Jeffrey Blehar of National Review Online analyzes the No Kings Day rally in Chicago.
This weekend, on a cold autumn Saturday, my city returned once again to its protest roots, as throngs of suburbanites and team-sport fanatics flocked like lemmings to Chicago’s Grant Park. No, it wasn’t 1968 all over again (and the Cubs got bounced from the playoffs a while ago). It was for a nationwide “No Kings” rally, an official bleat of displeasure — brought to you by the Democratic Party™ — against the course of the second Trump administration. …
… Readers, let me assure you that absolutely nothing of importance whatsoever happened on this day. While turnout was fairly respectable, it was by no means overwhelming. The biggest whiteout Chicago has seen in the 21st century remains either the Polar Vortex of 2014 or the World Series victory celebration in November 2016 — and I really must emphasize the mayonnaise-like nature of it all, because that was my overwhelming demographic impression of “No Kings”: the same mix of earnest youths, activists, and gray-haired suburbanites as my local farmers’ market, only on a larger scale. …
… I just couldn’t see the purpose of it; it felt like trying to hype yourself to attend a WNBA game.
My instinct was proven right when I met the rally-goers later that afternoon and learned everything I needed to know about them. How? Because vast, clotting flocks of them poured like teeming hordes of vermin into the West Loop (my adjacent Chicago neighborhood) and devoured our food infrastructure. Legally and politely, that is. …
… And that’s what, by all accounts, “No Kings” day was across America: for locals, an inconvenient surge of upscale suburban tourists stealing our carryout slots on Uber Eats. Aside from that, it was a minor traffic hazard. It beats rioting, and that is worth noting. It was also impossible not to note — and I went back to confirm this by checking drone footage and photos of the Grant Park rally — how mightily white this rally was, in a city that is only 36 percent white itself.
