If you were working for some shadowy Left-wing nonprofit that receives large amounts of taxpayer money from untraceable sources, and you had to come up with a slogan to capture the imagination of the modern Left and kickstart a wave of national protests to undermine the Trump administration, it’s a safe bet that the slogan “No Kings” wouldn’t occur to you.
For one thing, it sounds like something out of the Revolutionary Era. It’s a few centuries too late. You half expect these people are going to start throwing boxes of tea into Boston Harbor.
For another, the slogan doesn’t remotely capture what Democrats claim to be upset about. They’re not worried about the revival of the monarchy. They don’t think we’re suddenly about to transform into Cambodia or, even worse, into Canada. They’d prefer that outcome, actually. These people crave authoritarianism, as we saw during the COVID lockdowns, the multiple criminal prosecutions that were brought against the leading presidential candidate, the mass-censorship and surveillance they endorsed, and so on. In reality, they’re angry that we’ve adopted a system of government that has ensured we haven’t had a king for hundreds of years. They’re furious that this constitutional republic has produced a president they don’t like, who’s enforcing laws they find inconvenient. That’s what they’re actually rebelling against: the republic itself.
And yet, over the weekend, “No Kings” protests were held throughout the country. And at various points, as we’ll discuss, they turned violent. But first, from a strategic perspective, there are two elements of these riots that are worth talking about. The first is that, as we’ve discussed before, the Left has been searching for an excuse to riot ever since Donald Trump won the election. They’ve been looking to replace their BLM messaging with something else. And now they’ve found it. They don’t care that the messaging makes no sense. They’re just happy they have an excuse to cause civil disturbance.
The second important thing to keep in mind here is that these riots illustrate a growing divide among Democrats. And this is a divide that’s going to become very hard to reconcile going forward. On the one hand, you have young people who want to transform this country at a fundamental level (putting it mildly). On the other, you have Democrats who came of age during the administration of Lyndon Johnson or Gerald Ford. These are people who, 20 years ago, were voting for Democrats like Bill Clinton — candidates who promised — dishonestly, perhaps, but they did promise — to secure the border, minimize abortion, uphold the meaning of marriage, and balance the budget. Today, these same Democrats have stuck around, remaining loyal voters, even as their party has radically changed its priorities.
The most notable characteristic that these older voters share is that, thanks largely to the corporate press, they’re extraordinarily confused. In their earlier years, they came to trust the media as a relatively fair and nonpartisan source of information. And now that the corporate media is telling them that Trump is Hitler, they believe it, without any hesitation. Here’s just one example from this weekend’s “No King” protests:
As pathetic as this to watch, it’s hard to look at someone like this and conclude that she wants to destroy the United States by replacing its native population and suspending law enforcement. Instead, she’s been convinced that Trump is something he’s not. She’s been persuaded that he wants to crown himself a king, or worse. Many voters who are past retirement age — something like 60 million people — fall into this category. That’s the demographic that the “No Kings” branding is really meant to appeal to.
And on that count, the branding was arguably a success. Most of the people who showed up to these demonstrations were between the ages of 50 and 75. To give another example, here’s one scene from the Beverly Hills “No Kings” protest the other day. An old man stops by a “Trump Induced Anxiety Help” stand, and proceeds to verbally berate and physically abuse an effigy of Donald Trump. And as he slams the doll’s head into a stool, his satisfaction becomes more and more evident. Watch this, if you can bear the cringe:
Truly, I have never seen someone so valiantly stand up against a doll. The human characters in the “Chucky” films never showed an ounce of this courage and resolve. If they had, the movies would have been a lot shorter. The most fascinating thing about a clip like that is to observe the nexus between corny and crazy. Prior to the modern Democratic Party, I didn’t think it was really possible for a person to be both corny and crazy. Those seem like either/or personality types. But these people are somehow extremely, painfully corny, and also clearly insane, all at the same time.
In any event, as insane as some elderly people behaved at these demonstrations, none of them were particularly threatening. Instead, they put on a very confusing display, more than anything else.
