Having attended the first two No Kings rallies in Colorado, I joined my wife to attend the No Kings III protest in Columbia, Missouri, today. The turnout was excellent but, in my opinion, the format could have been more effective.
During the first half of the rally, participants gathered to mill about, greet each other and listen to a series of speeches and musical performances. In other words, we were reinforcing each other's commitment to dislodge Trump and his Republican apologists from office; the phrase "preaching to the choir" repeatedly came to mind. When finally released to disperse along Broadway, in downtown Columbia, our varied messages were directed toward passersby, hopefully encouraging them to consider the varied negative consequences of Trump's second term. Of course, signs referred to the Iran War, the atrocities of Ice thugs, the Epstein saga, the Administration's anti-science stance, Trump's disastrous economic policies and malignant narcissism and the failure of Republicans to reign him in and to protect our Democracy.
Despite the criticism expressed above, it was an honor to participate in No Kings III. Hopefully, other rallies will follow until the scourge of Trumpism is but a fading nightmare in America.
