Americans woke up to news that radical left groups have organized yet another nationwide stunt called “No Kings” for October 18, 2025, with organizers bragging about more than 2,500 planned demonstrations across the country. This is not grassroots patriotism — it’s a coordinated, well-funded campaign by the same networks that spend every election cycle trying to tear down our institutions and delegitimize conservative leaders.
The coalition behind this mobilization reads like a who’s who of the progressive activist ecosystem: Indivisible, the ACLU, MoveOn, unions and other left-wing groups that have made mass disruption their stock in trade. They claim peaceful intent and pageantry, but organizers and sympathetic outlets are already training protesters and pushing tactics designed to maximize optics rather than calm civic discourse.
Republican leaders are right to sound the alarm; Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP officials have fairly described elements of this movement as unpatriotic and beholden to far-left agendas. Governors and law-enforcement officials in multiple states have had to put National Guard and state resources on standby because these demonstrations risk spiraling into chaos — responsibility matters when you plan millions of people in dozens of cities.
Make no mistake: this is happening against the backdrop of a bitter government shutdown and a relentless campaign by Democrats to weaponize every protest for political gain. Rather than govern or negotiate, too many in the Democratic coalition prefer theatrical outrage and street theatrics to achieve policy goals they can’t win at the ballot box.
Conservatives owe it to hard-working Americans to call out the double standard: when patriotic citizens rally for law and order or for lower taxes they’re smeared, but when leftist mobs gather they’re celebrated as defenders of “democracy.” Meanwhile, President Trump and his allies point to concrete achievements on peace and security and reject the caricature of authoritarianism Democrats are peddling as a political cudgel.
Patriots should show up differently: not to mimic the left’s chaos, but to defend the rule of law, protect peaceful assemblies, and insist that real change happens through ballots and the courts — not theatrical national days of rage. This moment is a test of resolve for every American who believes in our Constitution and the proper boundaries of protest; stand firm, speak truth, and don’t let political theater drown out the work of governing.