In places like Pittsburgh and Fredericksburg, which you’re seeing on the screen now, attendees were generally middle-aged or older. They spent most of their time milling about, holding some signs and looking disinterested. This was not a young person’s protest. Like the “Tesla takedown” riots — which were organized, coincidentally enough, by the same exact Left-wing nonprofits — the “No Kings” events were intended to appeal to a faction of the Democrat Party that still pretends to care about the rule of law, our constitutional system of government, and so on. They’ve just been duped into thinking that the Democrat Party is also interested in any of that.
WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show
Put aside the fact that nonprofits should not be able to organize protests like this in the first place. They’re supposed to be non-political, but they’re clearly organizing political rallies. What’s important to recognize here is that, throughout the “No Kings” rallies over the weekend, the older voters in the Democrat Party came face-to-face with younger Democrats. And unlike the older generation, younger Democrats do not pretend to care about “kings.” They aren’t shaking uncontrollably because MSNBC told them Donald Trump will end our democracy or whatever. They’re simply intent on securing power for themselves and their preferred demographic groups.
This is the dichotomy that now defines the Democrats. The party is a coalition that’s made up of two completely incompatible ideologies. One the one hand, you have older Democrats who have been conned into thinking that Donald Trump represents a threat to the rule of law. And then you have younger Democrats — the future generation of the party — who explicitly oppose the existence of the rule of law. They want to bring about chaos at every opportunity. And over the weekend, that’s exactly what they did.
In Salt Lake City for example, the “No Kings” rally erupted into mayhem and violence.
Here’s what that looked like:
As tragic as this incident was, you can tell that, on the bright side, at least some people involved in this protest finally got some exercise. So there’s that. There’s gunfire, and then there’s a lot of running. This is the kind of thing that didn’t happen at the tea party rallies back in the day, but it’s commonplace whenever there’s a mass gathering on the Left.
So how did they spin this one, you might ask? Well, here’s a report from the local news station, KUTV.
“Bystander unintentionally killed by alleged peacekeeper at Salt Lake ‘No Kings Day’ event.”
Yes, an “alleged peacekeeper” at the No Kings rally “unintentionally killed” an innocent bystander. If you’re confused by that headline, you have good reason to be. For one thing, once you shoot an innocent person, it’s fair to say you’re not a “peacekeeper,” allegedly or otherwise. Secondly, why do political rallies need “peacekeepers,” exactly? It evokes images of United Nations peacekeeping forces patrolling in the third world. You’d think there’d be no need for vigilantes to roam around in major cities in this country — especially if your city has a police force to begin with.
But as we all know, very few of these Democrat-run cities have functioning police forces anymore. Therefore, when violence erupted, a “peacekeeper” was on scene. And then the peacekeeper attempted to keep the peace, and he missed his target.
So who was the peacekeeper shooting at, exactly? Apparently, the peacekeeper was trying to take down a man named Arturo Gamboa, who had just allegedly killed someone.
As the Post Millennial reports:
Arturo Gamboa, the man charged with murder after a deadly shooting at Salt Lake City’s ‘No Kings’ protest, appears to be a self-described anti-government radical who publicly supported Antifa, rejected the US electoral system, and once said justice should be taken ‘by any means necessary.’
This is the kind of messaging that the boomers chanting “No Kings,” and playing around with the Trump effigies, probably aren’t on board with. But it’s the default position among young Leftists in many parts of the country. That’s why Seattle, once again, descended into anarchy over the weekend. Watch:
Towards the end of that footage, you saw fireworks being shot at a federal building. They also tried to set the building on fire. But the police didn’t intervene, at any point. Of course, none of the people who pretended to care about January 6th have said a word about this. They also haven’t said a word about the fact that Cam Higby — a journalist whose footage we’ve played a few times on my show — was just assaulted in Seattle by Antifa militants. He received a concussion simply for reporting on what was happening. Again, the police didn’t intervene.
Here’s a clip that Cam Higby, with Today is America, posted:
🚨ANTIFA just JUMPED ME.
While SPD was refusing to intervene with the riot tonight, militant Tyler Hahn and his lackeys JUMPED ME. Dealing several blows to my head.
I was able to deploy pepper spray and repel them, regaining the belongings they knocked out of my pockets. pic.twitter.com/gTsFtlIwDF
— Cam Higby | America First 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) June 15, 2025
CREDIT: Cam Higby with Today is America
When Jim Acosta’s microphone was taken away in the White House eight years ago, as he ranted and raved at the president in a desperate bid for attention, there was universal outrage on the Left. There were court cases. They were crying on CNN. It was a year-long news cycle. But when Leftist militants beat an actual journalist on camera, no one says a word about it. The police certainly don’t intervene.
