by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

Another “No Kings” rally is in the books and with it has come another joy hangover. As hangovers go, this is the good one.

I joined more than 3,000 like-minded folks here in Claremont last Saturday, proving once again that righteous anger displayed on a mass scale doesn’t have to end in violent insurrection. The vibes were joyous, despite the seriousness of the moment. It gave me, and I suspect thousands of others, a much-needed dose of hope.

This was the third nationwide “No Kings” rally and the largest to date, with more than 8 million people rising up to meet the moment in 3,300 cities.

The first “No Kings” rally, in June 2025, drew between 4 and 6 million. The second, in October 2025, brought out 7 million. With more than 8 million on Saturday, we’re getting closer but still have a ways to go to hit that reportedly magic 3.5% number, which is a little more than 12 million. But it would appear a movement is growing, and that’s good news.

Many of the more than 3,000 protesters at Claremont’s March 28 “No Kings” rally focused on the Trump administration’s attacks on the First Amendment. Photo/by Jessie Cadenas

Perhaps the best news from Saturday is many more young people were involved. Past rallies’ clientele skewed gray, like me. This one was different, and it was encouraging to see all those fresh faces. Us geezers will always stand out in the sun and shake our fists in righteous anger, but for real change the young people will have to be out there in the small towns too, not just in LA, New York, and Denver.

The young protesters I spoke to Saturday did not hold back.

“This country makes me ashamed, and I feel like I would be a coward not to come out here and show that,” said 18-year-old Scripps College student Phoebe Schwab. “We have an asshole running our country, and not that many people in power are doing anything to change that or to resist against that. So I think that we need to work from the bottom up, with people that aren’t necessarily in power, like college students and community members.” 

Indivisible Claremont Inland Valley’s Victoria Bhavsar, 56, was on the organizing and the planning team, collaborating with other national Indivisible chapters on Claremont’s No Kings protest. I asked her what prompted her to get involved.

“I was wondering that just today: how did I get myself into something that I have not done before in my adult life?” she said. “And it was just that I love this country, with all its flaws, and I want it to be great. And to me that means embodying the ideals that it had — a totally imperfect vision of what we could be. I think we should be moving toward that more perfect vision and union, so that the pursuit of happiness is for everyone, not just for some people. That seems to me to be deeply right.”

Counterprotesters were nil as far as I could tell. Even that guy with the gigantic truck who at past rallies has driven by and doused protesters with clouds noxious black exhaust sat this one out. The only interactions with passing cars I saw were the hundreds honking their horns in support, giving thumbs up throughout the two-hour rally. Some passersby held signs of support out their windows. Others handed out water. One guy made several passes along Foothill Boulevard in his modified van/rolling tiki bar blasting inspirational music (I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, etc.).

And despite visceral and visible anger, folks behaved respectfully, even while holding signs with profane messages. Oh, the signs. Such humor and creativity! Take a look at our photos in this issue for some of the highlights.

It seemed most everyone just wanted to be part of something positive.

“I find a lot of support at these events, which I think I need, personally, and just that feeling of community and not feeling so alone in all of this,” said Claremont resident Emily Dauwalder, 33. “And also I feel like I have a lot to say and not a lot of eloquence to say it, so being here and hearing others that share similar beliefs and ethics as me I also feel more eloquent and brave to raise my voice and do what I can as well.”

I get that. My social media feed is crammed with doom. I know it’s my own fault; the algorithm is just giving me more of what I’m clicking on, and it’s not making me feel any better about what’s happening to our country. On the contrary, it’s making the gloom gloomier. And I’m not alone.

“This administration sucks,” said Aidan Evans, a 19-year-old Pitzer student. “F**k their foreign policy. F**k their domestic policy. Everything they have been doing to marginalize communities has been absolutely abhorrent and frankly, illegal, and we’re not being heard by a lot of traditional institutions of power that are meant to check this kind of s**t. So it is up to us to take it upon ourselves as citizens to say that we don’t f**k with this, and say that we would like change, and also both different rules and processes, and also to get these people out of power; because it’s not just Trump, it’s also the billionaires and the oligarchs, Stephen Miller, Palantir, and the high level of surveillance that Americans are facing.”

As someone with kids in high school and college, I can confirm that Aidan’s strident, fiery language is not an aberration. Many young people are angry, and for good reason: they will ultimately be presented with the invoice for our government’s short-sighted, self-dealing political, economic, military, medical, and environmental misadventures here and abroad.

“All of this will affect us so much longer than just getting rid of Trump,” Evans said. “It’s about getting rid of the whole system of billionaires, cowards, and pedophiles that run our country.”

It looks like the next “No Kings” event may happen May 1. Check nokings.org for updates.

Until then, thanks to everyone who showed up Saturday. We needed that.