OPINION
Sheridan’s latest “No Kings” rally offered plenty of political outrage Saturday, October 17, but a considerably smaller audience to share it. Attendance did not exceed 60 people, a sharp contrast with the few hundred at Sheridan’s March 28 No Kings demonstration at the county courthouse. The local turnout was considerably less impressive than its collection of exclamation points.
Danielle Arnoux told Sheridan Media that voter information was the central purpose. National organizers likewise promoted October 17 around early voting ahead of the November election. If that was the goal, one could hardly tell by the attendance.
The Wyoming rallies also belong to an established national organizing operation. No Kings’ own website identifies a steering committee that includes Indivisible, MoveOn, the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, and the partner organization Democratic Socialists of America. Describing the Sheridan demonstration and the others in Wyoming solely as independent, homegrown expressions of concern ignores who’s really behind them.
Some local attendees may have been sincere in their desire to persuade passersby to the cause, but you wouldn’t have known it by the signs.
One large sign supplied a three-line explanation of American politics: “TRUMP=NAZI,” “NAZI=CULT,” and “CULT=MAGA.”
Keep in mind, the new slogan for the Sheridan Democrats is “Here for good.” If the Sheridan Democrats had an outreach strategy, it had been neatly reduced to political arithmetic. If a Trump-supporting neighbor happened to pass by, the sign concisely explained what the protester thought of him.
Of the No Kings’ listed partners, none is more notorious than the Democratic Socialists of America. Its national program, Workers Deserve More, explicitly and publicly calls for supporters to “draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.” Danielle Reiff, one of the organizers of the nationwide No Kings events, has openly called for a new constitutional convention to draft a communist constitution.
They also have other ideas like abolishing the Senate and Electoral College, replacing the president and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary selected by and subordinate to Congress, and putting the largest corporations and essential industries under public ownership.
Lofty goals, but they are the goals of the DSA and not necessarily those of the Sheridan Democrats—at least the forward-facing ones anyway. The Democrats did advertise the event in coordination with NoKings.org of which the DSA is a partner organization.
Comparing political opponents to Nazis may satisfy the people holding the signs. It is a remarkably poor introduction to anyone organizers hope to persuade. A voter who disagrees about immigration, taxes, or the direction of the country deserves an argument that addresses those disagreements, not a cardboard equation offering an insult instead.
Another sign declared, “NO Faux-King Way.” The wordplay required little explanation, and it said more about the person holding the sign than it did public policy.
Wardrobe choices carried similar messages-- a red shirt opposing “AMERICAN FASCISM,” a black shirt reading “ANTI FASCIST,” and another declaring “A GIRL HAS NO PRESIDENT,” alongside a raised communist fist.
The slogans made the participants’ opposition unmistakable. Their usefulness in building a broader coalition is another question. Someone looking for information about candidates or a reason to reconsider a vote could reasonably expect little more than a succession of declarations that Trump is a dictator or that his supporters are part of a cult.
The national No Kings organization describes its events as nonpartisan and intended to encourage participation by eligible voters. This past demonstration as well as other Sheridan No Kings rallies offered little evidence to suggest that. At a Sheridan Democratic Party No Kings event this past March, signs with swastikas were prevalent as well as one that said, “Let’s give them 1793 France”—an obvious allusion to guillotines in the street.
But all of this is hardly new behavior for the Sheridan County Democrat Party. At another demonstration in August of 2025 a protester also brandished a sign with a swastika on it. The Sheridan County Democrat Party posted it themselves to their social media accounts. It’s clear that these demonstrations are about little more than scratching a visceral itch to be profane and explain to everyone who passes by exactly who the Sheridan Democrat Party really is.
For Sheridan County Democrats and other local opponents of Trump, the smaller crowd should prompt some reflection. Repeating the strongest possible accusation does not automatically make an argument stronger. Eventually, calling everything fascism becomes a substitute for explaining anything.
That message was familiar: Trump is a Nazi, MAGA is a cult, and the people carrying the signs occupy the moral high ground. Apparently, delivering it again required a much smaller audience.