I am not your stereotypical No Kings protester. I’m a pro-life, Christian conservative who hates Hamas with a fury. I rolled my eyes at what little of Bernie’s speech I heard: the usual pro-abortion, class warfare talking points that had nothing to do with the point of a “No Kings” protest.
I attended the protest because of what Republicans taught me.
And just so we’re clear: they taught me well. Politics were discussed in my home as far back as I can remember. As a little girl, I knew that Jimmy Carter had been a good man but a terrible president. I knew that Ronald Reagan was a hero who had stood up to communists and won. I looked forward to listening to Rush Limbaugh after school; I read his books, and chose one of them to write a book report on in 8th grade. I doodled cartoons mocking Bill Clinton for his lies and adultery when I got bored in class. I swelled with patriotic pride when George W. Bush threw out that beautiful opening pitch at Yankee Stadium after 9/11. I hated the overwhelming bias in media coverage of Barack Obama, the fawning adoration that led to his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for reasons that are still unclear to me, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), whose ramifications are still negatively affecting my family’s finances to this day.
Republicans taught me that the Constitution is sacred, second only to the Bible. That the foundational American value of freedom sets us apart from the rest of the world. That liberty is worth dying for. That the federal government has grown too large and too powerful, and states’ rights are being infringed. That our government serves the American people; it derives its power from the consent of the governed. That our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. That free markets are the bedrock on which a thriving economy is built. That America is a melting pot, Reagan’s shining city on a hill, whose doors are open to anyone who has the will and the heart to get here, “a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.”
That’s what Republicans taught me.
Last week, elected Republicans went hard with their agreed-upon talking points: No Kings protesters hate America; they’re violent; they’re paid. (All of which were comically, embarrassingly wrong.) But I’ve seen many regular Republicans respond to No Kings protesters like me with pats on the head: “Sillies! We have a president, not a king. He isn’t a king and he doesn’t want to be a king.”
Meanwhile, the president and his administration:
I know my Republican friends will say all these memes—including the video he posted on No Kings day of himself in a crown, flying a jet emblazoned “King Trump,” dumping diarrhea on Americans—are just Trump being Trump, trolling. Setting aside the humiliation he’s inflicting on the entire nation with this crass, juvenile behavior utterly unworthy of the office, he is doing more than trolling.
He means it. He sees the presidency as kingship.
“Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.” -Donald Trump, July 23, 2019
“I have the ultimate authority…When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s gotta be. It’s total.” -Donald Trump, April 13, 2020
“More importantly, Article II allows me to do whatever I want.” -Donald Trump, June 16, 2019
“I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the President of the United States.” -Donald Trump, August 26, 2025
My friends on the right, just take a moment to imagine how you’d have reacted if Barack Obama had said any of this. Be honest, if you can.
If you can’t, I’ll tell you how you’d have reacted: with rage. You’d have been the ones marching in the streets, decrying the wannabe tyrant in the White House. And you’d have been completely justified, because obviously the president can’t just do whatever he wants. Of course the Constitution doesn’t give one man total authority. We all know this. You taught me this.
But if his authoritarianism stopped with words, we wouldn’t have seen 2% of the entire population of the country take to the streets this weekend to protest.
This man publicly called for terminating the Constitution to overturn an election and put himself back in power.
Republicans, you raised me. You are the reason I am a passionate supporter of the US Constitution.
When I watched so many of you excuse this, it blew my mind and broke my heart. Never could I have believed anyone who called themselves conservative would support a man who put himself above the Constitution.
If you excuse this, you are not a conservative. You can still be a Republican today, thanks to the way the party has twisted itself, but you are not a conservative. You’re certainly not a patriot. I know this because you taught me.
In case you think I’m still making a big deal out of nothing but words, this president has repeatedly usurped powers explicitly invested in the legislative branch by the Constitution. He has withheld Congressionally-approved funds in violation of the law, drawing bipartisan criticism and numerous lawsuits.
He signed an executive order (currently blocked nationwide by federal courts) attempting to end birthright citizenship. In other words, he thought he could singlehandedly cancel part of the Constitution.
He thought he could singlehandedly cancel part of the United States Constitution.
He thought he could singlehandedly cancel part of the United States Constitution.
He has openly defied federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court. Republicans, you taught me about our magnificent and time-tested system of checks and balances—you, and Schoolhouse Rock. I remember. Do you?
This president declared a non-existent emergency to usurp Congress’s explicit power to regulate foreign trade so he could tax Americans with heavy, damaging tariffs on imports, all while lying that foreign countries pay them. All because, incidentally, he believes “Trade is bad.”
You taught me that free markets are one of the pillars of conservatism. But more importantly, he’s usurping power the Constitution does not give to the president. Republicans, you would not put up with this from a Democrat. You wouldn’t.
But these all pale in comparison to sending armed military into American cities over the objections of those states’ governors. This is every small-government conservative’s worst nightmare. This is what you told me we needed the Second Amendment to prevent. If Obama had done this, you would have lost your minds. You would have demanded his immediate impeachment and removal from office. You would have been gearing up for civil war. Because it’s unthinkable. It’s un-American. It’s tyrannical. It’s illegal. I cannot believe the Republican Party that raised me has fallen so far, into servile submission to authoritarianism, just because it’s directed at Americans they disagree with.
At least I’m not completely alone:
“I don’t know how any limited government conservative can reconcile supporting that [deploying the National Guard to deal with local crime] with a limited government ideology.” -Senator Thom Tillis (R)
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, chair of the National Governors Association (R) on Trump sending National Guard troops across state lines: “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”
This last one doesn’t really count, since Noem is now the Secretary of Homeland Security for Trump, and it turns out she’s actually a big fan of federalizing the National Guard in direct attacks on states’ rights, as long as the President is a Republican, and he’s siccing troops on blue states. But it’s useful because it so neatly illustrates the utter hypocrisy of my former party.
Republicans, I proudly participated in the No Kings protests because this President is acting like a king. He’s not even trying to hide it; he’s proud of it. I protested him because of everything you taught me.
You raised me right.
Wilderness Dispatch 