Protests and Parades: What do you expect from hotbeds of liberalism like Mississippi, Arkansas, and Oklahoma?

Most of the national media has, at best, a barely concealed disinterest in rural and small-town America. There are exceptions—James Fallows is superb, Marketplace does a very good job, and NPR, partially due to its reliance on member stations to help with reporting, is well above average in general. But you can usually count on places like The New York Times to miss the nuances.

Just knowing the state doesn’t tell you much. There are some reliably Democratic parts of Texas and some extremely red parts of California. You have to go more granular, and look at urban density, demographics, and particularly voting records. With all that in mind, if you look over the map of protests, the most striking thing might well be how well represented they are in unexpected places.

Big cities in red state might tend to run left of the median.

The #NoKings march in Dallas, Texas is HUGE!

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— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran.com) June 14, 2025 at 1:14 PM

Nashville. #NoKings

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— Rikard Vilhelm (@rikardvilhelm.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 8:54 AM

Shortly after the Atlanta #nokings event kicked off at 10, organizers said Liberty Plaza near the state Capitol had already reached maximum capacity of 5,000.

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— journalistross.bsky.social (@journalistross.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 7:10 AM

But we're seeing a lot of protests where you very much would not expect them.

Why protest on Saturday? www.headsupnews.org/p/no-kings-p...

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— Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News (@froomkin.bsky.social) June 12, 2025 at 7:31 AM

 

 

Photos: Protests break out across Arkansas as part of 'No Kings' movement #NoKings www.5newsonline.com/article/news...

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— Saigonbond (@ogsaigonbond.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 4:34 PM

Little Rock's #NoKings march and rally has wrapped up. A few thousand demonstrators lined up before 10 a.m. to walk across the Broadway Bridget to North Little and back for a rally in a riverside park behind the Old State House. One of 15 planned in Arkansas today. @ainsleyplatt.bsky.social

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— Arkansas Advocate (@arkansasadvocate.com) June 14, 2025 at 11:31 AM

Thousands march in Fayetteville, Arkansas, for preserving our Democratic Republic and ensuring No Kings. fayettevilleflyer.com/2025/06/14/n...

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— Lucy Burns (@lucyburns.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM

 

While counter protesters may have shown up where you'd expect them, their numbers have mostly been tiny.

Huge turnout at the #NoKings rally in Hattiesburg, Missisisppi today, wrapping up and down both sides of the streets around City Hall. I'd estimate that about 300 people showed up, along with 2 pro-Trump counter-protesters.

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— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 10:38 AM

Our little East Texas town had about 200 "No Kings" protestors and across the street, wrapped in their Trump flags, 2! It was fabulous!

— Marcia Thill (@marcia46.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM

If you're not familiar with California, you probably have no idea how red the Central Valley is (a mistake I've seen the NYT make numerous times). 

The "No Kings" protest has mostly wrapped up in Bakersfield as of Saturday afternoon, many protesters staying to march together after the event ended at around 1 p.m.

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— KGET 17 News (@kgetnews.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM

 

Oklahoma (where I went to graduate school) got surprisingly large crowds despite thunder storms.

As did Arizona despite triple digit temperatures. 

Some paramilitary Trump supporters tried to crash the parties but they weren't prepared for the size and enthusiasm of the crowds.

About 660 attended the No Kings rally here in Kingwood, Texas, that lasted for three hours this morning. About a dozen masked Patriot Front members held a counter protest for 15-20 minutes.

— Mike Fast (@fastballs.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM

Nazi's, I mean Patriot Front, showed up at Springfield's Ozarks PrideFest/No Kings Protest. Locals and security kept these cowards out of the event. Probably saved their lives by doing that because we aren't here to play games.

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— Angela Crawford (@angeloftheozarks.bsky.social) June 15, 2025 at 7:50 AM

The support for the BLM protests was surprisingly broad, but this takes things to another level. And no place illustrates that better than Harrison, Arkansas—often called the most racist town in America.

(Harrison was also the center of anti-Confederate sentiment in the Civil War, but that's another stor and another thread.)

In one notorious incident, a filmmaker from L.A. stood in Harrison with a Black Lives Matter sign for 10 hours, during which he received a constant stream of abuse, profanity, and threats. That should give you some context for this.

Same town. Harrison, AR, a town that has a White Power radio station, had 200 people show up for No Kings. This is town is ground zero for the Klan. More blown away by this than I ever will be by the millions turning out anywhere else.

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— Angela Crawford (@angeloftheozarks.bsky.social) June 15, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Same for small Harrison, Arkansas! About 250-300 “No Kings” protesters with maybe five pro-Trump! Made me so proud! Now if people would vote like their lives depended on it because it does!💚

— Kerri (@arkiemycohiker.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM

For the record, I'm not saying that white supremacist enclaves have suddenly rejected MAGA. What's going on here is complicated and worthy of study. I'm not going to speculate too deeply on what it is, except to say that at this point, opposition to Trump—be it on the grounds of democracy, immigration, or the slashing of the social safety net—can be found pretty much anywhere you look in the summer of 2025.