Republicans Know How Vulnerable Trump Is. The Attacks on No Kings Prove It. (Jamelle Bouie, New York Times column, October 18, 2025)r)Kings Prove It. Oct. 18, 2025 At a demonstration, people holding up small American flags and a sign that reads, “No crown, no cult.” Credit...Ariana Gomez for The New York Times Share full article633 Jamelle Bouie By Jamelle Bouie Opinion Columnist You’re reading the Jamelle Bouie newsletter, for Times subscribers only. Historical context for present-day events. Get it in your inbox. Millions of Americans are gathering across the country on Saturday — including in Washington, D.C. — to protest the monarchical pretensions of the Trump administration. In the four months since the last No Kings protests, President Trump has gone even further down the road of claiming plenary authority over the executive branch. He has continued to claim the right to fire anyone he pleases, to cancel or spend federal funds outside congressional appropriations and to launch lethal strikes against foreign civilians without explicit authorization from Congress or evidence of imminent threat to Americans. The president has tried to leverage the power of the federal government against his political opponents and legal adversaries, sending the Justice Department after James Comey, a former director of the F.B.I.; Attorney General Letitia James of New York; and one of Trump’s former national security advisers, John Bolton. Trump also wants to use the I.R.S. and other agencies to harass liberal donors and left-leaning foundations. He has even tried to revive lèse-majesté, threatening critics of his administration and its allies with legal and political sanctions. With Trump, it’s as if you crossed the bitter paranoia of Richard Nixon with the absolutist ideology of Charles I. Today’s protesters, in other words, are standing for nothing less than the anti-royal and republican foundations of American democracy. For the leaders of the Republican Party, however, these aren’t citizens exercising their fundamental right to dissent but subversives out to undermine the fabric of the nation. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said of a planned No Kings protest that it would be a “big ‘I hate America’ rally” of “far-left activist groups.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana also called No Kings a “hate America rally.” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he expected to see “Hamas supporters,” “antifa types” and “Marxists” on “full display.” People, he said without a touch of irony, “who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.” And all of this is of a piece with the recent declaration by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, that “the Democrat Party’s main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.” This, I should think, is news to the Democratic Party. In any case, what explains the Republican Party’s posture toward these protests, beyond a desire to delegitimize their political opponents? I have two main thoughts. First, there is the party’s precarious political position in the midst of a government shutdown. Although no one has escaped responsibility for the shutdown, a higher percentage Americans blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than they do Democrats, according to a recent poll conducted for The Associated Press. More Americans than not also want Congress to extend enhanced federal tax credits for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which has put Republican politicians on the defensive. In demonizing the No Kings protests, Republicans might simply be trying to turn the public’s attention somewhere else. Second, much of Trump’s effort to extend his authority across the whole of American society depends on more or less voluntary compliance from civil society and various institutions outside of government. And that, in turn, rests on the idea that Trump is the authentic tribune of the people. Reject Trump, and you reject the people, who may then turn on your business or your university or, well, you. Nationwide protests comprised of millions of people are a direct rebuke to the president’s narrative. They send a signal to the most disconnected parts of the American public that the president is far from as popular as he says he is, and they send a clear warning to those institutions under pressure from the administration: Bend the knee and lose our business and support. To the degree that major protests could undermine the administration’s ability to exert political authority, it makes a whole lot of sense for Republicans and the White House to spend their energy attacking the No Kings movement. And this, I think, should serve as an important reminder to opponents of the administration that for all its boasts and bluster, it knows as well as anyone that the president is unpopular and that his administration is vulnerable.

Nearly seven million Americans protested at thousands of NO KINGS marches across our Nation on October 18, 2025, including some 4000 of us at the Castillo de San Marcos.  I have asked SAPD to identify the ownership of the poorly-identified "POLICE" Armored Personnel Carrier that I observed on the grounds of our Castillo deSan Marcos National Monument adjoining Avenida Menendez at or about 8:40 AM on October 18, 2025.  From The New York Times: 

OPINION

Republicans Know How Vulnerable Trump Is. The Attacks on No Kings Prove It.

Oct. 18, 2025

Credit...Ariana Gomez for The New York Times

By Jamelle Bouie

Opinion Columnist

You’re reading the Jamelle Bouie newsletter, for Times subscribers only.  Historical context for present-day events. 

Millions of Americans are gathering across the country on Saturday — including in Washington, D.C. — to protest the monarchical pretensions of the Trump administration.

In the four months since the last No Kings protests, President Trump has gone even further down the road of claiming plenary authority over the executive branch. He has continued to claim the right to fire anyone he pleases, to cancel or spend federal funds outside congressional appropriations and to launch lethal strikes against foreign civilians without explicit authorization from Congress or evidence of imminent threat to Americans.

The president has tried to leverage the power of the federal government against his political opponents and legal adversaries, sending the Justice Department after James Comey, a former director of the F.B.I.; Attorney General Letitia James of New York; and one of Trump’s former national security advisers, John Bolton. Trump also wants to use the I.R.S. and other agencies to harass liberal donors and left-leaning foundations. He has even tried to revive lèse-majesté, threatening critics of his administration and its allies with legal and political sanctions. With Trump, it’s as if you crossed the bitter paranoia of Richard Nixon with the absolutist ideology of Charles I.

Today’s protesters, in other words, are standing for nothing less than the anti-royal and republican foundations of American democracy. For the leaders of the Republican Party, however, these aren’t citizens exercising their fundamental right to dissent but subversives out to undermine the fabric of the nation.

Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said of a planned No Kings protest that it would be a “big ‘I hate America’ rally” of “far-left activist groups.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana also called No Kings a “hate America rally.” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he expected to see “Hamas supporters,” “antifa types” and “Marxists” on “full display.” People, he said without a touch of irony, “who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.” And all of this is of a piece with the recent declaration by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, that “the Democrat Party’s main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.”

This, I should think, is news to the Democratic Party.

In any case, what explains the Republican Party’s posture toward these protests, beyond a desire to delegitimize their political opponents? I have two main thoughts.

First, there is the party’s precarious political position in the midst of a government shutdown. Although no one has escaped responsibility for the shutdown, a higher percentage Americans blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than they do Democrats, according to a recent poll conducted for The Associated Press. More Americans than not also want Congress to extend enhanced federal tax credits for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which has put Republican politicians on the defensive. In demonizing the No Kings protests, Republicans might simply be trying to turn the public’s attention somewhere else.

Second, much of Trump’s effort to extend his authority across the whole of American society depends on more or less voluntary compliance from civil society and various institutions outside of government. And that, in turn, rests on the idea that Trump is the authentic tribune of the people. Reject Trump, and you reject the people, who may then turn on your business or your university or, well, you.

Nationwide protests comprised of millions of people are a direct rebuke to the president’s narrative. They send a signal to the most disconnected parts of the American public that the president is far from as popular as he says he is, and they send a clear warning to those institutions under pressure from the administration: Bend the knee and lose our business and support. 

To the degree that major protests could undermine the administration’s ability to exert political authority, it makes a whole lot of sense for Republicans and the White House to spend their energy attacking the No Kings movement.

And this, I think, should serve as an important reminder to opponents of the administration that for all its boasts and bluster, it knows as well as anyone that the president is unpopular and that his administration is vulnerable.