On Saturday, almost seven million Americans participated in over 2,000 separate “No Kings” protests across the country. The organizers of these protests decided that for this protest, there would be a lighthearted sense to these protests. Many people who participated say that this did happen. Many of the protests included homemade signs, high spirited people, and most importantly of all they were nonviolent. What do these protests mean for America and how should the Trump Administration respond?

This is an amazing sign for America. America was a nation built on the idea that there would never be one person who rules over us. When the citizenry believe that there is a king, they have more than a right to protest. It is their duty to protest to show the nation that they believe that an individual is usurping this power. The only way this experiment works is that when the government gets too big or an individual is showing signs of tyranny, people stand up. 

The fact that this was peaceful is an amazing sign. The current political environment, fueled by echo chambers from social media, is defined by mass polarization. People are losing the ability to sit in a room with someone who disagrees with them and attack their ideas without insulting their character. Peaceful protest is the correct step toward this conversation. Peaceful protest is not weak and should never be seen as weak. In contrast, it is the strongest form of protest that people can enact. When people are so angry that they take to the streets, it is natural to push towards violence. People want to make themselves seen when they feel so much emotion and violence is an easy way to get attention. It takes an extra layer of strength for people to hold themselves back and keep their demonstrations peaceful while they protest something they are so passionate about. Yet, peaceful protests create powerful results. They bring people to the table and they open dialogue. The fact that these protests remained peaceful is a bright light in the darkness that polarization has caused, and despite what we feel in our day to day lives provides us hope that we and our legislatures will soon sit at the table with people they disagree with and discuss the issues that matter most. For America, these demonstrations on Friday were a step in the right direction.

Trump has already commented claiming that the protests were not representative of the country, and denying the fact that he is a king. Objectively both of these are true. Trump won the popular vote, and although almost seven million is a percentage of the American population, it is a small fraction of the number of people who voted for him and overall, there is likely a larger group that disagrees with the sentiment. Additionally, whether or not you agree that Trump is taking too much power, he is not a king in the traditional sense: he is still allowing for dissent, such as these protests, and he is trying to work within the system, granted through many loopholes to get his agenda passed. However, this was not the best course of action for the Trump Administration to take.

The Trump Administration should stay silent on the issue. One of the major promises through the Trump campaign was the restoration of freedom of speech. We were promised that “cancel culture” would no longer be a thing, and people would be free to share their true opinions. This goes both ways. We cannot have freedom of speech only when the administration in power likes what is being said. That is not freedom of speech; that is selective censorship. The Trump Administration does have the right to criticize the protests. They have as much freedom of speech as the protesters do, yet this could make the issue a bigger thing than it is. This may not blow over, but if Trump clashes with it head on, it will certainly blow up. This was a peaceful protest where people were exercising rights that we were promised would be back in full under the Trump Administration. Therefore, the Administration should take it on the chin, be happy that they have restored the nation to a place where people are comfortable enough to openly criticize the government, and move on. Demonstrations are usually only as big as their backlash, and if the Administration focuses on what they are doing there is a way for this to blow over. For now, we must celebrate the nearing toward political discourse and keep protests peaceful, inching closer and closer towards full, open communication across the aisle.