This weekend, as many took to the streets for “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump and his administration, many also took the conversation online. Like anything politically controversial, both mockery and praise ensued.
The protest was a display of frustration against the federal government and its believed authoritarian rule with Trump on the throne. More than 2,600 events in the country took place on Oct. 18.
If you spent even a fraction of time on social media over the weekend, specifically X, you would’ve seen a range of posts describing it as “a coordinated and corruptly funded mass call for political” violence or that “peaceful protests (occurred) to say: No Kings.”
With any political issue, partisan lines were drawn and sides were taken.
‘King Trump’ meme draws outrage — and defense from allies
The president is no stranger to hitting his opponents with a meme. Still, on Saturday, many were surprised by his post depicting him flying a fighter jet marked with “King Trump” on the side, and a crown atop his head, to the New York City protest, where he then dropped sewage on the protesters, specifically left-wing influencer Harry Sisson.
Sisson responded, asking reporters to question Trump’s action, to which he received a response from Vice President JD Vance, saying he’d ask Trump himself.
“I don’t know what world these guys are living in,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said on ABC’s "The View" regarding Trump’s video, but countered that “More people came out to say no to Trumpism than in any single day in the history of America, and we should all be proud.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insinuated that Trump’s video was made out of anger over the number of people who showed up across the country to protest him. She also told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that “he seems to be totally obsessed by his grievances, his resentment, his getting even with people.”
“There are a lot of reasons why people would be for him,” she continued, but “I don’t think they understand that with an authoritarian personality in power, there is no safe haven.”
His supporters argue that there isn’t an “authoritarian personality” in office, and that people took the video too seriously.
“The president uses social media to make a point,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a response to a question about Trump’s sewage video on Monday. “You can argue he’s probably the most effective person who’s ever used social media for that.”
He then added that Trump is using satire, unlike those at the “No Kings” protest.
“He is using satire to make a point. He is not calling for the murder of his political opponents. And that’s what these people are doing,” he said, standing behind what he previously said, calling the protest led by Democrats an “I hate America rally.”
Utah Sen. Mike Lee also echoed Johnson, arguing that the protests over the weekend allowed for “open calls for violence.”
“At the ‘No Kings’ rallies, we saw countless, open calls for violence against President Trump and other Republicans,” Lee posted on X.
“Open calls for violence among Democrats have recently become so common, widely accepted, and even celebrated — as they certainly were at the “No Kings” rallies — that this argument rings hollow
Those engaging in such behavior over the weekend appear to have done so with full, unbridled approval of their fellow protesters
And this happened so many times — and in so many different locations — that it’s impossible to dismiss them as one-off exceptions," he added.