ASRA NOMANI: The familiar hidden hand behind today’s #NoKings protests

Yesterday, as protesters readied to descend on city squares across America for a mass demonstration branded #NoKings, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis took to MSNBC, praising the movement as a righteous stand for democracy. 

“People are very determined to get out there and be seen. This is the United States. We do not want a king,” she said.

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What she didn’t say: The California Democratic Party is itself organizing today’s protests — from Orange County to Oakland — with the full institutional weight of the Democratic machine, and the Democratic National Committee is playing a critical role behind the scenes in protests across the country from California to Florida.

Already, I established in analysis for the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, that the protests are organized by 197 organizations aligned with the Democratic Party. This network harnesses a machine of about $2.1 billion in total annual revenues toward this cause. That effort alone represents a partisan political enterprise that I call the protest industrial complex.

Now, in a new analysis of 148 protest listings uploaded on Mobilize.us, a Democratic Party organizing platform, I have established that at least 70 Democratic National Committee affiliates are also organizing protests in at least 21 states and the District of Columbia. This is a clear indicator of the partisanship of these protests as an orchestrated, calculated expression of the opposition party, not a spontaneous grassroots outpouring. 

Despite the rhetoric of populist uprising, it’s clear: #NoKings is the Democratic Party staging political theater in the streets of America.

As editor-in-chief of the Pearl Project, I have spent the last week building this database of the protest organizers and the findings expose the true architecture of today’s “day of defiance.” From Mobilize links and protest pages to organizing toolkits, we traced the digital and physical infrastructure behind the June 14 demonstrations. 

I’ve added a tab with the Democratic Party events in a public spreadsheet that I invite readers to study.

Here’s what I found about the hand of the Democratic Party:

• At least 70 unique Democratic Party committees and clubs are organizing at least 140 protest events across the country in at least 21 states and the District of Columbia.
• Democratic Party clubs are also organizing protests in at least four countries overseas: Australia, Italy, Mexico and Norway, with groups like “Democrats Abroad Norway.”

It’s important to recognize: the Democrat Party isn’t just supporting these protests — they’re leading them, often under the radar. 

Here’s just a glimpse of the geographic footprint of Democratic National Committee club and committee activity. It’s dense but I share it so you can know we have the receipts:

1. Arizona: Apache Junction: Pinal County Democratic Party; Flagstaff: Coconino County Democratic Party and Indivisible Northern AZ; Show Low: Navajo County Democratic Party; Window Rock: Apache County Democratic Party.
2. California: Auburn: Auburn Area Democrats; Bakersfield: California Democratic Party; Big Bear Lake: Democratic Club of Big Bear Valley; Chico: Butte County Democratic Party Central Committee; Chino Hills: California Democratic Party; Dana Point: Democratic Party of Orange County, Democratic Women of South Orange County; East Bay: Alameda County Dems, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club; Huntington Beach; Joshua Tree: Democrats of the Morongo Basin; Laguna Beach: Laguna Beach Democratic Club; Los Angeles County: Swing Left; Marysville: Yuba Dems; Newport Beach: Newport Beach Women’s Democratic Club; Oakland: ; Rancho Cordova: America River Democrats Club; Redlands: Redlands Area Democratic Club; Riverside: Democrats of Greater Riverside; San Francisco: San Francisco Democratic Party; San Jose: California Democratic Party; San Rafael: California Democratic Party; Santa Clara: Santa Clara County Democratic Party; Seal Beach: Democratic Club of Seal Beach, Seal Beach Leisure World Democratic Club; Sebastopol; Sunnyvale: Sunnyvale Democratic Club; Tehachapi: California Democratic Party; Victorville:High Desert Progressive Democrats.
3. District of Columbia: DC Ward 8 Democrats
4. Florida: Casselberry: Seminole County Democratic Party; Englewood: Sarasota County Democratic Party; Fort Walton Beach: Okaloosa Democrats; Ft Lauderdale: Broward Democratic Party; Gainesville: Alachua County Democratic Party; Naples: Collier County DEC; Palm Beach Gardens: Palm Beach County Democratic Party; Pensacola: Escambia Democratic Party; Sarasota: Sarasota County Democratic Party; Tallahassee; Venice: Sarasota County Democratic Party.
5. Georgia: Atlanta: DeKalb County Democrats; Brunswick: Democratic Party of Georgia; Dalton: Douglasville: Volunteer organized for Democratic Party of Georgia; Griffin; Hiawassee: Towns County Democrats; Hiram: Paulding Democrats; Rome: Democratic Party of Georgia
6. Illinois: DeKalb: DeKalb County Democratic Party IL; Princeton: Bureau County Democratic Party.
7. Indiana: Auburn: Indiana DeKalb County Democratic Party; Connersville: Indiana Fayette County Democratic Party; Nashville: Indiana 9th District Democratic Party; New Albany: Indiana Floyd County Democratic Party.
8. Maryland: Easton: Talbot Democrats.
9. Michigan: Lansing: Ingham County Democratic Party.
10. Nebraska: Alliance, Columbus, Kearney, Scottsbluff: Nebraska Democratic Party:
11. New Hampshire: Enfield: New Hampshire Democratic Party.
12. New York: New York City: Manhattan Young Democrats.
13. North Carolina: Asheboro: Randolph County Democratic Party; Edenton: North Carolina Democratic Party.
14. Oklahoma: OKDems, Oklahoma Democratic Party, Federation of Oklahoma Latin Democrats.
15. Ohio: Dayton: Green County Ohio Democratic Party; Warren: Trumbull County Democratic Party.
16. South Carolina: Bluffton, Hilton Head Island: Beaufort County Democratic Party.
17. South Dakota: Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Yankton: South Dakota Democratic Party.
18. Tennessee: Knoxville: KnoxDems, Knox County Democratic Party.
19. Texas: McKinney: Collin County Democratic Party; San Antonio: Comal County Democratic Party.
20. Wisconsin: Platteville: WisDems.

