I was at Boise’s No Kings rally. It was a celebration of America | Opinion
On Saturday, I attended the “No Kings” protest at the Statehouse to do my small part in declaring that we do not want the country to drift into authoritarianism. As far as the eye could see, there was a sea of Idahoans who believed the same.
One of the organizers declared from the Statehouse steps that it was the largest protest in Idaho history. As a reporter, I covered many protests at the Idaho Capitol, and I can say with certainty it was the largest crowd I have ever seen.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson dubbed “No Kings” a “Hate America” event. He was wrong. The protest was more of a love fest for America and for American democracy. The protesters were angry about President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic power grab, but they were joyously celebrating America and its Constitution.
When the crowd sang the national anthem, it was a reverent homage to our great country, sang in a heartful way. When the anthem reached the inspiring “land of the free,” the crowd erupted in celebration, with American flags waving against the blue autumn sky.
Conservative columnist David Brooks lamented in a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that Americans seem apathetic about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and the cowardice of his acolytes in Congress. “Why hasn’t a resistance movement materialized here?” Brooks asked.
He wrote that the Trump administration operates “as a national extortion racket, using federal power to control the inner workings of universities, law firms, and corporations. It has thoroughly politicized the Justice Department, launching a series of partisan investigations against political foes. It has turned ICE into a massive paramilitary organization with apparently unconstitutional powers.”
I wonder what Brooks thinks now that an estimated seven million Americans showed up in large cities and small towns across America to declare that they do not want a king, a dictator, a tyrant. Protesters even showed up in Lexington where American democracy was born with flintlock muskets. This time, democracy is being defended by Americans taking peacefully to the streets, by brave federal judges and, most importantly, by voters.
Trump’s reaction to the “No Kings” rallies was predictable: “Who cares?” He should care, and so should members of Congress. They disregard the message that Americans sent on Saturday at the risk of their own political careers.
Johnson said the No Kings crowd would be filled with “Marxists” and people who are “against capitalism.” Instead, I saw grandfathers and grandmothers. I saw young couples with small children. I saw Republicans, yes Republicans. I saw business leaders. I saw veterans. I saw cowboys. I saw a woman with a box filled with copies of the U.S. Constitution which she bought with her own money and passed out for free.
I even saw tall yellow chickens, green frogs, a unicorn and a dinosaur. And I saw dogs, lots of dogs. I saw elderly people sitting in camp chairs because they were too frail to stand for hours. Still, they wanted to stand up for democracy by sitting down.
Everyone carried posters that reflected a diversity of messages, but one theme: We do not want a king or a dictator; we want a constitutional democracy.
Trump might dismiss protesters as “fools” as he did those who died on Normandy beaches in the defense of democracy and against authoritarianism. But the Idahoans I saw on Saturday are not fools and they aren’t fooling around. They represent the heart and soul of America.
An Iraq Marine veteran attending the No Kings protest in Washington, D.C., told the Associated Press: “I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad. And now I see a moment in America where we have extremists everywhere who are, in my opinion, pushing us to some kind of civil conflict.”
Historian David McCullough believed that George Washington was the greatest American who ever lived. Washington was so beloved by the American people he could have become a king. Instead, after two terms as our first president Washington returned to Mount Vernon because he loved his country and democracy more than he loved power.
McCullough wrote of Washington: “Our gratitude to George Washington should be beyond measure and to have had that particular man with his integrity, his courage, his decency, his stability, his sense of duty to the common good, as our first president is almost miraculous.”
In contrast to Washington, today we have a president positioning himself to run for an unconstitutional third term in office, and we have members of Congress so afraid of losing their power they are remaining silent in the face of tyranny.
History — if our democracy survives so we have one — will judge Trump, members of Congress, including Idaho’s silent four, and the complicit U.S. Supreme Court very harshly. Compared to Washington and the millions of patriots who took to the streets on Saturday to defend the Constitution, they are very small indeed.
Rod Gramer is an Idaho native, a longtime journalist and an advocate for public education.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM.