Saturday, Oct. 17, around 400 protesters gathered at the Williamsburg-James City General District Court for “No Kings 4: Vote Early,” the fourth No Kings action in Williamsburg. Event organizers combined political protest against President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies with opportunities for voter registration, early voting information and vaccinations.
The protest featured no formal speakers. Participants were instead led in group call-and-response chants by United States Marine veteran Jason Moulenbelt.
Moulenbelt said the chants were drawn from a collection maintained by resistance group Williamsburg JCC Indivisible. He credited the selection to the predominantly older crowd.
“These guys were young when they started protesting,” he said. “That remains the vast majority of people out here, fighting our fight.”
Event organizers also collaborated with Walgreens Pharmacy to offer a COVID-19 and flu vaccination clinic, with vouchers offered for uninsured attendees.
Representatives from the League of Women Voters also assisted attendees with voter registration and early voting, and additional volunteers staffed tables to answer questions about various voting issues.
Protester Mark Sullivan said unseating Rep. Rob Wittman, who represents Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, motivated him to attend.
“Wittman, our beloved Congressman, rubber stamps everything he wants to do,” Sullivan said. “My main job is to get him out of here.”
Sullivan also emphasized the significance of displaying the American flag at No Kings events.
“I think it’s very important to bring a flag every time you come to show that you know it doesn’t belong to the right,” Sullivan said.
Other protesters, such as Duncan Bradley, pointed to concerns about transparency and accountability among politically connected elites.
Bradley cited transparency surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to powerful figures as a reason for his attendance.
“We have a tyrant in the White House,” Bradley said. “We have to get the numbers up of people out in the streets, nonviolently and peacefully protesting, in order to see change. We cannot have justice until the criminals at the top are held accountable for their crimes.”
Williamsburg JCC Indivisible has served the region since January 2017, organizer Heather Meaney-Allen explained.
“We’re not about hierarchy,” she said. “It isn’t about us. It’s about the results of what we’re getting on the ground.”
Meaney-Allen expressed her distaste for the current Trump administration.
“We are furious,” Meaney-Allen said. “We’re fighting for the future.”
Some of the protesters said they were dissatisfied with the lack of undergraduate student attendance at the protest. Several contrasted turnout at the protest to student participation in the College’s Turning Point USA chapter’s recent “Prove Me Wrong” debate.
Meaney-Allen noted an increase in political independents, including herself, within Williamsburg JCC Indivisible. She said she felt many from the local area are disappointed in the Democratic Party’s approach to retaliating against current administrative practices.
“At some point, people get elected to office, and they forget why they’re there,” Meaney-Allen said. “It becomes about them, not about the country and about their constituents.”
Moulenbelt said the protest was an opportunity to participate as an individual and not represent any other institution or community.
“I think the mistake we made is that we believe we can set up a democracy and that it doesn’t need to be participated in,” Moulenbelt said.
Moulenbelt suggested the country’s current political tensions reflect a broader reassessment of the relationship between political success and moral responsibility.
“Somewhere we thought to ourselves, as a culture, winning was more important than being moral,” he said. “I think that’s why now you’re seeing this course correction.”
Moulenbelt also raised questions about the future of the Republican Party.
“I don’t see Republicans being able to redefine themselves after Trump,” he said. “They’ll have to distance and rebuild. Will there be another party that comes out?”
Moulenbelt acknowledged the tension between the allowance of opposing viewpoints and maintaining an open democratic society. He argued that the two principles are not always easily reconciled.
“Someone will say, ‘But if you’re trying to shut down MAGA, aren’t you being intolerant in the same way that they’re being intolerant?’” he added. “I will say, ‘You cannot be tolerant of intolerance.’”
Moulenbelt said demonstrations such as No Kings 4 serve a purpose beyond ideological debate.
“I don’t look to these [protests] to have great discussions,” he said. “There are a million different ideas of what people think is important. I view these as, ‘Let’s get out and participate.’”
