No Kings But Jesus

On October 18, the day of the most recent nationwide No Kings protest, my wife and I were driving back to Chicago from our son’s cross-country meet in Rock Island, Illinois. With some online sleuthing, we found a protest in the town of Oregon. We bought posterboard and markers, made makeshift signs (mine read “George Santos + Jeffrey Epstein = Donald Trump”), and headed to Oregon’s downtown courthouse. We feared we would be two of a dozen, but the headcount, we were told, was nearly seven hundred, impressive for a town of 3,700 in a ruby-red part of the state. The mood was defiant but celebratory; people seemed to find hope in gathering with others disturbed by the increasing authoritarianism of the government. The idea that we are subject to no king is deeply American.