Some of the right’s best-known critics of President Donald Trump are throwing their weight behind a nationwide push that organizers hope will shatter early-voting records.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Never-Trump conservative Bill Kristol cheered on Saturday’s No Kings “Vote Early” events, as the anti-Trump coalition traded its mass street protests for a drive to bank ballots ahead of the November 3 midterms.
More than 3,000 marches, cookouts, block parties and other gatherings were planned nationwide, according to reporting by NPR, with volunteers helping people confirm their registration, map out when and how they’ll vote and learn their rights at the polls.
“The first three No Kings were designed to send a message,” Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told NPR. “We’re done sending a message.”
Levin said the coalition wants to help drive the biggest midterm early vote in American history. Organizers are also recruiting poll watchers, a move Levin tied to fears that federal immigration agents could appear at polling places and to Trump’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting.
Outside Mar-a-Lago, a protester who gave her name as Rebecca told MS NOW she hopes so many people vote that the election becomes “too big to rig” for Trump and Republicans.
Kristol drew a sharp contrast between the rallies and the president’s own weekend.
“A tale of two Americas,” Kristol posted on X on Saturday. “Millions of Americans gather at local No Kings events to defend democracy. Trump speaks to a few thousand die-hards in KY, then holds court at a ‘Candlelight Dinner’ at Mar-a-Lago with MAGA fat cats seeking favor and favors from the wannabe king.”
In a piece for The Bulwark, Kristol argued that the movement got ahead of the public’s turn against Trump. “Before it was fashionable, No Kings was there,” he wrote.
He noted that Trump held 44 percent approval against 52 percent disapproval in the New York Times polling average when the first No Kings protest took place in June 2025. Trump now sits at 37 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval. Kristol said he would attend Saturday and “tip my Bulwark baseball cap to No Kings.”
Kinzinger, meanwhile, took aim at “a man in a gold-plated palace” without naming him and argued that the political ground is shifting.
“Americans are waking up and the ground under this election is moving. Everyone can feel it,” Kinzinger said in a video posted on Saturday to his Substack. “But hope isn’t victory. Nothing is won until the last vote is counted.”
TodayA tale of two Americas.Millions of Americans gather at local No Kings events to defend democracy.Trump speaks to a few thousand die-hards in KY, then holds court at a “Candlelight Dinner” at Mar-a-Lago with MAGA fat cats seeking favor and favors from the wannabe King. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 17, 2026
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