The ‘No Kings’ Protests Against Democracy Itself

On November 5, 2024, Donald Trump won the United States presidential election against Kamala Harris. It was a convincing win. Trump snagged victory in the Electoral College, where the contest is officially decided, 312 to 226. He needed only 270 to prevail. He also won the popular vote (a nice but unnecessary distinction), with 77,302,580 votes to 75,017,613, a margin of almost 2 million votes.

I mention these well-known facts to underscore the black comedy of the “No Kings” protests taking place across the country as I write. According to several sources, some 2500 separate protests are planned. Millions of people are expected to join in the fun. More than 200 left-wing groups, from the ACLU and Antifa to Indivisible, have helped organize the events. Prominent Democrats from Bernie Sanders to AOC to Gavin Newsom and Chuck Schumer are panting to attend and proclaim their virtue and denounce the duly elected president of the United States. Really, as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson observed, the “No Kings” rallies ought to be called “Hate America” rallies.

I live in deep-blue Fairfield County, Connecticut. In nearby Westport, terminally disgruntled middle-to-late-aged citizens, joined by clumps of unattractive GenZeers—Geezers and Zeers—regularly congregate on a certain bridge to protest for or against whatever the central committee has handed down as this week’s issue: climate change, fossil fuels, Brett Kavanaugh,  Israel, etc. Whatever the announced issue is, they are there with their signs, their self-righteousness, their ire. I am pretty sure I recognized some old-timers today from their stints protesting against George W. Bush and the Iraq War. Naturally, the crowds were out in force today to disrupt traffic and inform the world that they abominate Donald Trump and all his works.

It was a large gathering. It was also depressingly pathetic. White boomers, mostly, indulging their fraught emotional fatuousness. “Look at us! Aren’t we special?”  As one commentator observed, “Protests are meant to be the voices of the unheard. Yet these protests are the voices of those who never shut up.”