How about the millions who joined in 'No Kings' who can't be counted?

A quick No Kings story to remind us that there’s nothing we can do alone. Which is annoying. And inspiring.

The wife and I headed to the Ypsilanti march in the early afternoon last Saturday, and I decided to take the “pretty way,” down Geddes Road, close to the riverfront where colonizers first settled around what’s now Ann Arbor.

Just past the freeway, we saw this:

A senior community had taken to the corner for a No Kings rally of their own.

This rally of about three dozen wasn’t on the official NoKings.org map, nor was it included in any official or unofficial counts that have declared Saturday’s events the biggest protest in US history. And the only people who would have known it happened, if not for my big mouth, would be the protesters and the hundreds of cars that passed, with dozens honking in support.

We parked and jumped out of the car to collect signatures for the Invest MI Kids ballot proposal to tax the rich to improve our schools, by, among other things, improving teacher retention. We were warmly greeted by most and eyed warily by the rest. We filled up a few sheets, and they thanked us; we thanked them. Go community.

But this story has me thinking about all those unknown protests and, much more importantly, the people who joined in for a few seconds with a sweet blast of their horns. Most No Kings protests have been held on the sides and corners of streets to maximize visibility and accessibility.

And that effect invites millions more into the movement.

In the latest NEXT COMES WHAT above, Andrea relays the story of Kendra Sullivan in Beckley, West Virginia:

Sullivan staged a one-woman No Kings protest. People in her community confronted her, called the police on her, and even physically threatened her more than once police showed up and protected her right to protest. Just think of the other people in Beckley who might have been wondering if anybody else felt like them.

If they wanna reach out, now they know one place to go.

It reminds me of the sign at the top of this post, the placard I'm most proud of from the last 10 months. My wife made it for me (my handwriting sucks) before one of the big #TeslaTakedown days of action, inspired by someone on Bluesky who said, more or less, “I honked today and I’ll protest next time.”

Erica Chenoweth, of the 3.5% rule and the Crowd Counting Consortium, confirms that this effect does seem to be growing the movement, which has gotten bigger every month of this year:

I know things can feel bleak, especially with Trump responding with escalating mad king shit. But I’ll remind you that it will never be as grim as it was in early 2025 when we were begging people to realize the danger our country was in. We’ve won that battle, thanks in large part to Trump.

People get that having a king sucks, especially a wannabe king.

And now we’re on to the next battle, as there’s always one after another:

SO what do we do about it?

A one-day protest is fantastic, especially the biggest one ever. We’re going to keep doing them. It’s how we grow this thing. And you should go to all you can. Plan your own!

But we’re all looking for the big thing, that thing that would save this country as decisively as defeating Trump at the polls last November might have. And the truth sucks: there is no simple answer for how we stop this regime’s overreach and abuses. It’s a big part of why we’re all miserable when we consider our reality.

But there is a simple answer to what each of us can do. And the answer is: MORE.

That “more” may be a honk. It may be a spontaneous protest. It may be collecting signatures for a ballot measure. It may be one of the 51 actions that Amanda Litman offered last week. It may be something only you can do or imagine. But what you do won’t just matter to you. It’ll matter to everyone who sees you doing it.

And that could change everything.

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