Thursday, October 1, 2026
It takes nerves of steel to maintain equanimity during yet another American war in the Middle East; a violent campaign against immigrants; a resurgence of racism; a multi-pronged attack on constitutional democracy and common decency; and a stomach-turning cover up of sex crimes committed by rich and powerful men.
Last Saturday, thousands of people showed up at our state capitol to protest all these developments, and to shore up their dwindling stock of equanimity. The overarching cause was, of course, the delusional president who behaves as if he were king.
Amazingly, given all these roiling catastrophes, the third and largest "No Kings" rally managed to find the funny in the threat of fascism. At the darker end of the spectrum of humor, a bold sign asked “Who would Jesus deport?” Another had an answer: “Deport Donald Trump. Send him to Iran.”
Homemade signs were the social media of the day. There were many variations on “No faux king,” some with creative portraits of Trump.
Immigrants were eloquently defended. As an oblique counter to all the hostility to immigrants, one man’s sign read “The only minority destroying America is the rich.”
The defenders of the rich were having their own rally across the street from the capitol. They gathered to berate Governor Bob Ferguson for signing into law a new “millionaires tax” on the portion of a taxpayer’s income that exceeds one million dollars a year. A brave group of four agreed to be photographed, but the rest had retreated across a big expanse of grass. They were so far away it was hard to see them. Were there 50? Perhaps 100?
Back on the "No Kings" side of the street, the naturalists of Olympia were represented by a sign featuring a picture of a Monarch butterfly captioned “the only good monarch,” and another sign that offered a little entomology lesson on the difference between a “dog tick, a deer tick and a luna tick.” You can imagine where the Trump portrait was located.
Two signs were more serious. One was held by a veteran. “Hitler didn’t start with camps,” it read, followed by a list that included “make Germany great again, banning books, targeting the press, deporting immigrants. .” and more of the Third Reich’s opening moves. I thanked the veteran for his service to America — all of it.
A second serious sign was a brief gut punch: “War crimes don’t cover up sex crimes.”
The vast crowd, the passionate speeches, all the literal signs of the times — it was both exhilarating and exhausting.
As the adrenalin faded, people began to trickle away. Many walked down Capitol Way, still carrying signs. Two Latinas had come out of the motel where they worked to see the crowd. As I passed, one was wiping her eyes and saying, “Look at all these people who came to defend our rights! So many! It’s wonderful! It’s so beautiful it makes me cry.”
In an instant, I was crying too.
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Merlyn
Once again, Miss Jill, you have written and shared a very eloquent article. Thank you.
And to all participants of the rally, please accept monstrous, heartfelt THANK-YOUS!!!! You are brave, passionate, act on well-alligned moral compasses, stoke-up powerful vibes (tempered by peace-keeping), and sure come-up with great, clever signs!!!
Monday, March 30 Report this
wolfmanner
Once again Jill you have shown your Marxist views, Go away.
Monday, March 30 Report this
chrispc2u
I had fun sticking it to the no tax increase, anti-Ferguson orange koolaid drinking cult Trump cult followers that tried to steal attention away from the No Kings day. Who’s gonna pay for our infrastructure I asked them?? Why has Trump cheated to never pay taxes and how is that in any way okay? Wisely they mostly kept to themselves while the rest of us celebrated the importance of defending democracy.
Monday, March 30 Report this
Snevets
It was truly a great day for Democracy! Thank you for the write up.
Monday, March 30 Report this
chrispc2u
Go away wolf with bad breath and even worse manners and take your uncalled for vitriol with you. I know vitriol is a big word for you.
Monday, March 30 Report this
gypsydjango
Beautiful, personal and real. Hopefully you will always be able to speak your mind here, we need you. Power in numbers, we are the people.
Tuesday, March 31 Report this
CommonSenseSenior
Eloquent and so clearly stated, our lovely beloved muse Jill is so good at speaking from the heart. Watched Henry David Thoreau on PBS last night, it was such good timing to show a man whose conscience was stricken by the conditions and hypocrisies of his own time, most of them still here today. I would have loved to see all of the signs, hope someone kept an album? The man who commented about Hitler having 'not started with camps' was so right. America, beware another Hitler. And delusional? That was right on. Delusional: holding false beliefs, judgments despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, as a symptom of serious mental illness. NO MORE DONALD TRUMP 'EXCURSIONS' PLEASE.
Tuesday, March 31 Report this
HarveysMom
Thanks, Jill. I was there too and it was meaningful, best speakers so far of all the rallies I have gone to! (except for one speech by the minister from the Unitarian church who showed up for the pro-library rally, the smallest one I went to, back in the past year) I heard a remark from a Portland attendee, who was impressed with the size of the parade. Portland ! Complimenting our march! Portland, the most inspirational city actions ever. Froggies live forever! If we cannot peacefully fix the problems of the Trumpian militaristic subversions of the rules of law, then the great American experiment of democracy is over. Come On MidTerms!
And welcome Springtime Gardening.
Tuesday, March 31 Report this
RondaLarsonKramer
Regarding the signs in those photos: people are so creative. Thank you for showing them to us.
Tuesday, March 31 Report this
Wesley
Why do radical leftists always go first to the gay-prison-**** jokes? I think it betrays latent homophobia.
Saturday, April 4 Report this