Scott Tibbs
It is unwise to dismiss the "No Kings" protests
By Scott Tibbs, October 24, 2025
I walked around the "No Kings" protest in Bloomington on October 18. I am not sure how many were there, but it was a lot of people and filled the courthouse grounds. Sure, this is to be expected in Bloomington, but protests like this happened all around the country. It is not wise to dismiss the number of people protesting against President Trump.
When I did an internship in the House of Representatives in 1997, I was told that if we get just a few letters on an issue, that is representative of a much larger number of people who care about that issue but did not write a letter. For every person attending a rally, there are more people who feel the same way and will turn out and vote in 2026. Many of the people protesting will be doing phone banks and door-to-door for Democrats in 2026.
“But Scott, they’re wrong. President Trump is not a king and is not behaving like a king.”
It does not matter. The people protesting are angry and believe this. Mocking and dismissing them is not going to make that anger go away. It will motivate them further. Remember when Hillary Clinton said many Trump supporters are “deplorables?” That quickly became a badge of honor for Trump supporters and was a motivating factor in people turning out for President Trump, in that election and in the following two elections. Mocking the people who despise President Trump will only serve to anger and motivate them further.
Imagine for a moment that President Obama shared a computer-generated video of him flying over a Tea Party protest in 2009, dropping a load of feces on the attendees, to the loud cheers of his fanbase. (Obviously the technology was not as advanced in 2009, but you get the point.) How do you think the Tea Party, Republican members of Congress, and pundits like Ben Shapiro would have reacted? Do you think that would have helped or hurt Democrats' efforts to maintain control of Congress in 2010? We now have a President who is openly fantasizing about covering people protesting against him with a flood of diarrhea. He is openly casting himself as only caring about half of the country.
There are two answers to the "No Kings" protests: First,
make a substantive argument for why President Trump is not a king and why many of his actions are following the rule of law. There are people who dislike Trump who can be converted or at least talked into a more reasonable position. Second, you have to motivate your own supporters. Why have there not been pro-Trump rallies around the country to support various policies? It would be very easy for Trump supporters to become dispirited by watching all of these people protest against him and not seeing people supporting him. Dismissive mockery will not work, but a positive message can work.
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