If you’re angry and you know it, wave a sign

Judging by the letters to the editor we’ve received, it appears some participants in last Saturday’s protest in Cedar Rapids were disappointed that The Gazette did not exclusively feature wall-to-wall coverage of the gathering at Eighth Avenue and Second Street SE last weekend.

From where I’m sitting, the Cedar Rapids event in particular was large in volume but lacking in substance.

Protesters lined a long section of Eighth Avenue as part of the nationwide “No Kings” protest spearheaded by Indivisible, a national organization that formed after President Donald Trump’s first win and got a nice infusion of purpose (and money) after his second win in 2024.

The same group was behind the previous “No Kings” nationwide events on June 14, the same day Trump held a military parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. It was also his birthday.

Ironically, Trump understands quite well he’s not a king.

“I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all,” the president told reporters on Oct. 19 aboard Air Force One.

‘No Kings?’ No problem

To understand what makes Trump not a king, let’s go back 250 years ago to the last time Americans were subjects of a monarchy.

While fighting a war to get away from it, we put our intent in writing, in document called the Declaration of Independence in which the facts about an actual king's actual tyranny were submitted to a candid world.

Fifty-six men signed it, mutually pledging their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the cause of American independence. As a result, some were imprisoned, others had their homes burned down or confiscated, some were wounded in combat or taken prisoner. Several died before the war’s end.

Suffice it to say, they paid a lot more to stand up to a tyrant than whatever last weekend's protesters spent on poster board and thick Sharpies at the Hobby Lobby they’re technically supposed to boycott.

Anyway, we won the war, formed a country, and created a Constitution. It only earned the necessary support for ratification on the promise of forthcoming amendments to address individual rights and freedoms.

And so we got the Bill of Rights, which guarantees that we can worship the way we choose, write the things we want to write, say the things we want to say and say them collectively in public.

We even get to complain about the government — to their faces — without getting punished for it. these are all things Americans’ last king despised, and which tyrants don’t allow.

Every time I’m in Washington, D.C., I go to the National Archives museum to visit my friends the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I like to see them up close whenever I can and take a few moments each time to ponder how damn lucky we are in this country of no kings, regardless of who is running the government.

If you find yourself in the area, you should pop in and do the same.

Of course, that requires reopening the government, every attempt at which has so far been blocked by Democrat senators — a strategy supported by Indivisible leaders and most of its members.

‘No Kings?’ Not exactly

Organizers of last Saturday’s deal in cities overseas opted to shy away from the phrase "No Kings" and pivot to "No Tyrants.“ No need to send a mixed message in any of the 43 sovereign nations where a monarch still is the head of state.

But the message was never about kings or crowns or whether they’re bad.

Their real message is “We hate Trump.”

And that's fine. But it's also not very original. We’ve been hearing that for over a decade now.

Neither is the act of waving signs at Eighth Avenue and Second Street in Cedar Rapids. Protesters already gather twice a week to do the same thing at the exact same spot. I’m sure they’d love for some of you to make a sign and join them on Tuesdays at noon and on Fridays at 11:30 a.m.

(Yes, it’s mostly a retired crowd.)

A relatively underwhelming event in Cedar Rapids

The only thing that really made last Saturday’s sign-waving different from the other twice-weekly Trump-hate lovefests was that it was publicized by a national organizing force that put a hell of a lot of effort (and cash) into putting out the word about the once-in-a-generation event that would be exactly like the one they had four months earlier.

That meant a lot more people were there, although numbers such as 4,000 and 5,000 cited in some letters to the editor seem a tad ... generous.

Yet despite all those extra people, the agenda was the same: stand there and wave a sign. And chant some clever slogans, maybe even through a bullhorn that not everyone is going to hear.

I take it none of them read famed political organizer Saul Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals.

Rule Number Seven: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

Whoever organized things last Saturday was apparently more focused on Rule Number Six: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. And leftist baby boomers — who still made up the vast majority of participants last Saturday despite the swell in numbers — enjoy waving signs.

Given the national momentum behind the cause and the anticipated large turnout, someone could have organized quite a rally in Cedar Rapids. There’s a nice handful of Democrat politicians right now hoping to snatch seats from Republicans who surely would have jumped at the chance to make a single, stirring pitch to a (purported) crowd of 5,000 people instead of roaming the sidewalks engaging them one-at-a-time.

What last Saturday’s participants got was nothing more than a parade in reverse. Five-thousand (purported) exhibits were perched at the side of the road with signs and displays and costumes. Spectators, in their vehicles, took all of 30 seconds to drive by. The only candy was butterscotches from a few grandmas’ purses that were probably in there since the first Trump administration.

But there was no rally. No powerful speeches to inspire the crowd. No message, other than “We hate Trump.” No call to action, other than “Honk if you hate Trump.”

I've spent years wishing that conservative Republicans — especially in Linn County, where the local party leadership is a joke — were as organized and motivated as liberal Democrats. I'm not used to the blue team being the one to waste its human and creative capital like that.

Protests become noise

To the majority of Americans who don't loathe Trump with every fiber of their being, it’s nothing more than white noise.

Those are bitter pills to swallow for those who were there last Saturday: not just the fact that their protests are falling on deaf ears, but that a majority of their fellow Americans don’t hate the President and the GOP as they do.

Yet it shouldn’t be difficult to fathom. Trump won this state’s electoral votes three times, most recently by over 13 points. He also carried every swing state, and for the first time last year, the popular vote.

So the man is no king. He isn’t coronated, he is elected; chosen by voters through a codified process that’s even older than Chuck Grassley.

Trump was elected on promises that are being kept: securing the southern border, cracking down on illegal immigration, ending the war in Gaza and reducing energy costs, to name a few. The people gathered on Eighth Avenue aren’t happy about that, but much of the rest of America gives it a thumbs-up.

The timing of last Saturday’s event wasn’t exactly fortuitous. Indivisible leaders probably didn’t foresee when scheduling it that it would be happening in the midst of a government shutdown that Democrats keep voting to extend.

Or that it would be on the heels of five straight months during which zero foreign nationals who entered illegally were released into the country. Or that gas prices would keep falling to lower than anything during the previous four years.

And they likely didn’t expect that mere days before the big show, Trump would achieve a massive foreign policy win that resulted in historic ceasefire deal and the return of the last living hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Just to remind a few folks: That’s a very good thing.

In the wake of all that, “Trump is a Dick Tater” and “Abolish ICE” and the hysterical Nazi references ring especially hollow to most who don’t already hate the guy.

And as we know, a lot of people do. Millions of them assembled in cities across the nation last week, including many in Cedar Rapids. It was a nice opportunity for the politically angry to experience the joy of being angry together.

If they left feeling refreshed and recharged and full of warm fuzzies, more power to ‘em.

If they think that big political and policy wins are achieved by boomers waving signs and shouting slogans, I don’t see a need to suggest they stop.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com