What's different about the No Kings protests March 28, 2026

What I saw in the TV coverage left me with the impression that not only were the numbers higher than in the prior No Kings, but that there was greater diversity in age and race, with handheld posters and banners supporting a wider range of public policy issues than we saw in the initial protest events. The difference now is that political science theory has met negative impact on people's lives after a year of Trump's second term. Trump has managed to anger more people in one year. Experience is always the best teacher. More are learning the lesson that democracy is worth fighting for. It is more than just venting protests: it is indeed solidifying into a pro-democracy movement.

An increasing number and wider variety of voters now get that without democracy, their own desires will be ignored and their voices will be suppressed, even if their views are supported by more than a 58-60% majority.  Trump, in his delusions of unbridled power, has ignored many, reneging on promises he made, from affordability to avoiding foreign wars. Furthermore, he and his appointees have been acting with cruelty and armed force, while he has been using fear with his tools of abuse of power to enact revenge and retribution. Patriotism to him is loyalty to him, and he acts like it, using vengeance, abusing power, using it against those who oppose him, suppressing their voices in the media, and limiting voting access. 

Trump, the wannabe dictator,  has confused loyalty to Trump with loyalty to America. In his view, if you are not loyal to him, you are un-American. They are not the same: loyalty to Trump is not loyalty to the oath taken by public officials and military to be loyal to the Constitution and a government of, by, and for the people that respects and abides by the rule of law.  If what Trump wants to do runs afoul of the laws conforming to the intent of the Constitution, he ignores them, defies them, or finds a workaround to what was the original intent. No staff person, no GOP-dominated legislature, stops him. He condemns judges, even those he appointed, who dare rule against his interests, subjecting them to violence and threats of violence by Trump partisans. 

By refusing to bow down to fear, over eight million responded on March 28, feeling safe in numbers nationwide by putting their bodies on the line in dispersed masses, appearing with joy, sometimes humor, and ridicule. This has become a pro-democracy movement under the unifying umbrella and realization that, without democracy, those with their own agendas and priorities would be ground in the dust by an overpowering, out-of-control, mad King wannabe dictator acting as if he were already one.

The reaction by MAGA is mostly ignoring this pro-democracy movement. They do it at their own peril, and the polls are reflecting that. We are no longer a 50-50 divided nation.  We are near 60-40.  https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/we-are-non-longer-nation-that-is.html.  

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/29/no-kings-rallies-a-red-flare-for-trump/89306058007/