What I Saw At The No Kings Protest ...

Several thousand -- at one point I thought north of 2,000, reader GregL thought north of 3,000, and it was only increasing -- people. I won't be surprised if it turns out to have been around 5,000 at some point.

Upbeat mood. Live music (including at least one Grateful Dead cover).

No counter-protesters that I saw.

Heck, I didn't even see any cops. Not a single one. I suspect they were there, but they weren't there in force.

The crowd trended older. This is a university town, but it's summer.

Seemed like a mix of "mainstream"/"moderate" Demopublicans, old hippies, and some younger student types.

Only stayed for an hour or so. The speechifying was kept to a minimum and most of it wasn't about specific issues, but more generally  a sort of "liberal" constitutionalism (due process, etc.), plus antiwar sentiment (although Ukraine seemed unmentioned -- Gaza and Iran were the focus of most foreign policy signs and talk), and of course plenty of Orange Man Bad because that was the reason for the event.

I never did find the Soros rep to collect my pay, dammit.

Will this kind of thing move any needles? Depending on turnout in various districts, I suspect it could tell Republican pols in non-safe seats, "if you come off as MAGA, you will not win a congressional election." But I'm not expecting anything more than a little of that.

Somewhat representative photo: