![\"Harold](\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HAROLD-MEYERSON_CIRCLE-1-80x80.png\")
by\u00a0Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/strong> November 24, 2025 (Prospect.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Meyerson-July-4th-112425.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&quality=89&ssl=1\")
Last February 6th\u201417 days after Donald Trump had begun his second term\u2014the Prospect <\/em>posted a piece<\/a> I\u2019d written noting that the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord would soon be upon us, and suggesting that the anti-Trump protests that were sure to come should rightly be presented as a tribute to our anti-monarchial patriotic forebears and a continuation and renewal of the ideals they fought for. This was one of several articles that helped hone the No Kings focus of the anti-Trump demonstrations. Of course, it was Trump\u2019s conduct in office\u2014his embrace of the l\u2019\u00e9tat c\u2019est moi <\/em>ethos of Louis XIV that was antithetical to any democratic system of government, his indifference to the Constitution\u2019s limits on presidential powers, his open displays of greed and racism, his conversion of the executive branch into a personal court, a gilded Versailles knockoff; this list could go on and on\u2014that really prompted the No Kings thematics of the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More from Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But popular awareness of the anniversary of Lexington and Concord pales alongside that of our national founding via our Declaration of Independence, when there will likely be tens of thousands of celebrations, and perhaps a kindred number of No Kings protests. Indeed, for those with even the slimmest knowledge of American history, it will be all but impossible to disaggregate the two. After all, the Declaration is nothing if not a chronicle of monarchial violations of civilized norms. It held King George III responsible for \u201ca long train of abuses and usurpations.\u201d It said the king \u201chas refused his Assent to Laws\u201d (that is, refused to recognize the laws passed by colonial legislatures). He was responsible, it continued, \u201cFor taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.\u201d These abrupt and unanswerable transfers of power from legally established colonial legislatures to the Crown were at the center of the Founders\u2019 case for revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subscribe for analysis that goes beyond the noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1776\u2019s bill of particulars, we can recognize Trump\u2019s own violations, which are if anything much worse. He not only has refused to recognize laws passed by the states; he has ordered the government to withhold funds and the Justice Department to sue those states that have passed laws regulating AI, even as the vast majority of the public and the Congress are on record supporting states\u2019 regulatory rights. His impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds\u2014withholding FEMA funds from disaster-stricken blue states, for instance, while deploying them in red states\u2014certainly alters the forms of government that Article I of our Constitution mandates. His brutal deportation policies and deployment of troops to our cities runs afoul of our Posse Comitatus restrictions, and his shaking down media institutions until they report news in a way that doesn\u2019t upset him makes a mockery of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the accusations that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and their Declaration co-authors leveled against King George were that he was in violation of Britain\u2019s unwritten Constitution. Trump\u2019s violations, by contrast, run afoul of our written<\/em> Constitution: The articles and amendments he has trashed can be specified, chapter and verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which means that any celebration of our Declaration of Independence can condemn Trump by both the letter of textual originalism and the spirit of \u201cunalienable\u201d human rights laid out in the Declaration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Come July 4th, the opportunity to both celebrate our foundational values and condemn Donald Trump requires us to go beyond the No Kings demonstrations we\u2019ve held up to now. Doubtless, some celebrations will feature mini-parades of patriots dressed as bluecoats, as colonial soldiers. My suggestion is that we also dramatize just what our patriot founders were up against. An appropriate combination of a celebratory July 4th commemoration and a No Kings demonstration should also include demonstrators dressed as British redcoats flying banners featuring pictures of Trump (or Trump and King George) that hail monarchy and subservience to tyrants and condemn the rule of the people and the institution of law that rulers must obey. Mini-dramas pitting (verbally only) these redcoat defenders of monarchs and Trump against bluecoat defenders of democracy and the rule of law, with the latter brandishing American flags, should be the order of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Lincoln said of Gettysburg and the Civil War generally, Trump has required us to test \u201cwhether that nation [ours] or any nation so conceived [in liberty] and dedicated [to the proposition that all men are created equal] can long endure.\u201d That is what Trump has brought us to, and we should take the occasion of July 4th, 2026, to make unmistakably clear which side honors, perpetuates, and renews the \u201cSpirit of \u201976\u201d and which side trashes it in the name of a tin-pot despot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, I want to thank you for reading the Prospect<\/em>. At the end of the day, you\u2019re helping build a more just and fair world by taking the time to read independent and fearless journalism. We hope that when you read our work it isn\u2019t just idle entertainment or cynical ragebait, but something that informs and inspires you. If you agree with that, and I hope you do, we\u2019re asking that you take the next step and consider supporting our work. We don\u2019t have corporate sponsors or billionaire backers \u2013 we have you, our readers. A significant portion of the money it takes to send reporters into the field to write the hard-hitting stories you expect from the Prospect<\/em> comes from readers just like you. Can you chip in today? Your support funds deeply reported investigations into power, how it works, and what it means for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitchell Grummon<\/strong> October 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n October 22, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n June 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n hmeyerson@prospect.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Harold Meyerson is editor at large of The American Prospect. His email is hmeyerson@prospect.org. Follow @HaroldMeyerson More by Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our 250th anniversary requires pro-Trump redcoats as well as pro-democracy bluecoats to re-enact our anti-monarchial founding. by\u00a0Harold Meyerson November 24, 2025 (Prospect.org) Last February 6th\u201417 days after Donald Trump had begun his second term\u2014the Prospect posted a piece I\u2019d written noting that the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord would soon… Continue reading The Prospect<\/em> in your inbox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Publisher<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nRecommended Reading<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What Next After No Kings Day II?<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Trump Smash Democracy<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Amazing Future<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n