Crowds line Wolf Road in Colonie for a “No Kings” pro-democracy demonstration on June 14, 2025.

It’s a Saturday in mid-June, and I’m jumping into my friend’s bright blue Prius, heading to the No Kings Day protest against the growing number of anti-democratic actions taken by President Donald Trump and his administration.

In just the span of a few days, the Marines deployed to halt protests in Los Angeles that the mayor and governor there say are peaceful, California Senator Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents for trying to ask a question at Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s news briefing, and Trump showed off with a group of soldiers chosen for their partisan beliefs at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where they cheer his political statements and boo his predecessor, Joe Biden.




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As we snake through back roads to avoid traffic on Wolf Road, the region’s main commercial center and the site of the largest rally, my friend, a long-retired reporter, tells me why he is doing this. He grew up in another state, in a family that included two elected legislators and where “there was always an engagement with politics on a very personal level.”

“We need to show that we don’t agree with the way things are going in this country,” his wife adds.

I am not participating in the protest,........

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