What was the message in the No Kings protest yesterday in Benzonia, Michigan? A thousand people from a rural one-stoplight county had fun delivering it: Americans possess a stubborn resilience. It won’t be stomped out by a savagely authoritarian president, his aides, and the irresponsible cult of MAGA rubberstampers in Congress.
The October 18 opposition event was by far the largest of the three protests held in Benzie County this year. Like the others, it was an inspiring day of recognition that real American principles of free speech, liberty, equality, and decency are under assault as never before. It was a display of common awareness that the most powerful tool to reject the attack is peaceful protest.
Clearly, the opposition protests are making a difference. Trump’s White House spokesman on Saturday offered the most revealing tell. “Who cares?” she bleated. Answer: America cares. It really cares and that care is swelling.
Traverse City’s crowd alone numbered 8,000, maybe more more by some accounts. Tik Tok, the best source of coverage, featured authentic videos of huge protests from every corner of the country. In all of America’s biggest cities. In unexpected places, like Little Rock, Arkansas and Lexington, KY. In all, the No Kings protests were attended by an estimated 7 million people.
The No Kings protest here in Benzie County made me feel a bit more confident about our prospects. I disagree with the conclusion of one of our friends who moved through the crowd to offer his personal analysis that the struggle was like a football game. “Trump is winning,” he shouted.
I did agree with the rest of what he said. “We can’t give up. We have to fight.”
I’m loathe to offer any predictions. Last year’s election was a personal journey in how far I could stray from expected outcomes. So I’m reluctant to offer any gaze into the future.
But I will note that the real power of peaceful protest will be revealed when Americans gather by the millions in unscheduled, improvised, spontaneous protest against the tyrants in Washington trying to overthrow our American way. Millions need to show up in the capital to shut down the authoritarian rule that Trump is intent on normalizing in our nation.
My sense is that a protest of that magnitude is coming. It’s the winning message that the people who love America need to send and that the White House, Congress, and their supporters will reluctantly receive.
— Keith Schneider
Scenes from the protest in Benzonia
