As protesters gather for "No Kings" gatherings, rallies and even a First Amendment concert in New York City on President Donald Trump's 80th birthday, I can't help but snicker. If Trump is acting like a king, he's doing a lousy job of it.

The No Kings Coalition isn't laughing. "While politicians from the White House to state houses all across this country act like unaccountable kings, we'll be doing the real work of bringing communities together in living rooms, community centers, and businesses across America," the group told Fast Company.

Unaccountable kings? That phrase sounds familiar. Thomas Jefferson spent nearly half the Declaration of Independence accusing the British monarchy of a "long train of abuses" ‒ 27 specific grievances against King George III: taxing colonists without representation, cutting off colonial trade, forcing colonists to house British soldiers, shielding troops from punishment for murdering colonists. The indictment was so damning it justified revolution.

Jefferson was such a radical rebel that, 250 years before today's No Kings movement, he was already making its case. The thread running through all 27 grievances – and his rallying cry that "all men are created equal" – was a revolutionary idea: No........

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