ANGELO LYNN

The signs told much of the No Kings story.

“No Fascism, No Kings.” “In this Nation the Law is King!” “Stop Ice, Deport Ignorance.” “Resist.” “No America without the Rule of Law.” “Fox News Lies To Us.” “Hands Off Our Freedom.” “Democracy not Dictatorship.”

Over 40,000 Vermonters took part in dozens of events statewide, with 16,000 gathered at the largest demonstration on Burlington’s lakefront. Millions more participated in events in every state in America.

The theme was uniform. Trump’s dramatic, and often illegal and unconstitutional, efforts to consolidate power in the past five months are a threat to the nation’s democracy. Trump has disobeyed, disregarded or delayed court orders, even from the Supreme Court, with blithe contempt for any restriction on his executive power. Moreover, his callous disregard for the lives of Americans he threatens to deport, insult, dismiss or mock, is shockingly cruel — unlike any president’s behavior in our lifetimes.

His orders to have hooded and masked law enforcement officers arrest people off the streets and deport them, sometimes handcuffing frightened women and shoving them forcefully into unmarked cars and hauling them off to isolated prisons without due process, is the stuff of third world dictators. Americans are shocked at the country we’ve become under Trump’s misguided, and increasingly unpopular, second term.

The signs made their disgust for Trump and his administration plain.

“We the People Say, Oh Hell No!” “Trump is a National Security Threat.” “Stop the Fascist Coup, Stand Up for Democracy.” “Hands off Farmworkers.” “Democracy Not Hypocrisy!” “No Kings, No Rapists, No Traitors, No Felons.” “Democracy Doesn’t Fear Protests, Dictators Do.”

“Cruelty, Lies, Fear, Hate — We Oppose the Trump MAGA State.” And a personal favorite: “No Kings, No Idiots Either.”

Importantly, the No Kings rally was much more than being opposed to Trump. It celebrated Americans rallying around the nation’s democratic idealism and the novel idea (at the time) of a country being ruled “of the people, by the people and for the people.” That’s the memorable phrase from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in which Lincoln articulates the core principles of democracy — emphasizing that the government gets its power from the consent and participation of the people, not from the top down.

Throughout Addison County and Vermont, and in most states, the protests celebrated that idea — almost as earnestly as cheerleaders yelling for the home team.

“Liberty & Justice for All” read one sign on the outskirts of Middlebury (along Route 7 where the car caravan from the Mass border to Canada would later go by). “We the People — It’s Our Country” proclaimed another. “Help Over Hate.” “USA Rejecting Kings Since 1776.” “We’re Not Going to be Silent.” “We Shall Overcome.”

Up and down the state, the protest was marked by friends and neighbors standing up for their sincere belief in democracy, and united in their willingness to rebel against a leader, and the MAGA faithful, intent on taking freedoms away from the individual.

Indeed, more conservative voters who have long argued against Big Brother government and for state’s rights and the rights of the individual over big government (traditionally a Republican theme), should revisit what today’s Republican Party stands for. From voting restrictions to a loss of abortion rights to restrictions on being free to marry whomever you please, Trump has is treading on state rights. Worse, some Americans now can’t live without fear of unreasonable searches, or being arrested without the right to defend yourself. Trump has turned the states rights movement on its head, and is making the Republican Party like the Nazi Party once was: a front for Hitler to take control of Germany and saddle that once great power with a tragic and horrific legacy.

My favorite sign that addressed that issue read: “My Grandpa Didn’t Fight Nazis So We’d Become Them.”

The rally was also unique in its almost cheerful sense of humor. “Democracy is Not a Game… No Thrones.” “Impeach the Peach N.O.W.!” “Crowns Belong in Fairy Tales, not in the Land of the Free.” “ICE our Drinks, Not Our Streets.” “Never a King, Only a Clown.” “Trumty Dumty Will Have a Great Fall.” And several signs that featured versions of a naked, cartoonish overweight Trump sitting on a toilet with the obvious connection: “Not a King, BUTT he Can fill a Thone,” and a similar poster with a cartoonish Trump, pants pulled down, reading “47 Dumps On Democracy.”

Then there was this message posted by a solitary protester in her chair, rather meekly waving a small American flag, albeit with ardent intent: “Things Are SO BAD Introverts are Here. No Kings.”

At the end of the day, what struck me most was realizing the protestors had reclaimed Old Glory — the American flag. The Stars and Stripes were flying boldly and proudly in the hands of patriots who were resisting a president who rules like a tyrant; they were proclaiming the American flag as “of the people” not for the rule of a dictator willing to violate the Constitution. They were flag-waving Americans willing to stand against fascism and stand for equal justice and the rule of law.

The signs said it well: “Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for All.” “Make America a Democracy Again!” “Free Press, Free Speech, Freedom,” and, another favorite, “Pro-America, Anti-Trump.”

It’s that last message that resonates loudest: that Americans of all stripes are speaking out in favor of democracy with fervor. They are supporting the Constitution, individual freedom, due process, and the core values of what our democracy represents. That is true patriotism — not pledging allegiance to greedy man intent on enriching himself and his family, and a misguided party too enthralled with power to say no.

Angelo Lynn