https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1aEXi6WcM8/?mibextid=wwXIfr
If you open the link, you’ll see a meme which claims that a Fox News host implied No Kings protesters could have been paid $500 to protest on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. Here’s my side of the story.
This is what I know because I participated in the No Kings Rally in my city of 113,000 people, strongly conservative Republican, (“Vanderburgh County voters tapped {Trump}to be their president last year by more than 10 points”[Courier & Press]).
Those attending were probably not pro-Hamas, anarchists or violent. I doubt if there were illegal aliens at the protest, although I know of some Hispanics who were present.
Here is how Google AI describes the city/county racial makeup as of this date:
According to 2020 Census data, Evansville/Vanderburgh County’s racial makeup is becoming more diverse, with White residents making up approximately 75.3% of Evansville and 81% of the county. The Black population is around 13.6% in Evansville and 9.8% in Vanderburgh County. Other groups, like those identifying as Asian, Hispanic or Latino, and those with multiple racial identities, are also present and increasing. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+do+census+show+about+Evansville%2F+Vanderburgh+county+Indiana%27s+racial+makeup&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS758US758&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&dlnr=1&sei=gH_3aN7uOfC-p84PyryUiA4
I was not paid personally. I did not attend as a result of financial incentives. I know a “local progressive activist group, Evansville Resistance, organized the protest”(Courier and Press). I know some of them personally at expenses incurred were paid for by a person who is self-employed as a personal shopper and her other grassroots activist friends and acquaintances who chipped in.
I spoke with Democrats, Republicans, Independents about why they were there. The Courier & Press found what I found.
Demonstrators who spoke to the Courier & Press pointed to a mix of issues when asked why they decided to protest in opposition to the president. Some faulted Republicans and Democrats alike for stoking division. Many bemoaned the rising cost of living and the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.
There were many ages represented.
“This is Evansville; it’s not Chicago or a very blue place,” said one young protester who wore a face mask and asked not to be named out of fear that publicly opposing the Trump administration could throw his college scholarship into jeapordy. “But people are starting to realize it’s not a left-versus-right thing. They’ve taken a class war and turned it into a social war” (Courier & Press).
Evansville is home of one small private university with a student population of about 2,690; two state universities, one with a total enrollment of 9,489 students; the other enrolls approximately 4,076 as well as smaller technical, vocational and business colleges.
“As 18-year-old Gillian Brownwolfe protested outside the federal building Saturday afternoon, she lamented Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s disputed pronouncements on autism…. Brownwolfe said she also had deep concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics and what she viewed as the Republican Party’s demonisation of LGBTQ people” (Courier & Press).
Hadlee Libbert, another young demonstrator, put her motivations for protesting simply enough, saying she was there to “fight against the fascist regime, pretty much.”
I am a septuagenarian and saw and spoke to people who looked to be my age give or take a decade or so. There were middle aged and younger white, black, and Hispanic families represented who had children and babies.
I was there because I have been in direct contact with persons involved in assisting the homeless, the hungry, the disabled veterans, elderly and disabled persons, the mentally ill, the underinsured and uninsured working class, farmers, small business owners, the handicapped, and mentally ill who have experienced higher cost for products and supplies and drastic cuts in federal funding just in the last year since DOGE and the demonization of DEI.
The results of higher costs and budget cuts means nonprofits’, government, and small business staff layoffs resulting in volunteers and remaining staff carrying heavier workloads and those in need of services to benefit less or not at all.
I am in direct contact with nonprofit staff, state government staff and recipients who I know work hard, are caring and capable individuals. Yet, politicians as well as members of my family, my friends and neighbors believe that staff and their recipients to be lazy and/or corrupt and/or parasites misusing, abusing and mishandling their tax dollars.
I empathize my knowledge and experience and direct personal connections because family and friends accuse me of blindly believing some liberal or left wing politician’s rhetoric. This is why I protest, why I argue, why I write this article. No matter how much good this Congress, this Executive Branch and its Cabinet and Bureaucratic puppets have accomplished as a result, it has yet to outpace or undo the damage domestically and internationally it is doing.
In case anyone is listening, I am disappointed in Democratic Party leadership as well. What my family, friends, and acquaintances disappointed in me, disapproving of me do not know because their algorithms fail to feed it to them is me holding left and liberal viewpoints accountable as well.
My support, time and money, goes to those agencies who now have to depend on grassroots energy more and more from a nation of people who are struggling to make ends meet, so have less time, money, and energy to give.
I was at the rally to say to the DNC and related, stop asking for money or sending me surveys that are considered incomplete if I fail to say “yes” to a donation. If you want my love and support, ask for my opinion of how you’re doing rather than how Trump’s doing and without me having to pay you for it.
I attended the rally to say to Mike Johnson, Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump, and any of my family who choose to believe them over me. I am not a Marxist, liberal, leftist, anarchist, violent criminal, illegal alien, or pro-Hamas terrorist. I also love my country. I hate being categorized as such by you. I hate that you lied to my America and my family about who I am.
I dislike usurpation of authority with mass executive orders, who grab unethical and unelected control of DOJ, FBI, the military, state militias, judges, finances, city and state law enforcement, lawmaking, and especially what is deemed lawful, moral, and true. Not even kings do that, only dictators run countries that way. If you want my love and support, see me as a constituent, a citizen, an American, not a disloyal enemy. This is my pro-American values message now and last Saturday afternoon.
Footnote: Courier & Press references from Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press, “‘No Kings’ protesters rallied in Evansville amidst nationwide anti-Trump demonstrations,” published and updated October 18, 2025.
Categories: Opinion Patriotism
Douglas Knight
I have the rich life full of a sinner wounded by misunderstanding and punishment but blessed by mercy and forgiveness.
Knight Writer 