This is how we win
| Dean Obeidallah Oct 19, 2025 |
Joy!
That was the vibe coming from the massive, record-breaking No King’s protests that we saw Saturday in all 50 states. In fact, I can’t recall another protest that was both so playful and inspirational at the same time.
The “joy” part came from the participants-especially those dressed up in fun costumes. And don’t dismiss these costumes as being silly. They are truly a creative act of defiance to taunt the thin-skinned Trump who like all aspiring tyrants, wants to be feared—not laughed at.
We saw the beloved Cookie Monster in Denver warn about the threats posed by MAGA:
Omaha, Nebraska gave us a dinosaur holding up a sign that read “Don’t let democracy go extinct.”
Down in Memphis, Tennessee, another protester—not far from a unicorn– donned a fun pink blow up costume holding a sign, “Not a paid protester, I hate Trump for free.”
Over in Las Vegas, there were zebras and chipmunks denouncing Kings.
In mile high city of Denver, a protester dressed like a chicken taco holding up a sign: “No dictators, no kings, just tacos.” The taco reference–as a reminder–was a taunt of how Trump always chickens out—which angered Trump in the past.
From New York City where a person dressed as “Mr. Met” holding a sign “No Kings, but Queens, New York”…
…to the Bay area of California where one protester dressed like a fun, mutant with a sign that told us, “I can regrow a limb, but not democracy.”
By design, the costumes and fun signs were about collectively destroying the GOP talking point that the protesters were somehow “terrorists.” One protester in Portland summed it up well to CNN this way, “It’s kind of hard to spin that narrative, calling us like terrorists and stuff, when we’re just out here in funny costumes dancing.”
But the shot of joy this rally gave us with north of seven million taking to the streets is vitally important in the war we find ourselves. Like you, there are days I wonder if we have the power to defeat the forces of fascism. The GOP controls all of the federal government, the corrupt GOP Supreme Court will let Trump do what he wants, corporate media is on Trump’s side and the Democrats in Congress who are effective fighters are still the minority. Yet seeing the images of joy from the protest gives me a vast amount of hope!
The fact that millions more showed up for this No Kings rally than the one in June is how democracies are saved. That is not just my view but also experts on autocracy. When millions take to the street peacefully, the effect is that leaders from “the economic, business, political, cultural, and media sectors become more likely to shift their allegiance to the side of a broad nonviolent mobilization.” That is because they get where the energy and people are. After all, where are the massive pro-Trump rallies? Nowhere and that sends a strong message to these leaders and the public.
In fact, over the past few weeks, we’ve seen an increasing number stand up to Trump. The most visible win came just three weeks ago when we effectively pressured Disney using our wallets to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel over Trump’s demand he be fired. (It really was only three weeks ago but it feels like months!)
Plus in the past week alone we have seen other important signs that the tide is turning against Trump. First, there was Trump’s Secretary of beer and tattoos Pete Hegseth demanding media outlets only print about the military what he dictates or lose their access to the Pentagon. As one media outlet explained, Hegseth wanted to turn the media into “stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable.”
Early in Trump’s term, the corporate media did whatever Trump wanted—even paying him millions to make him happy. Well, that has changed. On Wednesday, every U.S. media outlet that covers the Pentagon defiantly turned in their press credentials—except Trump propaganda channel OANN.
Next, we saw Trump’s puppy killer in chief Kristi Noem demand that every airport in the nation play a propaganda video at TSA checkpoint where she literally blames the Democrats for shutting down the government. In the video, Noem tells travelers “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government” and that you should blame them for any airport delays. She added, “our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”
In response, though, a large swath of airports across the country – even in red states—refused to play the video given the partisan political message. As of now, Trump’s regime has not threatened these airports with a loss of funding—which is a recognition that the regime is growing weaker.
And then we saw a group of universities actually stand up to Trump. Brown University, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California and the University of Virginia all rejected Trump’s demand that they follow the MAGA education goals or loss funding. Just so people are aware, the Trump regime is literally demanding that schools teach in accordance with MAGA principals—which is why the NY Times dubbed it the “ideology-for-funding” deal. While we saw early in Trump’s term Columbia University and others bend the knee to Trump, we now see more schools stand up to Trump—along with Harvard University that has been battling Trump since day one.
That brings us back to the massive, joyful rallies this weekend. The more who defy Trump, the weaker Trump is perceived. And to be blunt, Trump has never been less popular. A new Associated Press poll released Friday finds him with a 37% approval rating. And a Gallup poll from September tells us that just 29% are “satisfied” with the direction of the country—the lowest number for Trump in his second term.
There have been–and will be–good, bad and ugly days in the fight against Trump’s fascist agenda. Saturday was a great day! Savor it and let it be a source of inspiration in the more challenging days that we will face ahead. And if you ever need a little more inspiration, remember this message to Trump from this dog who came to the No Kings rally:
