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What naysayers don’t get about ‘No Kings,’ the biggest protest in U.S. history
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this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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What proponents don't get:
Turning out in the streets with no action doesn't actually "do" anything. Yes, it gives participants warm fuzzies, but that's about it.
I really hope organizers used the opportunity to do something productive. Register people to vote, collect volunteers for the upcoming primaries and the general election in the fall, push the red states to reject Republican ideology and candidates that are actively injuring all of us.
8,000,000 / the current US population estimate of 342,400,000 is 2.34% of the US out protesting on Saturday. That's fantastic, but it's not enough to move the needle.
Where does it need to be?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
Just short of 12 million. We are getting there.
No Kings June, 2025 - 5 million
No Kings October, 2025 - 7 million
No Kings March, 2026 - 8 million
On this track, the next one will be close to 10 million. Proponents will argue they are over, detractors will say they missed the target, but 10 million more or less.
We are at least 2-3 more protests of this size away from hitting the 3.5% thresh-hold, but it is do-able before the 2028 elections.
The one I went to had a food drive and a voter registration booth.
Also protest do something incredibly important that people don't seem to understand.
They bring people together. People who have ideas.
People who are maybe a bit more impatient, violent, and reckless than the masses.
They motivate those individuals to take more aggressive action.
Protests make such individuals feel like they have the support of the people (and they do).
Like burning down Tesla dealerships.
Like trying to burn down concentration camps.
Because if you study any history, you know that the oppressors NEVER give up their power because someone asks or even demands.
It will have to be taken. At great personal cost to those taking it.
Such people will be inspired to action from the display of protests. They will feel validated in their illegal (almost certainly) actions. And feel like it's worth the risk.
This is very important.
That's fantastic they were doing a food drive and voter registration! Let's hope they organize "turn out the vote" events leading up to the elections.
Hopefully someone is helping people get the necessary documents for voting eligibility, too.
That's very different to the one where I am. Here every leftist org shoves anyone wanting violence out and does their best to make sure everyone knows they're not a part of the movement and should be shunned. They all want to just be peaceful and believe nonviolence is the only way to get anything done.
Well. See the protest movements have to make sure that the public sees them as non violent. Especially when it's still early. And especially to keep trump from using the military against them.
Remember what happened with BLM? low public support even though it was a very valid movement.
Now firstly, I'm pretty sure a lot of those rioters were opportunists because their targets were just stores with high end goods and not legitimate targets of oppression.
But it didn't matter. The stereotype of blacks being violent was validated by these people even if they were the minority. And it very much hurt the support of the movement.
You have to warm people up to violence and vandalism. And you have to make sure it looks legitimate. Like with Luigi.
Have a few who start. Slow. Then more people will join in.
also as a slightly off this point but still on topic.
I was watching this 2 part pbs documentary about suffragettes.
Basically the historians said that they needed an extreme group and a moderate group.
Because the moderate group looked extreme without a comparison.
When the extreme suffragettes started with their more aggressive tactics like burning down buildings and houses and such, the moderates and their demands seemed very reasonable.
Unfortunately one of the other ways that suffragettes were extreme was that one half of them also wanted black Americans to be able to vote. The other did not.
Now this is definitely a shitty part of history in the U.S.
But if we consider the strategy of this division of extreme and moderate civil rights group and how effective it was, we could apply it to modern day to get compromises that actually are much better than if only the moderates were being considered.
For instance.
Iets say I want it easier for immigrants to become U.S citizens or get work visas. (I do).
But I can instead argue that u.s citizenship should be given to anyone who lives here for 1 year or longer.
The compromise might be that I get almost near what I actually want.
Anyway I'm getting off topic. But yeah.
Refusing to allow for a variety of tactics is how to make sure nothing ever changes for the better. This has been well documented.
Could you imagine the difference enlisting 10 million people to run a one day registration drive would make?
You wouldn't even necessarily need to travel far. Groups of 10-15 door to door and 10 million people could basically knock practically every door in a day.
I'll shout this from the rooftops indefinitely: American elections aren't about preference, by and large, they are about turnout. There's very little we individuals can do when the party selects (repeatedly) unpopular candidates. But increasing registration would materially impact turnout.
Like the other comment says, the "protests don't do anything" argument looks like it makes sense, but it really doesn't. Sure, it alone doesn't do anything, but it doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's a stepping stone. It leads to further organization and action. It's an easy, relatively risk free, way to get people involved, and it's easier to get them to go further after that first step is taken.
That's the thing, without further organization and action the net result was "Well that was fun!"
Yes. No fucking shit.
But the alternative to the protests is telling everyone "fuck it, we give up, go home."
You want change, then the protests are one of the things helping us get to that point.
People shitting all over the protests and trying to discourage them only helps the fucking fascists.
Maybe if those protests did not only happen half a year apart...
6 months to organize. A lot of people have to work on Saturdays.
It will be interesting to see if the general strike on 5/1 has any impact, that's on a Friday.
Have you learned how the Iron Curtain finally fell? A substantial part of the GDR was protesting. Every f-ing Monday. And they did not have Fakebook or Twatter to "organize". They just showed up.
Save the doomer BS. It's not for hyper online people like yourself. You're a minority in this.