What does this list tell us? This is a party infrastructure, not a protest movement. Let’s be honest: this isn’t about stopping a “king.” It’s about protecting a political party.

Across the country, Democratic Party chapters have flooded local organizing channels with official flyers, water bottles branded with county logos, talking points and coordinated slogans. In Santa Monica, Calif., the local Democratic Club is marching along the boardwalk. 

In Flagstaff, Ariz., the Coconino County Democratic Party is rallying on the steps of city hall. In Naples, Florida, the Collier County Democratic Executive Committee is mobilizing volunteers with signage pre-approved by national political action committees.

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In Seminole County, Fla., the advertising is about political canvassing with these details for volunteers: “Signs will be provided to place next to the cooler that say ‘Free Water from SemDems.’ Consider bringing trash bags to tie to the handle of the cooler to collect used bottles. Email [email protected] if you can bring a cooler with water. Passing out SemDems cards. Stand at protest area entry points and make sure people receive a SemDem card so they can connect with us. Passing Out Protest Signs. Hand out signs for people to wave if they didn’t bring one. Help people make a sign using SemDems supplies. In this role, you will be too busy to participate in the protest at the street.”

In total, we tracked scores of unique combinations of state and club, proving that multiple organizations — including groups like Swing Left and Indivisible — are operating across several states with the Democratic Party, deploying scripts, signs, and staff.

Here is what you won’t hear on most of the media’s coverage:

• In  Apache Junction, Ariz., the Pinal County Democratic Party is collaborating with local Indivisible chapters for a branded “No Kings” march, complete with printed materials calling Trump a “tyrant.”
• In Oakland, Calif., the East Bay Democratic Party and Indivisible East Bay are co-hosting a rally where participants are encouraged to “paint the town” with pre-approved chalk messages distributed at a booth.
• In Pensacola, Fla., the Escambia Democratic Party has arranged for voter registration drives under the #NoKings banner, blurring the line between civil protest and electoral campaigning.

These are not the spontaneous actions of private citizens. They are events sanctioned by the Democratic Party dressed up in the language of moral resistance.

These are not the spontaneous actions of private citizens. They are events sanctioned by the Democratic Party dressed up in the language of moral resistance.

These protests amount to a new chapter of political puppetry. One longtime Democratic volunteer, granted anonymity, described to us the internal pressure they felt to participate: “It feels less like a movement and more like a performance. We are told which graphics to share, what signs to print and even how to answer reporters. It is like the whole protest is a campaign rollout — but in protest clothes.”

This comment is telling. The Democratic Party is not showing up to these protests as supporters. They are stage managers. The very people warning us against authoritarianism are deploying authoritarian tactics to choreograph outrage. It’s political cynicism at its finest—activism from above, not below.

Why does this matter? In 2002, my friend and colleague Daniel Pearl was murdered by extremists in Pakistan. The ideology that led to his death — sectarianism, division, moral absolutism — has haunted me ever since. That same dogma is now playing out in American streets, cloaked in slogans like “No Kings” and “Save Democracy.”

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In my 2023 book, Woke Army, I warned of an unholy alliance between far-left radicals and ideological opportunists that undermines institutions from within. Today’s protests manifest this alliance and they are the logical next step: not organic resistance, but manufactured dissent designed to influence the next election cycles.

This isn’t about Donald Trump’s flaws or strengths. It’s about the weaponization of protest by those already in power.

Today’s protest is not a revolution. It’s a message that refuses the 2024 election results. The message is this: the Democratic Party is willing to use every tool available — PACs, nonprofits, public unions and even street protests — to control the narrative heading into the next elections.

Voters should be wary of any party that cries “democracy” while scripting the applause, supplying the signs and managing the stage.

Today, as you watch video clips of marchers chanting and waving signs, ask yourself: who paid for the microphone? Who printed the signs? And who benefits when the crowd disperses? The answer is clear with Trump’s birthday party for the Army: it’s an expression of the ruling Republican administration.

That’s the kind of transparency we need to have about the street protests. The protests aren’t grassroots. They are the political puppeteering of the Democratic Party.

ASRA NOMANI