Two No Kings protests in one day, one in Cayucos

June 16, 2025

Editor’s Note: The following series, “Life in Radically Gentrifying Cayucos by the Sea,” to be posted biweekly includes the notes, thoughts, and opinions of an original American voice: author Dell Franklin. 

Franklin’s memoir, “The ballplayer’s Son” and “Life on The Mississippi, 1969” are currently on Amazon.

I was late to the little No Kings protest on the overpass above the freeway in Cayucos because earlier I attended the massive protest in San Luis Obispo where an enthusiastic but peaceful crowd of thousands under warm sunlight sported signs everywhere that warmed the hearts of democrats long subdued by the goings-on in America. This crowd was aroused and ready to fight over the cruelty and blatant corruption by an administration of brown shirts in suits and ties.

The signs were everywhere–Trump Public Enemy # One, Trump Is a Low-life Crook, Immigrants Welcome, ICE is Best Crushed, and the simply declared FUCK TRUMP.

It was a morning to rejoice. There’s a lot of people pissed off and losing sleep at night with no place to really vent except among family and friends, and many are having trouble dealing with friends and relatives who support Trump and his mean-spirited politics.

The people I went with and met are all older, as are Ethan, my tennis partner, and his wife, who have been to most rallies over the years and testified that they were pleased that more young people were attending.

“Well,” I said, “They’d better come. It’s their country. Most of the older people here will be checking out in the near future.”

Maybe these young people feel the same hopelessness many of us old folks feel, but also realize they will have to deal with the shit coming down for a good fifty years if they don’t step up ASAP. They do not recall a time when a president who came from a super wealthy Patrician family volunteered for suicide missions in WWII and lost a brother in that war and later challenged the country to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps. And backed down the Russians in Cuba over the missile crisis that had the entire country terrified of a nuclear war.

I am lucky to be of a generation when leaders inheriting big money and big power fought alongside the little guys because they would not have been able to look in the mirror without doing so.

Now we have a president who had bone spurs during the Vietnam war, feels people who allow themselves to put their asses on the line are suckers, spews lies and propaganda to airborne troops, and sends national guard and marine troops to protests in Los Angeles when there’s absolutely no need for them.

The protest in San Luis Obispo is but a small part of a protest taking place all over America, which instills in all of us a sense of reclaiming unity, a cause, something to take a huge bite out of and put our asses on the line. Goddamn right!

So later on I hurried back to Cayucos and found a friend and his wife standing at the overpass above the freeway in Cayucos. The crowd was typical of a tiny beach town, but they whooped at every car passing on the freeway and those leaving and entering town on the overpass, and my friend said, “We get about one finger out of every thirty honks and beeps.

The fingers are usually from guys in ballcaps driving big SUVs or trucks. They’re probably coming in from the Valley. So be it.”

The protest was raucous and spirited, the bridge above filled on both sides, but thinning out, as I was late and protests can be tiring. Folks were packing up their flags and signs and moving past me. One man had a sign that read—“I’m a proud Anti-Trump Veteran.”

We don’t see many of those these days. For some reason a lot of veterans seem to think a draft dodger  who regards veterans as suckers is “their guy.” Why? He hasn’t done a goddamn thing for any of us but talk shit. His “big beautiful bill” will shaft veterans, cause them jobs and health care.

I began a conversation with the man with the sign. I told him I was an anti-Trump veteran too.

“The guy’s never been in a bar fight in his life,” he said, grinning.

“He’s probably never been in a bar,” I explained. “He’s had limos and bodyguards since he was a child.”

We both agreed that Trump is a reflection of his administration: Pseudo masculine blowhards.

This man, middle aged and fit, standing beside his wife, was still furious over Trump’s denigration of John McCain, claiming he wasn’t a hero because he was captured after being shot down in the Vietnam war. John McCain, a prisoner of war and U.S. senator from a longstanding military family who was incapable of an indecent act or telling lies, would puke at the sight of Trump’s grandstanding parade on his birthday and never fit in in a senate full of Trump-fawning ass-kissers and lickspittles.

I was fired up. A King’s parade? Take me back to Ike, one of our greatest generals, or man’s man Teddy Roosevelt, who said, “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” He didn’t have to bluster. He was the real thing.

