Crowns Are For Dictators
The “No Kings” Movement and the Growing Resistance to Authoritarian Rule in America
June 14, 2025, was marked by a surge of demonstrations across the United States, including here in Fargo, North Dakota. The message on banners, signs, and chants was resoundingly clear: “No Kings.” This simple declaration, echoing across city streets, carries profound implications at a time when democracy appears increasingly threatened by a presidency openly embracing authoritarian symbolism and action.
Criticism of President Trump’s recent policies and rhetoric has intensified since his return to office in 2025. Central to this criticism is Trump’s apparent disregard for democratic norms, constitutional constraints, and basic human rights. These violations aren’t merely symbolic; they have manifested vividly in tangible actions against communities, institutions, and individual freedoms.
Take, for example, press freedom, a cornerstone of democracy. Trump’s administration targeted public broadcasters by cutting their funding, branding them biased and un-American. NPR, a bastion of objective reporting for decades, is now embroiled in a legal battle for survival after Trump’s retaliatory budget cuts. Even more alarming was the administration’s move to ban the Associated Press from the White House simply for refusing to comply with propagandistic language dictated by Trump himself. This overt hostility toward independent journalism isn’t merely petty political revenge; it’s a strategic attempt to erode the public’s access to truth and accountability.
This erosion extends beyond press freedom into terrifying abuses against immigrant communities. ICE’s expanded raids and arrests have reached staggering new heights of cruelty. Reports of immigrant families, already vulnerable and desperate, facing violent separations have become disturbingly common. Children have been torn from their parents during court appointments, restrained, and thrust into an uncertain and traumatizing system. The administration’s decision to send thousands of asylum seekers to Guantánamo Bay (previously notorious for abuses of detainees,) exemplifies a shocking willingness to weaponize human suffering as policy.
Protests against these abuses erupted nationwide, yet Trump’s response demonstrated even clearer authoritarian tendencies. In Los Angeles, peaceful demonstrations prompted the unprecedented deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines. Trump labeled these peaceful gatherings as invasions, transforming them rhetorically into insurrections, justifying military-style crackdowns. Journalists documenting these protests were not spared. They were struck by rubber bullets and tear gas, their constitutional rights trampled in the government’s eagerness to silence criticism and dissent.
Meanwhile, Trump’s partnership with Palantir, the notorious data-mining corporation, marks an alarming new era of domestic surveillance. Under the guise of security, this administration has quietly amassed a colossal database tracking Americans’ private information, a database that threatens to turn everyday life into fodder for predictive policing and surveillance. The collaboration, reportedly spearheaded by Elon Musk’s governmental tech division, further underscores the administration’s broader push to consolidate power through invasive, authoritarian surveillance mechanisms.
Perhaps the clearest symbol of Trump’s troubling approach is the very imagery he has publicly embraced. An AI-generated image of Trump crowned as a king, proudly shared from official White House channels with the ominous proclamation, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” underscores a chilling glorification of unchecked authority. Trump’s admiration for historical autocrats like Napoleon, coupled with musings about ignoring constitutional term limits, starkly reveals his disdain for democratic constraints.
These actions and symbols do not exist in isolation. They form a troubling pattern that demands civic resistance. Protest, at its core, is more than symbolic defiance. It is the lifeblood of democracy, the essential act of collective insistence that power serves the people, not the other way around. The “No Kings” demonstrations embody precisely this: a determined rejection of authoritarian rule in all its forms.
Critics may argue that these protests are disruptive, yet disruption is precisely the tool citizens employ when traditional avenues for change become obstructed or ineffective. When a president normalizes authoritarian tactics, protest becomes not just a right, but a democratic duty. The visibility of these demonstrations compels public and political discourse to confront uncomfortable truths and engage with systemic abuses that demand urgent resolution.
We must remain vigilant and active. Authoritarianism rarely emerges overnight; it seeps gradually, normalizing oppression and silencing dissent until democracy itself feels unfamiliar. Our collective response must be relentless. Not because protest alone will instantly dismantle authoritarian structures, but because the spirit of democracy demands constant defense and renewal.
In Fargo, as across America, the message “No Kings” must reverberate far beyond a single day of protest. It must become a persistent call to action, a vigilant resistance against tyranny, ensuring that democracy, not authoritarianism, remains the bedrock of our nation.