Even though I was very cold and took no pictures, evidence of my attendance at NoKings3 has emerged. The best part is that my poster received very prominent placement when I accidentally left it right in front of the speakers’ podium.
My poster was there during all the speeches, so it’s in a lot of pictures on Facebook.
Despite a stressful and unnecessary trip to the Emergency Room precipitated by a lazy Physician’s Assistant and a bitchy secretary in the office of my husband’s orthopedic surgeon, I went to a sign-making event last night.
My husband has had a bit of a setback with his recovery, but I’m still planning to get out there to protest Trump on Saturday.
The second round of “No Kings” protests (“No Kings 2”) in October 2025 drew roughly 5–7 million Americans nationwide, making it one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history at about 2% of the population. Social scientists and historians often point to the so-called “3.5% rule,” which finds that sustained, nonviolent movements become very hard for governments to ignore when about 3.5% of the population participates—in the U.S., that’s roughly 11–12 million people.
So, all hands on deck! No Kings 2 was actually a lot of fun. You don’t want to sit on the sidelines for this nationwide protest. Even if you don’t have time to make a sign, getting your body out there makes a difference.
I’m planning to lead singing with a small group from a bandstand as I have done in the past. I can sing loudly and clearly into a microphone, which is the main qualification for this role. I’m not out there protesting on overpasses or at ICE facilities, but I try to contribute my singing voice, when asked. We all need to try to do something to save the Republic. 🇺🇸
Not sure I’ll have time to make a sign, but if I do, I think it’s going to say:
NO MAD KINGS
We The People…don’t want any of this:
*Abortion bans
*War
*Immigrant hate
*Measles outbreaks, FFS!
Thank goodness I found another indoor hobby besides reading and watching TV. Between the freezing cold weather and not traveling due to my husband’s knee, I needed something.
Even though I’m working with someone else’s designs at the moment, I’m definitely learning some stuff from this book/teacher.
Mark your calendars: The next mass anti-Trump NO KINGS protest will be March 28, 2026.
Here’s the message from the national leadership of Indivisible:
“Our mobilizations grew from month to month last year, exploding from Hands Off in April (3 million) to the second No Kings Day in October (7 million) — and the regime’s ongoing brutality and authoritarianism in the months since have only convinced more Americans, including many who’ve never attended a protest in their lives, to join their neighbors in the streets. Now we’ve got to keep that momentum growing, with the same creativity and dogged determination.
Everything we’ve done so far, and everything we’ll be doing in the next weeks and months, is the stuff of history. And together, we’ll write the history of how, for the second time in 250 years, we the people defied, and overcame, a tyrant.”
The only thing that’s going to stop this authoritarian/fascist train is US—the people. Minnesota showed us that all people of good conscience (left, right and center) must get involved.
It’s great to see there was huge turnout out in the major cities, especially Boston (wow), but it was interesting to protest in a small town.
I’d say we had about 400 people on the town green where I waved my sign.
We were mostly middle-aged and older white people. I chatted with a teacher, a dental hygienist, a grocery store worker, and a lot of retired people I know from church.
We were in a high-traffic area where we actually waved our individual signs at passing cars and got lots of curious stares, many supportive honks, a few middle fingers, and 2 to 5 dudes yelling “Go Trump.”
There was a small counterprotest (2 to 4 people at one end of the town green in full MAGA regalia with a Trump 2024 banner), but they were peaceful.
Oh, and there were two Jesus freaks (sorry, that’s what GenX calls them) with “Jesus IS King” signs. They were fairly young skinny white guys with beards who were there to proselytize. I overheard one lady trying to find common ground with them on the immigrant issue (“but Jesus wanted us to welcome the stranger and help the poor”) and they were having none of it. They were much more aligned with the small MAGA counterprotest.
Oh, and thanks to the great city of Portland which started the trend, there were multiple inflatable costumes. We had a giraffe, several bees and a unicorn, YAY. The unicorn was adorable.
Onward.
And honestly, FUCK DONALD TRUMP and All Who Support Him. I kept the F word off my sign (both of them: Fuck and Fascism) and did not engage with any pro-Trumpers yesterday, but I need to be the real me on my blog and I really truly hate him.
Quick update since my last post.
I fit everything I planned onto my poster. It was a tight squeeze, but I did it.
Liberal churches like mine are ready to show up on Saturday – peacefully.
XOXOXO
Mary G,
Retired Grandma
😀 🌈 🦄
What’s everyone’s plan for Saturday?
Will you turnout for the largest (hopefully) pro-democracy peaceful protests in history?
I’m going to a poster-making event Wednesday, so I went searching in my basement for poster paint. I found some! Now I just need some normal size lettering brushes. My house painting brushes are too wide.
I’m debating what to put on my actual protest poster. Here’s what I’m thinking:
NO ABORTION BANS
NO Healthcare Hike$
NO Voter Suppression
NO Assault Weapons
NO Kings in America
What’s your sign going to say?
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