No Kings Protest in Glens Falls

Centennial Circle in Glens Falls is a natural location for demonstrations and there have been many since we moved to the area in 2018. This past weekend, it was the site of a "No Kings" anti-Trump protest—one of more than 2,000 that took place across the country and which involved more than 5 million people. The protest was planned as a response to the $45 million military parade that Trump orchestrated for the same weekend (which also happened to be his birthday).

The United States has a proud military history, but also a congenital skepticism of state power that spans the political spectrum. Trump's military parade, complete with M1A1 Abrams tanks and other large military vehicles, invites comparisons to displays of force by totalitarian governments such as North Korea.

In the week prior to the parade, Trump deployed the National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles against the will of California leadership. He also gave a political speech at Fort Bragg that included typical bashing of the press, former President Biden, and other Democratic politicians. In a chilling display, the soldiers (apparently chosen for their political views and their body composition) booed on cue as if they were at a political rally. This was a shameful scene and will tarnish the U.S. military's reputation as a neutral defender of our Constitution and way of life.

The "No Kings" theme, planned long before this past week's events, turned out to be an excellent fit to the moment while also being a broad enough to draw in all members of the anti-Trump coalition. As I participated in the Glens Falls event, it was uplifting to protest with hundreds of my neighbors who also find Trump unacceptable. I believe this event could potentially reintroduce folks to political protest and reinvigorate those who were discouraged and disengaged after the 2024 election.

As for Trump's parade, it doesn't appear to have garnered the turnout that Trump hoped for (a crummy weather forecast might have played a role). Many of the vehicles included in the parade were historical and I actually would have enjoyed seeing them. However, even dozens of battle tanks were never going to rival the theatrical and grotesque military displays routinely seen in Pyongyang or Moscow. Years of war in Ukraine have revealed that even the mighty Abrams is basically an antique, a relic of a time before drone warfare. Another backdrop of the parade was escalating war between Israel and Iran, a conflict where the Trump administration appears to have been sidelined. U.S. military leadership, recently in the news for accidentally sharing war plans with a journalist via Signal, looks hapless compared to aggressive, precision strikes by Israel and intricate drone attacks by Ukraine deep inside of Russia.

The No Kings protests, organized by a coalition of over 200 organizations, shows that the anti-MAGA movement is capable of responding in a coordinated and substantive way. I noticed a broad range of signs and messages at our protest, including appeals for due-process in immigration proceedings and the sort of "resist" messages that might have been recycled from the 2017 Women's March. Protests like this are important and necessary. But a purely anti-Trump/pro-democracy approach was not successful politically in 2024. The anti-MAGA coalition will have to guard against the urge to amplify every grievance at the expense of a simpler political message that has a chance of winning over some of those skeptical or ambivalent voters who were not on the streets this weekend. But for now, it felt great to be doing something to push back and speak out.