Defending democracy against authoritarianism is not a battle between liberals and conservatives. It’s a struggle between those with fidelity to the rule of law and those whose fidelity is to a ruler.
Howard Simon
Palm Beach Post
June 26, 2025
Armed with homemade signs, millions of Americans used Flag Day to protest the Trump administration’s attempt to consolidate all powers and thereby converting our country into an authoritarian state.
The “No Kings” demonstration participants were also acting in solidarity with others around the globe who are defending their fragile democracies.
They were in solidarity with South Koreans who forced the impeachment of their president after he declared martial law, and with the people of Israel who took to the streets when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to take control of the judiciary. At the current pace of the Trump administration, more demonstrations will be needed
Without a massive public response, we may soon resemble Turkey, Hungary and Venezuela — countries where leaders secured power through democratic elections and then dismantled democratic institutions and muzzled the opposition.
In America, abuses of the executive branch typically end up before the U. S. Supreme Court, and the judges, even the Supreme Court, take note of what is happening in the streets, which is why the April 5 “Hands Off,” the June 14 “No Kings” demonstrations, and any future demonstrations are so important.
Protesters must find ways to continue to be seen and heard
Going forward the “No Kings” protestors will need to ensure future demonstrations grow in size, encourage friends, family and neighbors to put aside their complacency that “it can’t happen here” because the attacks on universities, judges, the media, and the use of police-state tactics are happening here.
They must urge folks to see through White House marketing that hides deeply unpopular policies behind appealing slogans designed to immobilize opposition.
For example, take “ending voter fraud.” This is a false claim used to justify voting restrictions that make Vote-by-Mail more difficult, require unreasonable ID requirements and block former felons who completed their sentence from voting.
“Rooting out anti-Semitism” has become a pretext to enable government control of the curriculum and faculty of our universities, and “ending woke” has become the language of politicians exploiting concerns about DEI to rationalize censoring library books and college courses, and dismantling anti-discrimination and civil rights protections.
The claim that mass deportations are designed to protect us from “murderous aliens” is a lie that exhibits the president’s racism and hostility to all immigration [particularly of people of color] — legal or otherwise. What’s going on is fear of demographic change, our increasing diversity and the projection that by 2050 the U.S. will have a majority non-white population.
Hostility to immigration is hostility to America as a diverse, multi-racial democracy.
‘Don’t just protest, vote.’
To save democracy, there is no substitute for voting. “No Kings” protestors need to make sure that friends and family members are registered to vote and, if signed up for Vote-by-Mail, make sure that they update their VBM request.
Mid-term congressional elections are a little more than a year away with leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives hanging on a handful of seats., An end to one-party rule will help impede President Trump’s effort to mimic the kind of authoritarian democracy now seen in Viktor Orban’s Hungary.
Defending democracy against authoritarianism is not a battle between liberals and conservatives. It is a struggle between constitutionalists and anti-constitutionalists, a battle between those with fidelity to the rule of law and those whose fidelity is to a ruler.
Saving our democracy will require putting aside party affiliations to form the broadest coalition of Non-Party Affiliated, independents, Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans.
The French recently provided an inspiring lesson in their last election: competing political parties put aside their differences and cooperated to prevent the crypto-fascist National Rally Party from gaining power.
We need to learn from their success.
Howard Simon is a former executive director of the ACLU of Florida. He resides in Gainesville.