Actually, I’ll correct that statement. At one point last night, the police in Seattle did attempt to contain the mob. They didn’t help Cam Higby, but they made some effort to shut down the rioting. But very quickly, they realized they were outnumbered. And instead of using force to quell the mob — which they obviously should have done — they ran away. Watch:
As always, the absence of police involvement — and the cowardice of Democrats commanding these departments — is endangering people’s lives. To give just one more example — in Riverside over the weekend, rioters began attacking a car. The driver tried to escape, so the mob tried to kill him.
And now the driver is being investigated. Watch:
Again, no young person thinks this is a protest for “No Kings” or whatever. This is a riot that’s intended to destabilize the country. To the extent that Democrats have tried to argue otherwise, it hasn’t been convincing.
Here are two videos. The first is from Dallas, where a bunch of women brought out “The Handmaid’s Tale” costumes, which they keep for occasions such as this. And perhaps for their own personal use. We won’t speculate about what that might involve. They also have a sign that reads, “We the people were not meant to kneel.” The second video is Cory Booker, using the same kind of language in a particularly painful attempt to grandstand:
This is obviously the prepared talking point they’re going with. Everyone from Cory Booker to the women who like dressing up as sex slaves — for reasons that Freud could only guess — is saying that Donald Trump is forcing people to “kneel” before him. Nevermind the fact that Alex Padilla charged towards the DHS secretary while she was speaking and deliberately provoked the Secret Service. That’s not important. What matters, according to Booker and the women wearing the costumes, is that Donald Trump wants everyone to “kneel” before him.
One of the reasons why it’s so easy to see through this messaging — aside from the fact that it’s transparently phony — is that we were all alive five years ago. And because we were alive five years ago, it’s very striking that the “No Kings” crew has only now discovered their aversion to authoritarian rule.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
These were the same people applauding when we were locked in our homes, forced to wear muzzles on our faces and inject experimental drugs into our bodies. And when I say “the same people,” I mean the same exact people. One of the leaders of these “No Kings” rallies over the weekend was Randi Weingarten. She’s the head of the teachers’ unions who made sure that children couldn’t attend school during the COVID lockdowns. And now, with a straight face, she’s telling you that she’s terribly afraid of an authoritarian holding power. The irony is overwhelming.
Indeed, if you were to make a Venn diagram of the people who cheered the lockdowns and the people who are now chanting “no kings,” the Venn diagram would just be a circle. They’re all the same people.
People who of course also had nothing to say when the previous regime imprisoned its critics for posting memes and tried to throw a former president in jail. Now suddenly they’re concerned about “fascism.” And at the same time, ironically, they’re accusing Trump of being a weakling who always chickens out.
This is messaging that — being charitable — is hypocritical, confusing, contrived, unintelligible, and completely hollow. The BLM race hysteria was built on a lie — one of the most damaging lies told in modern times — but at least it was internally consistent. Democrats claimed, in defiance of reality, that police officers were going around abusing black people. As a statement, it’s obviously false. But as a call to action, it was effective. What we’re seeing now is different. With the “No Kings” rally, Democrats are simultaneously demanding that voters ignore their own very recent authoritarian behavior, while also imagining that the current administration is trying to enact a monarchy because they’re enforcing immigration law.
It’s no surprise that the only people who buy into this narrative are elderly and very confused. They’re the kind of people who would pay a nickel to beat up a Trump doll. That is the state of Democrat messaging at this point. At the same time, we have to recognize that, not too long from now, these old people will die. And then we’ll be left with everyone else — the rioters and the Left-wing NGOs who openly crave authoritarianism. That will be the only constituency of the Democrats within the next decade or so. By that point, “No Kings” won’t be the messaging.
Instead, they will be demanding that you recognize their total and absolute authority over every aspect of your life. They’ll attempt to turn the entire country into Seattle, where Antifa militants can attack journalists and overpower the police. That’s what rule by Democrats will look like. And if there’s anything we can glean from this disaster of a protest this weekend, and all of the violence and mayhem left in its wake, it’s that these people don’t want you to bow to a king. Instead, they want you to bow to them.
