The America that I love – the America that I have written about for fifty years that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world – is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration. – Bruce Springsteen, 4/13/26
Is No Kings before or after the brunch? – Mickey Huff
Who can argue with the Boss, that the nation is led by racists? My problem is with “beacon of hope and liberty around the world”. I’m going to argue that there is a vast – and deeply mythic – gulf between people who hold only the first of those ideas and others who hold both.
At the March 2026 No Kings march in Oakland thousands of good-hearted people, sang songs and carried funny, outrageous signs, almost of which were about Trumpus. (I use the word “Trumpus” as a reminder that the collective unconscious has vomited him up into public view so that we might clearly be reminded of our own complicity in the madness; Trump is us.)
It was a good day; people shared community and inspiration. But in one of the most diverse cities in the country, there were hardly any people of color. Why, I wondered, did the march begin at City Hall rather than in the Fruitvale district, where thousands of people of color – those with the most to lose from the encroaching fascism and those the Democrats most need to vote – might also have been motivated?
Some writers have been critical of No King’s. To be fair, I’ll quote two of its supporters.
Rebecca Solnit (on Facebook):
I saw so many people who are elsewhere doing so much good work – environmental lawyers, union organizers, trans activists...and if no one was in fact doing anything else, maybe it would be warranted criticism...if you are engaged, you see the people who are engaged... uprisings are not usually exactly planned, though you can lay the groundwork for them, by building networks, supporting organizations, standing against the erosion of rights and law in whatever way works...Indivisible has constantly urged people to engage every day...
The implication being that those who show up are naive, and those who stay home see the bigger picture. Here’s the problem: this attitude...mistakes cynicism for analysis. And it guarantees the one outcome its proponents claim to fear most: a movement that never escalates beyond what it already is. An organizer looks at a mass protest and sees something completely different. Where the cynic sees a feel-good spectacle, the organizer sees thousands of people ready to get involved – a chance to connect them with local groups, deepen their engagement, and build the relationships that every form of deeper resistance depends on...feeling good is not the problem. Of course you feel good when you feel the power of millions...when you stop feeling alone...Feeling bad is not a magic recipe for anything beyond itself.
May they thrive, may they influence millions of people to wake up and vote for progressive candidates. May those candidates get elected and throw the bastards out. But I’m interested in exploring certain deeper issues – how we construct or are socialized to accept the narratives that provide us with a sense of identity. So let’s hear from some critics.
...the participation of people of color generally, and Black people specifically, has been limited ...The 2020 (George Floyd) revolt, Black-led but multi-racial, appeared to shake the foundations of the country...resulted, almost immediately, in shifts in policy by government and corporations alike (and) contributed to the defeat of Trump in 2020...(we need) demands we can articulate right now which reflect the needs and aspirations of the oppressed.
...the current war...barely gets passing mention...when it does, the main focus is on the money being wasted...the Democratic party has not emerged with a coherent, antiwar message in response to Trump’s worldwide rampage.
Stephen Zunes: The Democrats “...have focused primarily on process-style critiques – such as the legality of declaring the war and its economic impact – rather than the humanitarian consequences and flagrant violations of international law”.
If “money being wasted” is one’s worst objection to massacres of children, one is not anti-war.
3 – Indeed, the entire past 75 years of U.S. aggression against the Third World went unmentioned. Historian Jeremy Varon writes:
There is today little sustained public conversation about any aspect of the War on Terror... (which) has left a mostly unexamined and dangerous legacy: a vague sense that “stupid wars” are best avoided; enhanced executive powers, used in a new spree of cruelty and killing; and the same fear-driven demonization of a racialized enemy other...
4 – From website to speeches, costumes and signage, No Kings focused almost exclusively on Trumpus as the individual source (along with Vladimir Putin) of all the world’s evils. It ignored the legacy of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, whose willingness to lose the election rather than denounce Israel had given us Trumpus. Her huge support in the “intelligence community” had reflected her hawkishness on Iran. Indeed, the DNC’s 2024 planform criticized “Trump’s...weakness in the face of Iranian aggression during his presidency”. No Kings was asking the public to support a corrupt and unpopular Democratic Party as the only alternative to a corrupt and unpopular Republican Party, effectively ensuring that, once again, the largest voting demographic in 2028 will likely be “did not vote”. Arun Gupta argues that
No Kings is run by Democratic Party operatives and is a front group for Democrats...to capture millions of names and emails...they protect Democrats from any criticism by erasing any issue that might cause them problems with the pro-genocide oligarchs who fund and control them... the movement against the genocide of Gaza...was crushed by the same AIPAC ghouls in the Democratic Party that No Kings is in bed with and wants to return to power in the midterms.
No Kings’ virtual rally featured eight Congressional Democrats...six are recipients of AIPAC blood money...Hakeem Jeffries was the headliner...the recipient of more than $5 million...Is it any wonder then that No Kings has completely erased Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon from all their protest materials, the three countries bearing the brunt of Zionist savagery?...It’s another AIPAC operation meant to distract and disorient any genuine opposition.
6 – Peter Bratsis is concerned that the marches have largely been
...loud statements about what people want or don’t want...They have not created conditions that would put pressure on the other side to address their grievances in any meaningful way and are certainly not “building” power...mass protests can be even worse than ineffectual in that they may lead many participants to believe that they have taken important actions and, thus, inhibit them from looking for more impactful strategic possibilities...to cleanse themselves of any guilt or complicity.
For the great majority who participate in the No Kings protests (lively strolls down city boulevards, often capped with brunch or drinks with friends) life goes back to normal immediately afterwards but with the added benefit that people feel better about themselves... that they did their part in opposing Trump...that we have fought the good fight and that what is happening is taking place despite and not because of us.
When people have taken action to be disruptive (Minnesota for example), there have been tangible results and change. The lack of results from the No Kings protests indicates just how much they are in harmony with Trump’s America and should provoke the search for more productive tactics and action.
This is harsh talk, but hopefully provocative. I’m fully aware of the counterarguments: Who am I to judge? What am I doing that’s any better? Isn’t politics the art of the possible, not a circular firing squad quoting the nirvana fallacy? Yes, the perfect is the enemy of the good. But these are the risks and the calling of a mythologist. We cannot imagine real alternatives until we are willing to face reality. We’re in a mythological hole. We need to stop digging it deeper, and to understand how we dug it.
