They call it the “Trump No Kings Rally.”
That’s rich.
Because telling everyone, “We’re worried about kings,” while standing in a public square yelling at the president feels less like a warning and more like a celebration of American democracy in motion.
I get the theater.
I get the worry.
But here’s the quiet-born irony: the very thing they’re spooked about, the rise of authoritarianism, is the vehicle that’s carrying their message.
To paraphrase Tocqueville's writing about the American lane of free speech, somebody always gets to hustle indignation in the public sphere. So here we are, in Portage County, Wisc., on the morning of a protest taking on style over substance.
And it’s juicy.
“Parading Military Might” or Patriotic Pageantry?
The Portage County Democrats posted on Facebook,
“Tomorrow, our country will join Russia, China, and North Korea in the parading of military might past their Supreme Leader.”
They’re comparing our president to Kim Jong Un, Putin, and Xi; no subtlety there. The post goes on to say it’s less “honoring our military” and more “feeding the ego of a child who was given a silver spoon but was starved for love and attention.”
That’s a freight train of charges.
But here’s the catch: they’re using their platform to call on people to exercise their First Amendment rights.
They’re not complaining quietly.
They’re yelling.
And the object of their fear? “He wants to deal with them with great force.
Apparently, America is great when there is no Freedom of Speech.”
That’s a heavy accusation: shouting into the megaphone that he’ll silence you while using that megaphone themselves.
The Dressing Down of Irony
Let’s break the irony down.
They asked:
“Please show up; please don’t be complacent at a time when we need to protect our country from the danger within.”
They’re playing the old alarm bell game: danger within. Red menace. Trump is your dictator-in-waiting. But then they send the battalion of protestors out tomorrow at 11 a.m. in front of the post office, marching.
Feet on the pavement.
Signs in hand.
Freedom of speech.
That is democracy’s muscle. That is the thing they’re warning against. Which is like a heart surgeon standing outside the OR saying, “Your beating heart is a danger.” The heart is literally the thing keeping you alive.
There’s a lesson here. The alarm bell noise doesn’t drown out the sound of the protest itself.
And that sound is loud.
Why This Matters Locally and Nationally
In Stevens Point and over 2,000 cities nationwide, Americans are turning out to check executive power.
These aren’t fringe rallies.
These are the kinds of rallies that mean something.
John Adams wrote in 1776 that “the essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rival powers.”
This isn’t fringe. It’s the engine of republican governance.
You push back, and you place a check. And yes, it’s often messy. Yes, you sometimes mock the theatricality at the center. But it’s better than the alternative.
The personal accusation from Democrats that Trump is a “supreme leader” is clownish. But it also shows they recognize the stakes. The rhetorical battle is over whether we are allowed to protest, dissent, and question.
They want customers to care. They want images.
And they get both.
The Supreme Irony in Portage County
Here’s the crux of the Facebook post. They’re accusing Trump of being a would‑be king, suppressing freedom, and brutalizing dissent.
Yet they’re using free speech, marching in the streets, organizing, posting on Facebook, and begging people to express themselves.
That contradiction is the proof of concept for why Madison, Stevens Point, and DC exist in the first place. The system works when people scream from the margins. That’s the red‑white‑blue Birmingham jail.
It’s a simple yet powerful principle: use your rights to protect your rights.
And it’s beautiful in its broken‑glass chaos.
Culture Talk: Fear or Flourish?
These protests will not go viral, like a war in Gaza or a school shooting.
They don’t command nonstop coverage.
They don’t get sleeve‑slaps from CNN anchors.
However, they gain momentum in a grassroots fashion. Facebook pages, X threads, small talk gas pumps, break room water coolers, that’s where the real cultural valve is opened.
A clip of 100 people with signs on local TV news does more than an anchor’s lecture.
And notice how the Democrats called out, “No protesters at his party.” You see that rhetorical posture?
That’s the exact tone you hear in movements that prefer order over chaos, a kind of quiet technocracy that fears the messy art of people power. They want the protest, but only from their perspective.
That’s the cultural double standard we should call out.
So is it Mocking the Fear or Mourning the Divide?
Let it be both.
We can mock the hysteria of “we must save democracy by calling our best constitutional guarantee, speech, insidious.”
At the same time, we mourn how divided we are and how turned inward we’ve become.
That matters.
This is more than a protest. It’s a snapshot of our national self‑image collapsing onto itself.
What Saturday Will Show
When 11:00 a.m. hits on Saturday, the Post Office plaza in Stevens Point will either be a lesson in civic might or another echo chamber of gripes.
Either hundreds show or dozens limp.
Both speak to health.
If hundreds show, that is democratic life in motion. If dozens show, it still speaks to health. Because the system doesn’t demand success, it demands the attempt.
Final Thoughts
This really is a Rorschach test.
If you think calling Trump a would‑be king while using democracy to protest counts as hypocrisy, you’ve missed the point.
If you think speaking up is dangerous, you’re only confirming why we must keep speaking up.
The flag fly‑over tomorrow ain’t authoritarian. It’s a message: if you think parades are kingly, try joining one. And if you believe threats of force will deter that, you’ll end up with an empty parade ground and a house echoing silence.
