Republished with permission from Lucian K. Truscott IV

He has shown that he is going to do anything he wants to. Trump has exercised power that is illegal and unconstitutional again and again: in deploying troops in Los Angeles, with his DOGE assault on the government, with his round up and deporting of immigrants without due process of law. He has gotten away with it, but at least 200 lawsuits have challenged his attempt at an authoritarian takeover, and multiple judges have responded by stopping him with restraining orders and decisions that have found his actions to be illegal.

Our actions aren’t protected by a Supreme Court decision giving us immunity, but we can say anything we want, and today, millions of us will rise up together across the United States and do exactly that. Demonstrating against the regime holding the White House is speech protected by the First Amendment. We have power in our numbers. They don’t have enough DHS agents, or FBI agents, or National Guard soldiers to suppress the peaceful demonstrations that will happen today in 1,800 cities, towns, and villages, including right here in Milford, Pennsylvania.

We have power because we are right. We are strong because we don’t own big things. We don’t care about access to power. We don’t run major media companies that want approval for their mergers and acquisitions. We are not elected officials constantly protecting our elected positions. We are not running for office and watching our step, careful about every word we say.

Trump can threaten us. He can target some of us individually as his minions have done to Senator Padilla and others. But Trump and America will see how many of us there are. We will be a drone swarm of opposition Trump today and every time we act collectively.

Today’s “No Kings” demonstrations are going to tell us a lot about ourselves and where we stand. We don’t get to vote for another 16 months, when the midterms will give us the opportunity to put our power down on ballots. But 16 months gives us a lot of time and a lot of chances to raise a lot of hell, and that is what we must do.

Trump’s intimidation of prestigious law firms, universities and media companies was meant to intimidate all of us. We shouldn’t be scared off the way some law firms and universities were. We shouldn’t settle for anything less than having our say, as loudly and as many times as we want to. There are enough of us to split the risks of defiance.

The Democratic Party leadership has stumbled as it has looked for a way to counter Trump’s authoritarianism. It’s as if the surprise of his unified assault on norms and the law has kicked Democrats in Congress and some in leadership positions in the states back on their heels.

But putting soldiers armed with loaded guns in the streets facing American citizens is backfiring on Trump. Governor Newsom of California has opened a door for other Democrats, and they should begin to move through it with him. Every time Trump federalizes a National Guard unit, a lawsuit should be filed. Every time a soldier stands in a street in a helmet carrying a rifle, a citizen should stand in organized and peaceful opposition to him and the man who ordered him there.

Handcuffing a United States Senator was meant to scare all of us. Today, we will show them that they don’t have enough handcuffs to make us go away. This is our country. We are patriotic citizens of a democracy, and we will protect it by ensuring we remain a country that is of the people, for the people, and by the people.