 


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Ironically these are the same boomer tyrants that screamed at us for not wearing a mask or trying to go to church or demanded every healthy child get 28 boosters to go to class


I’m glad you brought up McCain, 10 years ago Trump unremorsefully belittled an American hero because he was “caught”. Little has ever been a better demonstration of the mans true character.


Trump is a bad person and he has scammed so many Americans into thinking he’s anything but a scumbag con artist. I’m begging people to realize that he’s lied to you and you don’t owe him a damn thing.


It’s being reported that this “No Kings” movement is actually being partially funded by oligarchy governments to promote disruption and dissidence in the US. I doubt many who attended these protests were even aware of that.


Which “oligarchy governments”? Big claims require big evidence.


The substance is there – it’s Congress that should be passing new laws, setting policy, creating taxes, and leading this country. We’re a Republic where supreme power is invested in the legislature, Trump has been acting against the will of the founders.


Nonsense. I assume you’re referring to an ad in the New York Times bought by Walmart heiress Christy Walton who is an oligarch but is not part of any government. I’m not sure it’s disruptive for a wealthy individual to take up a political cause. After all, Elon Musk reportedly spent $250 million helping Trump get elected. In addition, the Mueller Report found that Russia, which has an oligarchic government, interfered on behalf of Trump in the 2016 election.


AAPA and UCA both see staffed by Chinese Communists and have extensive ties to the CCP and Chinese intelligence


Trump is an embarrassment to this country; at this point, it is plainly obvious.


Kennedy would be considered a right wing radical by todays democrats. It’s a shame they have let the lunatics take over a once proud party. Get used to protesting. Likely about 12 more years of it.


I’m curious what you think happens in 4, 8, or 12 years when Democrats eventually do take power. Would you be comfortable with them doing everything Trump has done but reversed?


I already went through open Borders, government corruption, pandemic lies, it was called the Biden administration.


NO KINGS? Last administration tried to take natural gas and vehicle gas away from us, forced you to be medicated against your will, legistate fake climate into existence, brainwash and mutilated your children, without your knowledge or permission, insist you accept hypersexualization of children and punished you for complaining. 


Well said !


Since you agree. I am sure you have proof of what you agree with. So post it up?


The party skipped the primary, crowned Kamala without a single vote, and tried to erase Trump from the ballot, which did not work. That is not democracy, that’s authoritarianism with a blue sticker.


I appreciate your concern for the rule of law when it comes to elections in the United States. I am sure you would agree trumps lawsuits, false election claims and January 6 goes against what we stand for here in the. US.Your claim the party skipped the primary is correct ,however, not illegal as Biden wasnt the official nominee of the party. Harris wouldn’t have been my first choice but it is better than a fascist. And feel free to show proof the democrats had anything to do with trumps”erasure”.


Let’s take your points one by one. On gas, natural gas usage in the U.S. has risen by 41% in the last 20 years and by at least 2% in each of the last four years of the Biden administration. And, I don’t recall there being any shortage of gas for my car. It has gotten expensive but I believe that to be more a part of living in California and nothing to do with Biden. Even figuring in California, the nation’s average for a gallon of gas right now is about $3.20 and has been in that range for at least the last year. Seems cheap, considering a gallon of gas in Europe is about $8.


I’m also not aware of anyone being medicated against their will. Americans, unless they are incarcerated, have free will over what drugs they take. In fact, in 2024, fentanyl overdoses decreased by 27%.


I’m also not aware of children being mutilated or of the “hypersexualization” (not a word) of children. Maybe you can provide some sources for those claims.


Finally, on climate, Cornell University has reported that 99.9% of over 80,000 peer reviewed research papers on the topic in recent years mostly blame human activity for the current warming of the planet. I wonder if it’s a terrible thing that Biden administration officials believed in science and were trying to deal with the problem.


The systematic downvotes of facts is sad…


No Kings protest nationwide, it was a beautiful day! Dell, one of my favorite pieces


1800 different rallies across the USA involving an estimated 5 million people against what trump and his minions stand for. People dont like fascists.


Lots of down votes by people who support a fascist I guess. Sad testament to the people who fail to learn from history.


Nice piece, Dell. The protests remind me of the slogan “America: Love It or Leave It” which gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s during the Vietnam War era. Remember?


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