Trump fans lied. No commies, haters or paid agitators at Fresno ‘No Kings’ | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Participants displayed homemade signs, patriotic symbols, and peaceful protest activity.
- Reporter found no paid agitators or extremists at Manchester Mall No Kings Day rally.
- Local witnesses disputed claims of federal plants, paid protesters and violent rioters.
I failed miserably Saturday morning!
My mission was to locate the haters, the communists, the paid agitators with professionally made signs, the rioters burning buildings, the folks who despise the United States who participated in the No Kings Day rally on the southwest corner of Manchester Mall.
The Trump administration painted participants of the 2,500 rallies that took place throughout the country as the scum of America who deserve arrest.
Even podcaster Joe Rogan warned his fans about the people I saw on Saturday. . “All those people that are protesting, 99% of them are losers. The other ones work for the fed. It’s FBI agents and losers. That’s all it is,” he remarked Friday.
President Donald Trump has drawn the ire of many as Republicans allow him to unilaterally eliminate large segments of the federal workforce and send troops to menace American cities while the Republican-controlled Congress can’t seem to find a spine.
On Friday, Trump complained to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that Saturday’s protestors have him all wrong. “They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he said.
Well, Trump acts like a king while demanding total allegiance from his subjects.
Thus far, Trump has reallocated funds appropriated by Congress, implemented tariffs without rhyme or reason, wants to wipe out birthright citizenship and has defied judges’ rulings. Meanwhile, some of Trump’s cabinet secretaries routinely use their platforms to demonize anyone who opposes Trump.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a report by News Nation, labeled the Democratic Party as no longer “just liberals. If you look at the Democrat Party, they’re a party of communities and Marxists and socialists.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has painted the protest as a “hate America” rally. “Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you’ll see Hamas supporters. I bet you’ll see Antifa types. I bet you’ll see the Marxists on full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.
Mr. Speaker, I didn’t see them
But I spent hours walking busy sidewalks filled with U.S. flag-waving people and found zero sightings of haters, commies and George Soros-paid agitators. Mission unaccomplished.
Is that a professionally made sign you have there, I asked Nathaniel Joseph who showed up at the rally with his father, David.
“No,” said the son. “A lady walked by and gave me this.”
“They’re good signs,” said the father.
Have they seen haters? “No, just people happy to see like-minded people,” said David Joseph.
OK, perhaps Madera resident Javier Velez could point me in the right direction.
“All I see are people who are concerned about the economy,” said Velez, who whispered that he was not paid to show up.
He made a sign at home, using a printer to compose some of the text. So, why would Trump supporters suggest the protesters are getting paid and being armed with professionally made signs?
“It’s just Trump supporters trying to divide us,” said Velez.
Surely the folks who spent weeks building a 10-foot version of the Statue of Liberty were posing as fake patriots.
“We are patriots and we love America, and that’s why we’re here,” said Brenda Dudley. “The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of immigrants coming to our nation. That’s what she stands for, and that’s what we stand for too.”
Drats. There’s plenty of creative signs aimed at Trump and his minions, but no sign of U.S. haters.
Michael Woods told me Trump “is always characterizing the opposition as lunatics, left-wing liberals, people who hate America. That’s nothing new.”
Former Madera Mayor Santos García summed it up. “Trump people hate to see us out in the streets because they know they’ve touched a nerve,” he told me. “That’s why the people are out here. The truth is we’re out here defending democracy, defending our country.”
I spotted no communists, no losers, no paid infiltrators, no card-carrying Antifa members, no flag burners, no rioters, no undercover federal agents and no Hamas supporters. Only Americans doing what Americans do, exercising their First Amendment rights to protest.
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 2:25 PM.