GravitasTrump Takes a Literal Dump on America After Record Breaking Protests?!
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hexSome leftists have criticized #NoKingsDay2 as useless. Though it was the largest protest in US history, it didn't change anything. I would go further to say that protests like these generally won't change anything. Dictators aren't forced to step down by 2% of the population coming out for one day. If they're forced to step down by protests, those protests are sustained. They are every single day. They are accompanied by general strikes.
We've been watching that happen all over the world. Portland in 2020 gave us a taste of that in the US. The George Floyd Rebellion was the type of resistance that actually brings down dictators like Trump. Occasional protests, no matter how large, can simply be ignored. That is precisely the reason the US developed a militarized police force in the first place. You need more, more than the largest protests in US history, more than Occupy, more than the resistance of the 60's and 70's, more than, and different from, anything we've seen in our lives.
And yet... Each protest has grown, and grown bolder. Some have grown more persistent. If you think of protest as the path to achieve change, you will lose. It is not. But it is a path to escalate. Some people, some otherwise comfortable white folks, came out for their first time. Some people got pepper sprayed for the first time. Some people questioned authority, stood up for the first time, and have had an experience that will radicalize them for the rest of their lives.
Protest is not useful in and of itself. It is training. It's making connections. Authoritarian regimes rely on the illusion of compliance, so visual resistance does actually undermine their power.
Liberals like to teach that non-violence is all about staying peaceful no matter what, that there's some way that morality simply overwhelms an enemy. I remember reading Langston Hughes' A Dream Deferred in high school. I said it was a threat. My teacher said, "you're wrong, he was a pacifist." Pacifism is a threat. If you can spit at me, beat me, shoot me, and I will not move, if I have the strength to absorb violence without flinching, without even rising to violence, what will happen when you push me too far?
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
For peaceful resistance to work, there must be ambiguity. It must not be clear if or when the resistance will stop being peaceful. Peaceful resistance with no possibility of escalation is just cowardice.
My critique then is not so harsh as some other anarchists. If you think that protest alone will work, you're probably going to lose. If you are prepared to escalate, if you are prepared to absorb violence without flinching, then it could be possible for protest alone to topple the dictator. The cracks are already beginning to show.
And then what?
The problems that lead to the George Floyd uprising were never resolved. The problems that lead to Occupy where never resolve. The DAPL was built, protesters were maimed, it leaked multiple times (exactly as predicted). Segregation never went away, it only changed forms. The fact that immigrants have different courts and different rights means that anyone can be arbitrarily kidnaped and renditioned to an arbitrary country. We never did anything about the torture black site. FFS, people can still be stripped of their voting rights and slavery is still legal in the US. The people who control both parties in the US are killing our children and grand children with oil wars and climate change.
Toppling the dictator does nothing to resolve all of the problems that existed before him.
No, #NoKingsDay was absolutely not useless. #NoKings and related protests are extremely useful but they aren't sufficient. But, I think we still need to challenge the movement on two points:
How do you escalate after you're ignored or brutalized?
What do you demand after you win?
The Many Voices of Anne Ahlert😂 Posted yesterday by #MischaCollins from the TV show #Supernatural . I thought it deserved to be shared on Mastodon.
#SupernaturalTVShow #NoKingsDay2 #NoKings #NoKingsProtests #Parenting #ThingsKidsSay #ProtestSigns #FunnySigns
itsooniSome signs from yesterday's No Kings rally in north Berkeley. #NoKings #NoKingsDay2
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3Sunday Morning Reading
Good Sunday morning. This edition will be slightly different than most. Yes, there will be a collection of links I find worth sharing (and hope you’ll read). That said, most of the links in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading come from an excellent series in The Atlantic’s November 2025 issue from a collection of authors called The Unfinished Revolution.
Yes, that’s behind a paywall. Sorry, not sorry. But this is the Internet and if you’re not already paying for excellent content like The Atlantic, there are a million ways to skirt that restriction. The issue is one worth paying for, if for no other reason to keep it as an archive for future generations. That may prove important one day. I plan on picking up a hard copy soon enough.
The issue is also timely as this country approaches it’s 250th anniversary, and finds itself being torn apart by forces that, suffice it to say, don’t represent what many believe this country stands for, or at least the promise of what it should stand for, even with it’s historical problems and faults.
It’s also timely because we’ve just seen the second and larger No Kings rallies across the country. Given that the founding of this country was indeed the original No Kings protest that kicked off a revolution against rule by a monarch, the timing also feels apropos.
I won’t highlight all of the articles in the series, you should go and check them out yourself. The ones I do link to are ones I found particularly interesting. And yes, there will be other links in today’s Sunday Morning Reading as well.
