The No Kings Protest has dominated the streets and headlines, and now MS NOW’s host Lawrence O’Donnell says the movement is unlike anything seen before in American politics. Speaking on his show, O’Donnell argued that the scale and focus of the protests against Donald Trump is a big change in how public dissent is expressed.
Lawrence O’Donnell slams Donald Trump amid No Kings Protest
O’Donnell said the defining feature of the No Kings Protest is that it targets Donald Trump himself rather than a specific policy decision. He explained, “If Donald Trump had ended his war in Iran the week before, all of the same people still would have turned out for the ‘No Kings’ protest.”
He went on to describe the demonstrations as unprecedented, adding that Trump is “the first person in American history to earn a nationwide protest against him.” According to Lawrence O’Donnell, the movement quickly spread beyond the United States, turning into what he called the “biggest mass protest in American history.”
To underline his point, the host compared the current protests to those during the Vietnam War. While many demonstrators strongly opposed Richard Nixon, he noted that their protests were aimed at ending the war, not at Nixon personally. “If Richard Nixon had ended the Vietnam War, the protests would have stopped,” he said.
Lawrence O’Donnell also shared a personal story about David Podoff, a former Social Security Administration board member he once worked with. He recalled how, at 85, he planned to take part in last year’s protest in Lexington, Massachusetts, even intending to get arrested as an act of defiance. O’Donnell used the story to highlight how protest culture has carried across generations, but also how the focus has changed.
“But then came Donald Trump,” O’Donnell said. “And on Saturday, Americans of all ages, from children to people in their 90s, came out to protest something America has never protested before. They were protesting a person. That had never happened before.”
