October 19, 2025
Americans came out in huge numbers yesterday all across the nation to restate the founding principal of the USA: No Kings. The American Revolution was fought against one and its successful outcome led to the establishment of a democratic republic in which the consent of the governed was foundational. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights make clear that the temporary occupant of the Presidency must respect the Rule of Law and limits on their power to act unilaterally.
Its current occupant has ‘joked’ about being a king and a dictator, and he’s suggested he might defy the explicit Constitutional ban on a third presidential term. He’s carried on in office much like a monarch would do, ignoring the distinction between his personal interests and those of the country. He’s denied people the due process they’re entitled to under our laws, and dispatched heavily armed, masked officers to our cities where they’ve abducted and disappeared people, including American citizens, in a manner more appropriate to a dictatorship than to the USA. He’s decimated our Public Health infrastructure, replacing subject matter experts with political hacks and threatened big law firms, media and news organizations, and venerable institutes of higher learning to tow the party line or face reprisals. These were just some of the issues that brought out millions of No Kings activists yesterday from California to the New York island.
Here in NYC the mobilization began at the Crossroads at 11AM. Times Square quickly filled up as more and more marchers arrived before heading down 7th Avenue toward West 14th Street. Along the way there was a relatively light deployment of NYPD officers, far fewer than typically turn out for the Pride and Village Halloween parades. There were none of the sidestreet bike rack barrier mazes they usually set up that turn every street crossing into a block-long detour. In fact, unlike those parades, there were very few bystanders watching the mach. Rather, the avenue was filled curb to curb as far as the eye could see.
Walking up towards Times Square from 14th Street, the Gazette observed the march for more than 2 hours without ever reaching the end of it. It did finally wrap up when the last marchers reached 14th Street a little after 2:30. According to NYPD the march drew more than 100,000. The vibe was upbeat and even somewhat lighthearted overall. Despite the seriousness of the cause, many of the protest signs leaned toward humor and there were a good number of people sporting inflatable animal costumes in an apparent homage to the Portland, OR protests against ICE. Predictions of violent confrontations of America hating ANTIFA terrorists voiced by assorted MAGA functionaries ahead of this mobilization fell particularly flat in the face of reality on the ground. Rather, there were hundreds of American flags held high by the marchers. Further, no evidence of the baseless “paid protesters’ conspiracy theory has emerged.
Here are a few particpants telling the Gazette why they came out for #No Kings NYC:
On his Social Media site overnight, the President shared an AI video depicting ‘Top Gun’ Trump wearing a gold crown and taking a high altitude diarrhea dump on the nonviolent No Kings protesters in Times Square. You can see it for yourself right here.
