So today I’m going to a #nokings protest in downtown Greenville to stand up for our democracy in the face of the authoritarianism creeping over our whole society since the re-election of Donald Trump. I’m never going to be someone who criticizes my opponents for everything that they do, but ever since Trump chose to lie about his affinity for the ideas in Project 2025 – after praising the project at the Heritage Foundation in 2022 and before embracing it in his administration in 2025 proper – we’ve been sliding more and more to a “unitary executive” idea in which the President has plenary power to do whatever the hell he wants.
Not in my country!
So we’re going to a #nokings protest in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. No Kings may be a movement, but it’s also an idea – and an ideal. For example, the No Kings Act was designed to counter the Supreme Court’s blatantly unconstitutional grant of immunity to the President – when the constitution implies exactly the opposite: “the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”
Now, Heaven knows I’m no fan of Donald Trump’s policies, but there’s a difference between disagreeing with what he wants to accomplish and opposing the methods by which he’s doing it. Sure, I don’t like many of the things that he’s doing, but that’s a normal part of the political process: you don’t always get what you want. But the actions of ICE, the roadmap of Project 2025, and Trump’s embrace of strongmen is a direct threat to the civic foundations of American democracy, and must be stopped – for everyone’s sake.
So, even if you’re a conservative supporter of Donald Trump, you should join these protests. The unitary executive theory is the path to authoritarianism, and while the powers and privileges of strongmen may be appealing to Trump and some of his followers, we’re driving dangerously close to the edge in this country, and if we slip down that cliff into dictatorship, it can take decades to get back. As Rush Limbaugh said, if you loan power to someone, you’ve got to watch them. And even if you agree with Trump, you should not give him any more power than he needs – or the next president may use that power against you.
It’s going to take a long time to get our civic ship righted; it’s time to get started.
Stay safe, but be loud!
-the Centaur
Pictured: the ACLU’s guide to your rights as a protester, and perhaps more usefully, the Human Rights Campaign’s guide to staying safe at a protest.