Before I get to The Atlantic’s links, this article by Garrett Graff, Three Reasons I Still Have Hope For America, is more than worth your time. I agree that there is strength in numbers, but I don’t think the inevitable passing of a leader this time around will have the affect the world has seen historically.
The title of Anne Applebaum’s Atlantic piece, The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark, certainly tells you where the piece is going. Even so, it is more than worth reading and contemplating. One way or the other we are living through and participating in moments that will change the world. We just don’t know how.
We’re dealing with our own Mad King wannabe, so Rick Atkinson’s The Myth of Mad King George draws some interesting parallels beyond their affinity for makeup that I suggest could be similarly drawn behind most of the troubled men who’ve plagued the world throughout its history.
Political and social schisms divide not only countries, but often families as well. Stacy Schiff asks Why Did Benjamin Franklin’s Son Remain Loyal To The British?
Jeffrey Rosen says that insurrection has marred the American constitutional order since its founding. He’s correct. Check out The Insurrection Problem. If you’re not an American history buff, I bet you’ll be surprised.
George Packer thinks we do need patriotism in his piece I Don’t Want To Stop Believing In America’s Decency. I concur with his sympathies, but when the meaning of words like patriotism and decency can get so easily mangled it becomes trying to cling to those beliefs.
Fintan O’Toole asks What The Founders Would Say Now. We’ve imagined, conjured, twisted, and appropriated who and what they and their words are so often, that in my view I think they’d tell us all to either grow up or go to hell.
As most of this week’s Sunday Morning Reading and my own thinking has focused on the issues facing America as a whole, I found former NY Times drama critic Frank Rich’s piece on Zohran Mamdani and the New York mayor’s race fascinating. Not just for his at times surprising commentary on that race. But for those paying attention, Why Powerbrokers Got Everything Wrong About Zohran Mamdani incisively dissects the deeper fissures subsuming the bigger political picture as well.
And to close out this week, here’s a piece from 404 Media about the amphibian symbol that has become associated with our current protests against the administration, Matthew Gault’s The Surreal Practicality Of Protesting As An Inflatable Frog.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
#Culture #NoKingsDay #NoKingsDay2 #SundayMorningReading #TheAtlantic #Writing
The Unfinished Revolution - The Atlantic
"The Unfinished Revolution" examines the founding of the United States and brings the nation's history to bear on its present—and its future. New chapters will be published over the following week, and we will continue our special coverage of America at 250 through July 4, 2026, and beyond.
Stuart Celarier ❌👑We attended the #NoKingsDay2 march in beautiful "war ravaged" Portland, home of the Amphifa Frogs. Handed out 200 free safety whistles in mere minutes. No photos bc left our phones home. So many great signs and costumes!
There was a couple dressed up as founding fathers, complete with powdered wigs, and each wearing a large sash ribbon that said "I Miss America"!
Pachy C. Saurus"No Kings", also keine Könige, so heißen gerade ganz viele Demos gegen Donald Trump und seine Regierung. Gestern gab es mehr als 2600 solcher Demos, und Millionen Menschen haben teilgenommen!
Das macht mir #mut wenn ich so etwas lese. Euch auch?
#nokings #donaldtrump #widerstand #nokingsday #NoKingsDayOct18th #NoKingsDay2
David RuffnerNo Kings in Rutherford, NJ. It feels really good to see neighbors showing up to protest. Together we are strong!
Paula BorchardtI created this art recently to reflect a philosophy of mine that applies to many situations in life. I like to take positive, peaceful action! I’m posting my art today in light of everyone who’s taking action tomorrow by participating in peaceful rallies and protests. Stay hopeful, stay safe and stay sane!
#art #illustration #watercolor #painting #NoKings #NoKingsDay #NoKingsDay2 #coup #USPol #UnitedStates #US #AmericanCoup #USPolitics
AnneTheWriterIn the future, when the history of these days are written, our grandchildren will shake their heads and wonder how we could've sat back and allowed this insanity and cruelty. And those of us who are willing to speak honestly about what we did today, will explain that a lot of people hated immigrants and worshipped a famous dementia-addled con man, more than they were willing to recognize the dangers of fascism or uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of others.
And we will say with pride and honor that we were not any of those people, and we did not just sit back and allow it.
See you on #NoKingsDay 👑!
#NoKings #NoKingsDay2 #Protests #Antifa #PeacefulProtest #CivilDisobedience #Antifascism #PeacefulProtest #Protesting #PortlandFrogs #FrogProtest #JohnLennon #NonViolence #NonViolentProtest
