and a few other fancy friends.
Not exactly Hamas.
Here are some more shots.
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What’s funny is that my three stepchildren, who are older than my two, are kind of protest kids. They’ve attended BLM and Pride rallies. None went to today’s event in DC—but my wife’s 81-year-old mom did!
The only protest that I’ve attended is one years ago, affiliated with Christopher Hitchens, in support of the Dutch embassy during the Muslim cartoon protests. We’re in the opposite situation with regard to these protests: I’m in a community that’s wildly sympathetic and you’re in one that’s the opposite. And you’re now retired and I’d risk my livelihood by attending.
Do I think these will make a difference? No. But the fact that they’re happening is a good indication that we’re not yet an authoritarian state.
I have to push back on that characterization, and the “cringy” one as well — one person’s cringe is another person’s motivational octane.
A primary impact of masses getting out on the street like we did today, is to send a loud message to our Dem representatives that we are engaged on these issues and expect them to work harder — that we have their backs, and they need to have our backs. That we will put ourselves “out there” and we expect them to do the same.
This is a primal feedback loop.
Additional positives come from the “hook up” factor. Today, I made a good connection with a previously unknown resource for further involvement and contribution.
And one additional positive. While you had twinges of cringe, you also had moments of uplift, right? The effect of the rightwing “flood the zone” blitzkreig assault on our societal norms is to stun us into isolation and despair — fait accompli power grab. Shock and awe. But by coming together publicly, people recognize they are not alone with this burden, that empowerment is possible. And from that arises hope. I saw hope today, a lot of hope and energy. I suspect you sensed that too. This, connection-hope, is fundamental to our human process of solving problems bigger than any one us.
I am happy to report that my smallish city in a red state punched above its weight with several thousand attendees.
I wonder if the “Jesus is King” guy at your rally thinks that his sentiment supports Trump being king? I might have quoted Tom Paine,”Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”
@James Joyner:
A wholly legitimate consideration.
@Rob1:
This is, of course, fair and true.
We attended one of the three demos in Las Vegas, the one on The Strip, just outside New York, New York. Parked next door at Park MGM thinking we might pick something up at Eataly – we didn’t.
There’s something unique about walking to a demonstration through a casino. Put a 20 in a slot, sidled up to the bar at Nine Fine Irishmen, took a chance on a Jameson’s old fashioned against my better judgment. (Should have listened to my better judgment.)
Rough estimate, 700 people, a dozen Metro cops, some polite private security. The space was actually too small for the crowd. Any more and we’d have blocked pedestrian passage.
I’ll tell you what impressed me, at this demo, and the ones I’ve seen online: the message discipline was tight. No wild fringe bullshit, everyone knew why they were there. This is a good sign.
Steven can you disclose whether the Soros guy was paying everyone in cash, or was there some kind of crypto scam involved?
Channeling Elvis Costello, what’s so cringe about peace, love and understanding?
@Ken_L: I gave some guy all my account info. I am sure the payment will arrive shortly…
@becca:
Wasn’t that originally Brinsley Schwartz?
🙂
I have fond memories of that song from 1974, and dancing with pretty girl I knew at a pub disco.
How time flies.
🙁