The so-called “No Kings” protests took place around the country on October 18th. Media have worked triple-overtime to assure us that 7 million people took part – a “statistic” that they are offering no proof of – and can’t.
But what were they protesting? That Donald Trump has overtaken our democracy and installed himself as our king? That seems to be the key premise they are pushing.
Is it true?
Glenn Harlan Reynolds, writing for the New York Post, doesn’t think so. His just-published commentary makes that point very clearly and, in my opinion, very convincingly.
Here is how it begins – and please pay attention to the last part, which I have put in bold print:
Watching the “No Kings” protests, a friend commented: “Democracy dies when the other side wins. Another rule they wouldn’t want to have turned back on them.”
That does seem to be the animating spirit not only of the various marches around the country, but of the entire anti-Trump resistance.
President Donald Trump’s crime isn’t anything he’s said, or done, or even believed (which, all too often, anti-Trump protesters can’t cogently describe anyway).
It’s that he won, and he represents the other team.
As Batya Ungar-Sargon put it: “The ‘No Kings’ rally isn’t protesting Trump but rather the agenda the majority of America voted for. The Left isn’t protesting a king but their fellow Americans. They aren’t standing up for democracy — they are protesting against it.”
This is entirely correct. Trump isn’t a king; he’s a popularly elected president who won in something of a landslide, delivering exactly the policies that he promised the electorate.
Isn’t that true?
You can argue about the landslide claim (Trump won an electoral landslide, not a popular vote landslide). But what is unarguable is that Trump’s agenda is unchanged from what he promised on the campaign trail.
Whatever else you think of him, Trump is not some presto-chango president conveniently forgetting what he promised after being elected. Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do, thus voters are getting exactly what they voted for.
It seems to me that this is what happens in a democracy. Not a kingship.
Agree? Disagree? Your call.
