All across the country, huge crowds showed up in big cities and small towns to affirm their commitment to the founding principle that in America, there are, “No Kings.”

Here in Jamestown, I joined hundreds of local residents gathered in Dow Park Saturday to express our alarm at the ongoing threats to Democracy posed by Donald Trump. Even though many are feeling great anxiety about the direction of the country, the mood was upbeat. We listened to speeches before lining up along 6th and Washington streets with our handmade signs and funny costumes. The reaction we got from people driving by was overwhelmingly positive. Most honked their horns and cheered.

In the days leading up to the nationwide event, the administration and Republican members of Congress made repeated claims that No Kings protests would be “Hate America” rallies full of “radical, left lunatics” and members of Antifa. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the entire Democratic Party as “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.” Despite this inflammatory rhetoric and the danger it posed to those participating, the rallies remained entirely peaceful. More than 7 million Americans of all ages, political affiliations, shades of skin color, religions, sexual orientation and those with disabilities, came together in a show of unity and resistance.

As Trump attempts to assemble the largest and best-funded secret police force in the world in order to wage war on “The Enemy Within,” there is reason to fear that just taking part in such protests makes us potential targets. But we will not stay silent while he hacks away at our most basic rights: bodily autonomy, freedom of speech, freedom to read, follow science and worship as we choose. We will not stand silently by as he gives fossil fuel companies unfettered access to our public lands, while calling climate change a “hoax”. We will never accept as “normal” the degree to which Trump and his family are profiting financially from their position of power. We can not allow “welfare for billionaires” in the form of massive tax breaks and backroom deals, while the rest of us are forced to give up basic necessities of food, shelter, and healthcare.

Trump has denied repeatedly that he wants to be king. But right after the No Kings protests he posted an AI generated video in which he wears a crown while flying a military jet over crowds of Americans, dumping feces on them.

Now, as he literally takes a wrecking ball to the White House to build a gaudy ballroom that will stand as a monument to his vanity and greed, we can all see that this is a man who is absolutely unfit to govern as president, much less as king.

Rachel Brown is a Greenhurst resident.