Banks: A majesty of a moment for ‘No Kings’

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One of my favorites among photographs from the “No Kings” protests across the country on Saturday was a sign reading: “So bad even the introverts are here.”

It does indeed take a special circumstance to get introverts to rub elbows with a literal mass of humanity, let alone a house party of two dozen people. There were millions of Americans at 2,600 “No Kings” events nationwide. That includes dozens of events in Minnesota, both in cities and smaller communities. Organizers said 100,000 showed up in Minneapolis. Anecdotally from one of northwestern Minnesota’s regional hubs: “Half of the hamlet showed up.”

Counting attendance at large, ungated events is tricky, and people love to quibble over the estimates, but there’s no doubt that Saturday was significant. More so than appears to have been recognized by some who weighed it — including President Donald Trump, who among his gentler comments called the rallies “very small, very ineffective.”

Technically, of course, introverts are no more or no less reflective of the general population than are any subsets of attendees. If they’re not aligned with Trump, they’re likely pretty worried about the adroitly authoritarian tendencies the president is showing during his latest tour in the Oval Office. They’re concerned not just about the immediate effects but about the impact on the country’s future. Just like the younger attendees in the crowds. Just like those who showed up with walkers or in wheelchairs.

And all of it is was peaceful.

The rallies did not consist of Americans hating on our fine country, as U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, Republican of Minnesota, would have it. Emmer knows better, but he’s busy playing his game.

The rallies didn’t deserve to be dumped on, as top-gun pilot “King Trump” did in an AI-generated video that the president shared as part of his enshittified social-media presence. Trump’s sense of humor — believe it or not, you can detect this at times — is more sophisticated than that of a junior high schooler. But he’s busy playing his game.

As one of my colleagues put it so aptly in our morning meeting on Monday: “What did I do to deserve being in this timeline?”

Former President Barack Obama, who was so measured in most of his language, would occasionally misplace his air of containment and spout off something confrontative. One of the things he said was: “Elections have consequences.” That wasn’t terribly unifying, but it was true. He won two elections, and that meant the electorate had given him the opportunity to pursue his preferred policies.

Last year, Trump won, nonconcurrently, another four years in office. So he gets that chance again too. Enough voters wanted more, or too few were motivated to want less. Trump can see if it still holds true in 2026, during the midterm elections, or in 2028 when he anoints a successor or takes an extraconstitutional flier on a third term.

“NO Kings … Just Prince” — that was another sign spotted at one of Saturday’s Minnesota rallies. Coincidentally on Saturday evening, I was letting Spotify’s AI “DJ” function serve up music I might be interested in based on my listening history. One of the songs it offered was Prince’s “Guitar,” on which the musical polymath showcases his virtuosity on that instrument. Prince was a performer who like Trump always tested boundaries, but who also showed us that the best performance has substance.

After the song was over, the automated DJ — which is programmed to chime in with banal shoutouts to the artists, asked quizzically: “That was … Prince?!”