Dear friends,

I am sending this short note in advance of No Kings Day, October 18, 2025. I hope that each of you can participate in the pro-democracy rallies, in person or in spirit. Be safe, but be bold and be proud in exercising your rights under the First Amendment—the right to peaceably assemble, the right to free speech, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

No Kings Day could not have come at a more consequential and apt moment. On Friday, the president commuted the prison sentence of former GOP Representative George Santos. The commutation was a corrupt act in two respects, both of which demonstrate why the people must rise by tens of millions to protect the Constitution and reestablish the rule of law.

In granting the commutation, the president wrote, “at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”

There could be no clearer admission that the commutation of Santos’ sentence was a reward for loyalty to Trump. The pardon power should be used only to ensure that justice is served when there has been a miscarriage of justice in a defendant’s conviction or sentencing.

The commutation not only rewards loyalty, it also threatens to punish disloyalty by those in Trump’s party who do not “always vote Republican.” When the House reconvenes (as it must), the Epstein Transparency Act will be brought to the floor for a vote. Any Republican who votes against Trump is now on notice that a pardon or commutation will not be granted to any Republican who votes against Trump.

The president has dropped all pretenses of adhering to the rule of law. Personal loyalty to Trump is the only guiding principle in our government, which maps precisely onto the model in which all officials in the United Kingdom swear an oath of loyalty to King Charles III.

We fought a war with Britain to free ourselves from a government in which all citizens swore loyalty to a king.

Trump is now reasserting the powers of a king. We do not have kings in America, and it is time for the American people to withdraw “the consent of the governed,” through peaceful protest.

We can stop Trump’s lawless reign by rising in overwhelming numbers to ensure that his enablers, apologists, and corporate funders fear the political might of the American people more than they fear Trump’s retribution.

On Saturday, I will address the No Kings Rally in Concord, Massachusetts. I will say, in part,

We meet on sacred ground in the ongoing battle to protect democracy. We are engaged in a noble struggle, one that commenced on this site 250 years ago and that will continue long after we are gone.

I am here today to say that we will prevail in our struggle to preserve democracy.

Every generation must reclaim democracy for itself. We must make democracy our own through bravery and sacrifice, through constancy and loyalty, through vigilance and dedication.

Future historians will record that this president was an enemy of democracy, and that he was stopped by ordinary citizens who cared enough about their country to take to the streets in peaceful protests until their voices overwhelmed the president’s enablers and corporate masters, reclaiming democracy for our generation.

Bless you all as we undertake the sacred duty of making democracy our own—ensuring that we transmit the gift of democracy to future generations, just as it was bequeathed to us by prior generations.

I will be at the No Kings Rally most of the day on Saturday, so I will not hold my regular Weekly Dose of Perspective livestream.

Stay strong and stay safe. I will talk to you tomorrow!

Protest Photos

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