A feisty, inspired No Kings rally in Irvine

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the peeps showed up and showed out.

So my plan today was to attend a bunch of early No Kings rallies all over Orange County. I’d do the ol’ journalistic two-step bounce. First here, then there, then up there, then down there. It was a grand and ambitious plan of an 8 am wake-up, a breakfast burrito—then, go!

Alas …

The wife and I take a weekly improv class (highly recommend, by the way), and it’s always Saturday morning. So, instead of marching my ass off, I stood inside a Tustin comedy studio pretending to be eating animal crackers shaped like the members of NSYNC. [You had to be there]

This is a long way of explaining that it is 6:19 pm, and I’ve just returned from the corner of Harvard and Culver in Irvine, where Indivisible hosted a fantastic No Kings rally.

Was it the biggest? No—I’d say there were about 1,500 people lining the streets.

Was it the loudest? No—though there were plenty of horn honks.

Did I walk away feeling pumped up and inspired?

Hell to the triple yes.

I say this as someone who has spent the past year chronicling the weird highs and lows of Orange County politics: There is something uniquely inspiring in the smaller rallies. What I mean is, it’s easy when you’re surrounded by 100,000 people, and the music is blasting, and the water bottles are free, and [fill in the blank celebrity] offers up a pep talk/free concert. Those are amazing experienxes—but fairly simple.

The smaller events, on the other hand, take work. They call upon people who are so entrenched in their convictions that the No. 1 inspiration isn’t unity, but justice and righteousness. Those standing on the corner of Harvard and Culver were there because they’re mad at Donald Trump, horrified by the GOP, terrified for their children and grandchildren—and DOF (Desperate as Fuck) to do something about it. You could see it in their faces; see it in their signs. This was not a fun outing to be followed by pizza and beers. No, this was a purposeful pursuit of justice, and a necessary effort to remind our fellow Americans that what we are (right now) is not who we will be (in the near future). The conversations I had were fruitful, engaging, inspirational, informed.

In short, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.

All hail Irvine.

PS: A thought worth sharing: There were a bunch of petition gatherers at the march. They wore black shirts, they smiled, they said the right buzz words. Please, please, please—do NOT sign petitions in the moment. Never, ever, ever. Take a photo, read the words, research the information. If it’s actually worthwhile, you can do it online a day later. Many of the petitions I’ve seen are sponsored by gaming brands, alcohol, weed, etc. They pay people minimum wage to attend events, bellow, “Help the homeless! Sign this petition!”—but leave out that, in truth, it’s a Draft Kings initiative to legalize online gambling that gives .00000000006% of proceeds to a homeless shelter in Bethesda.

My point: Do NOT sign petitions by people you don’t know. Ever.