Photo by Autumn Willow Galliher

Saturday Oct. 18 was a lovely fall day for the Citizens Action Group-sponsored No Kings event that was held in Mesquite. The No Kings Day protest was called in response to abuses of power of the recent Republican administration. Nationwide, somewhere between 2500 and 2700 events were held, and it looks like No Kings will have the largest turnout of any protest in the US to date, with 7 million + people out for the event.

Approximately 425 people came out in Mesquite to participate in this visibility event, to meet their like-minded neighbors and to be a part of Mesquite’s largest 2025 protest to date. The atmosphere of the Mesquite protest was a big party for those of us who know we live in a red city but for the life of us, can’t figure out what people aren’t seeing. While all this was happening Republicans in the Senate are refusing to negotiate on the 2026 budget to address a proposed $900 billion cut to Medicaid and the loss of ACA subsidies effective Jan 1st, 2026, while providing billions of dollars in tax breaks mostly to the 1%.

Photo by Autumn Willow Galliher

 

For those who haven’t heard about the October No Kings protest, No Kings was a peaceful national day of action and mass mobilization in response to the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the federal government. Participants wanted to voice their concerns about this administration’s lawlessness and corruption which only seems to be getting worse. Among the problems are masked agents targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting and detaining people without cause and without access to legal representation; the federal government gutting health care, environmental protections, and education when families need these protections now more than ever; political operatives  rigging maps to silence voters, ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities, and driving up the cost of living while handing out massive giveaways to billionaire allies. No Kings events were organized across the US and worldwide to demonstrate that organized nonviolent people power can outpace any authoritarian aspirations.

No Kings participants wanted to tell the world in America, we don’t do “kings”.  Since the inauguration, the Trump administration and its enablers have operated as though they have a mandate to enrich themselves, while cutting jobs and services for the rest of us. No Kings participants are united in rejecting a President who acts like an American king, ignoring the constitution and US laws. No Kings participants were out standing together against the abuses of power, cruelty, and corruption. No Kings organizers want participants and others who feel as they do to know that “the power is in your hands” and are asking Americans to “join us” to make positive changes in our government. For more information on how you can, please contact citizensactiongroupnv@gmail.com.