By Noah Rothman
Monday, October 20, 2025
The organizers of this past weekend’s “No Kings” protests
against the Trump administration say that it was one of the best-attended
political demonstrations in American history. Estimates indicate that between 5 million and 8 million Americans made an appearance at one
of the 2,600 or so protests across the country. And their causes were myriad.
According to NPR, the dissenters opposed the president’s
unilateral executive orders, his Justice Department’s harassment of Trump’s
critics, his immigration and deportation policies, and his deployment of
federal and military personnel to American cities in an effort to clamp down on
crime. Images of the protests indicate that a healthy number of the
demonstrators also appear to oppose the president’s efforts to restore peace to
the Gaza Strip, prevent biological males from intruding in women-only spaces, and
other far less popular causes. These causes didn’t merit a mention, perhaps,
because doing so would strip these protests of the mainstream gloss NPR
lacquered onto them. “The diversity of concerns was strung together by the
broader messaging of democracy, constitutional rights and the freedom the U.S.
was founded on,” the outlet’s treacly assessment read.
But for all the mass demonstrations’ lofty goals, “No
Kings” enthusiasts seem to be talking themselves into the notion that they have
achieved victory only insofar as they managed to annoy the president a little.
In a childish riposte, the president posted to his
proprietary social media venue an AI-generated video of himself adorned with a crown and
flying a fighter jet in which Trump conducted an ariel bombardment of one No
Kings protest with what appeared to be feces. That, plus the president’s
extemporaneous remarks aboard Air Force One in which he dismissed the
“very small” gatherings of “radical left lunatics” were indicative of the
president’s mild irritation.
In lieu of any objective metrics for success, the
president’s peevish reaction will have to suffice.
Trump’s “over-the-top reaction to the ‘No Kings’ events
offered evidence of their success,” MSNBC’s Steve Benen remarked. “They were intended to send a
powerful message to an increasingly authoritarian figure, who appeared rattled
by the national dispatch.”
The fact that the president adorned himself with a crown
in that petulant AI video ratifies the argument against him that the protesters
were making, according to former Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman. Republicans “want to have an argument about
whether America should have a king, and whether that king should be Donald
Trump,” he wrote. “But that is what No Kings successfully created.”
CNN’s Stephen Collinson found the president’s response similarly
revelatory. By reacting to the demonstrations with “mockery,” Trump boosted the
signal on the protesters’ message, “embracing the narrative in a way that
explains his growing hubris and belief that he has unchecked power.” By baiting
the anti-Trump left on social media, Trump is “implying there’s no room for
those who don’t support him and showing he’s willing to force them into line.”
Back in our shared reality, it is hard to see evidence of
the GOP’s consternation beyond these mild displays of Trumpian petulance. The
president took no action to suppress the protested — indeed, he was praised by House Speaker Mike Johnson for keeping the National Mall
open despite the ongoing government shutdown so demonstrators in Washington
could assemble and register their dissatisfaction with the government.
Trump’s dismissive remarks could be reflective of his
irritation with the protesters as much as his scorn for their relative
political efficacy. Maybe Trump and his allies are making a show of their
indifference toward the protests. Maybe they’re genuinely indifferent. Either
way, it is hard to glean from their reaction to the No Kings demonstrations
evidence of any real discomfort with them.
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