What’s Cooler Than Nihilistic Hot Takes About ‘No Kings’? Just About Anything.
A protest isn’t performative if it puts people to work.
I have spent the last 40 years using humor to speak truth to power. I’ve spent the last 10 years working to change the conversation and culture around abortion access. I’ve spent the last three months in Minneapolis helping in any way I could to keep armed thugs from kidnapping, deporting, and murdering my neighbors.
And I’ve spent the last week attempting to control my rage after reading so many exhausting “What is the point of the No Kings marches?” screeds all over the internet.
I’m from, and still live half the year, in Minnesota. I was honored to have been asked to host the first hour of the flagship No Kings rally in St Paul. As I stood on the steps of the state Capitol, in front of 200,000 attendees, I looked into the crowd and imagined what they’ve been through and all the ways they have shown up for their neighbors.
Some folks may have joined Indivisible’s weekly Zoom calls about mutual aid, or started community Signal groups and neighborhood watch patrols. I’m sure many have volunteered at and supported legal service organizations. There were so many families gathered, I’ll bet most of them joined up to help immigrant parents safely get to work and get their kids to school.
I wondered how many of these faces were part of the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people showing up at the Whipple detention facility to express their righteous anger, through playing music, to bear witness with phones and whistles, or hurl dildos at dildos.
Every face I saw in the No Kings crowd that day was full of love and resilience. They were there to thank their neighbors for helping and to rep those for whom it is still unsafe to be out in public. And maybe the biggest shift this year was just how many white folks have shown up, who want to use their power and privilege to step up and step out to face off with white supremacists, while supporting and uplifting community organizations and their plans to heal and rebuild so everyone can thrive.
When a need arises, a Minnesotan rises to meet it. Then we organize our friends to sustain it.
Restaurants continue to feed those in need regardless of their ability to pay. Midwives and doulas perform home births in secret. A sex shop stays open to help pay rent and bills for those who have been shut in because they are afraid to work for fear of being abducted, or worse. And in this America, there is always something worse. Just ask those taking shifts to guard the memorials of Renee and Alex.
I left last weekend’s rally brimming with hope. That lasted about 12 seconds longer than a liquored-up Pete Hegseth chub.
As soon as I got home and kicked off my shoes, I saw that predictably hacky internet nihilists were already dropping “These marches are useless” turds in the social media punch bowl. My immediate reaction?
“Fuck right off.”
This isn’t 2017. I know in the past, way too many rallies amounted to nothing more than pussy hat selfies on Instagram and thousands of people patting themselves on the back, thinking they #DidSomething. Those critiques were totally valid.
Back then, there was no clear ask, they weren’t effectively promoting ways to get more involved, and many organizers of past marches were not promoting the organizations doing sustainable community building.
And the worst part? There was no introspection. No push to take a hard look at how we got here, barely any accountability for us to recognize our complicity in any of it, on any level.
But this ain’t that.
AGAIN, it’s not 2017. So miss me with that same old tired take now, in 2026.
This is not a march, it’s a real movement. A movement led by the people.
This year, every march, every meal delivered, every ride to school, was organized by community. We are not waiting for politicians or some national organization to do it for us; we are taking care of our own.
And to those politicians who may want to stick their noses in, here is how we roll: If you hold office and don’t see the work we are doing, and don’t understand how we are meeting the needs of real people, creating solutions that didn’t exist before, and don’t recognize that it’s YOUR job to fund, support and amplify what is being built by your constituents? We will use these newfound organizing skills to throw your asses out and elect people who are ready to meet the moment.
And if you are a pundit, or a nattering narcissist with a subpar Substack still asking, “What is the point of these marches?”
Take your grayish, mayo-based premise to YouTube and get some answers from the rally that day. Check out how Minnesota faith leaders spoke together in solidarity, showing the world a very different vibe than the white hot hate coming from the current regime. Watch Natalie Ehret from Haven Watch explain how YOU TOO could volunteer to support those with nothing when they leave detention facilities. (Or at the very least, use your platform to talk about THAT.)
Or maybe just ask me? After I announced from stage the number to text to volunteer for election protection work, 14,000 people signed up with Groundwork Institute to help with the midterms this fall.
These are just a few answers to the tired ass question: What are these marches for? It’s almost as though anyone still putting out these tired posts have done nothing but spend the last 10 years in a circle jerk of cynicism.
We get it Temu Schopenhauers: Doing anything is useless, enthusiasm is futile and finding fault in all of it excuses you from actually taking to the streets and organizing community actions — you know, THE THING YOU ALWAYS BITCH THAT PEOPLE SHOULD DO AND ARE FINALLY DOING.
So yeah, maybe sit this one out unless you can tell us what you did that day to save your neighbors from fascism. Posting 2017 hot takes on the internet doesn’t count.
Lizz Winstead is co-creator of The Daily Show, cohost of the Feminist Buzzkills podcast and the founder of Abortion Access Front.
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Thank you! I heard that exact thing on my post of photos from No Kings. It seemed to be an intentional effort to knock the enthusiasm out of the event.
It ain't working!
I don't think the protests/Women's Marches amounted to just pussy-hat wearing women posting on their socials. Those protests fired up a lot of women who hadn't otherwise been engaged. I was sad to read such a pessimistic take on the 2017 rallies. Remember, that orange bag of shit was impeached TWICE during that term, and that probably wouldn't have happened without people on the ground rallying.