What next? No Kings and the mornings after.

A rather nasty assault on my person's health prevented me from adding to Saturday's No Kings turnout, lest I put at risk the well-being of thousands of locals. Happily, nationwide others were non-inflicted by my ill-timed nemesis — like, by a whole of lot of others, seeing that this NK turnout exceeded by 2 million June's 5 million-strong showing.

I confess to also feeling hurt by my impending non-presence having done so little to overall turnout numbers. I feared that word of my absence would slip out to general knowledge, causing mimicked but sympathetic behavior by hundreds of thousands of those others. Somewhat more likely was that no one much cared about this poor bastard's no-show. The thought has been crushing to my usually vibrant oversized ego.

That said, No Kings now faces the daunting question of, What next? Of how to keep the protest spirit rolling? A bit more than a half-century ago, political scientist Gene Sharp's three-volume The Politics of Nonviolent Action offered a list of 198 options. Of deepest appeal are those that ridicule this unholy regime, specifically, mock awards and mock elections. Among the first, in 1969 a Boston environmental group presented a "Polluter of the Month" award to the Boston Edison Company. Nice touch.

Among the second type, in 1964 Mississippi's Negro Freedom Democratic Party held elections in which three FDP women won against White establishment candidates in three congressional districts. They then challenged the seating of the "legitimate" winners, based on Blacks' electoral exclusion. Similar No Kings elections could be held in Republicans' heavily gerrymandered districts with 2026 ballots listing the names of both assured R winners and NK candidates —a NK blowout.

Sharp's list included "religious processions" (NK demonstrations of authentic religiosity vs. the theologically diseased Christian right); civil disobedience (of today's illegitimate executive orders, an action in progress); boycotts (of firms, universities too, acceding to the regime's insane demands); and "politically motivated counterfeiting." This thought occurred: No Kings currency purchased by consumers for use at cooperating commercial venues, reimbursed by NK at a minor, cost-covering discount.

The political scientist also listed a broad variety of strikes: walkouts, slowdowns, "sick-ins" and general strikes. Unfortunate but realistic is a website created months ago calling for the latter. The site declares that it needs 10.6 million signatures, that number based on research showing 3.5% of the population must join a general strike to be effective. Aside from its target population figure being inaccurate — the true number is closer to 8.4 million — to date the website has fewer than 400,000 signatures. Not. Looking. Good. Which is a really bad look for the opposition. So, fuhgetaboutit.

This one, again from Sharp, I adore: "Lysistratic nonaction," named after Aristophanes' comic play, Lysistrata, in which Greek women withheld sex from their male partners until they agreed to end the Peloponnesian Wars. Female partners of docile, Trump-tolerant Democratic congressmen could follow suit. (I'd be gender-neutral on the matter, save for women being able to hold out infinitely longer than men.)   

Sharp's list extended overseas as well. One wonders why Trump's nonimmigration-targeted "shithole" countries haven't withdrawn diplomatic relations with the U.S. As the shit bespeaker once cynically said of Black Americans, "What have they got to lose?" Many threw the dice; they soon found out. The question can be put with sincerity to nations Trump has likewise abused. They've already found out what their civilized U.S. relations have gained them.  

Related to mockery is the author's "Taunting officials." This one's a layup, given that the material is so easily obtained from the opposition. It clownishly hands out the jokes with idiotic malice aforethought. Boneheaded White House frausprechen Karoline Leavitt: The Democratic Party is a collection of "terrorists" and "violent criminals." House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain: "We’ll see mobs of radicals at the ‘I Hate America’ rally.”

Rep. Dan Meuser:  “Now they’re proclaiming how great this No Kings rally is going to be, this anti-America protest."

And of course God's vicar, official pontiff of the U.S. House, was at it again. “We refer to it by its more accurate description - the Hate America Rally. You’re gonna bring together the Marxists, the socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists, and the pro-Hamas wing of the far left Democrat Party. That is the modern Democratic Party.... They hate capitalism. They hate our principles." And this, even richer in irony: "They hate the idea of the rule of law.”

Who knew that so many, indeed the entirety of Democrats, are lawless communists, terrorists, violent criminals, America haters and pro-Hamas nitwits? In my locale alone:

Photo by daughter, who with mate did attend the No Kings rally here in Everett, Washington.

In short, there's no shortage of potential No Kings follow-ups. Many included in Sharp's monumental 1973 list apply.

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Cross-posted in Substack.