Livonia — An annoyed Livonia resident, out for exercise, walked through Saturday’s No Kings protest with AirPods on.
“I’ll say this,” he remarked to me in a sarcastic tone. “If you experience an erection for more than four hours, walk through a No Kings rally. It’s all fat, old ladies pulling their husbands around.”
He turned back: “Quote me, but don’t use my name, these shitlibs are starting to use guns nowadays.”
Various protests and progressive-themed political events around the state have been noted for the seemingly high degree of seniors in attendance, and the No Kings protests held here Saturday were no exception.
Protests were planned nationwide in response to President Donald Trump’s Military Parade honoring both Flag Day and the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday.
Scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at the intersection of Five Mile and Farmington Road—Livonia’s main drag—I arrived an hour early to find the event was already in full swing with what appeared to be two- to three-thousand people standing with homemade signs on all four corners of the intersection.
The optics were immediately obvious: The Boomer to non-Boomer ratio of attendees was 9:1.
Walkers, canes, and portable oxygen tanks littered the way. I had to walk on the median just to traverse the area.
This remarkable generational divide was undergirded by a second unusual pattern: All the people I interacted with were retired public sector employees, with a startling number from public schools.
“Yeah, you’re right, this is mostly Baby Boomers,” said a retired high school teacher who seemed unaware of this generational oddity until I mentioned it. “The younger generations don’t seem to understand the stakes and the danger Trump poses for this country.”
That danger seemed nebulous and indescribable for most I spoke with. The potential loss of liberal democratic principles seemed less an issue than their hatred for Trump, otherwise known as Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
“We won’t live under a king,” they yelled in obvious reference to Trump—duly elected in a fair election that nobody, even the media questions—but they had no problem living under an autopen.
But their TDS belies another interesting oddity: These Liberal Boomers—clinging to a nostalgia for a bygone era—have never been so happy and joyful.
If they’re so fearful and angry about what many of them described as a fascist takeover of America, a loss of democratic “norms,” and the dismantling of rule of law, why are they enjoying the moment this much?
It’s because in their deepest recesses, they don’t believe their own bullshit. Mentioning this to some of the attendees elicited awkward reactions, as it suddenly occurred to them that they were supposed to be the victims of political oppression.
Boomer Libs have long been known (and derided) for their misanthropic worldviews and outwardly cantankerous judgment of others in recent years—call it the Biden Years. Finger wagging, foot stomping, angry turbo-puritanical behavior most normies find off putting.
With Democrats no longer in control of Washington, mostly on the run in Michigan with white girlboss liberalism dying a slow death, Boomer Libs find themselves in their natural and desired state.
Out of political power, Boomers are no longer pulling the political strings through voter capital and are now fully in a resistance mode—and they love it.
It’s 1960s performance art—a cosplay, if you will—of old school Boomer Libs. What was once the counterculture of America—now the most affluent generation in U.S. history—is getting one last chance to stick it to the man.
I asked a handful of attendees why there were so few young people, but never got any good answers. Most I spoke with seemed completely oblivious to the generational divide. One very nice lady proclaimed in a tone that seemed more like a question, “There’s young people everywhere?”
Despite the turnout of gerontic white liberals, key liberal or progressive lawmakers and City Council members were curiously absent from the protest.
One progressive member of the Livonia City Council literally left town. Another progressive member of the council, Carrie Budzinski, was holding an event elsewhere with a conservative council member and, according to my sources, did not attend.
Several aspiring center-left-wing candidates for city council on the ballot for the August 5 primary were also absent.
However, Nick Pickard—well known in Livonia as “Nick Pick”—a current council candidate, was walking around greeting attendees.
“I’m excited to see this many people here, and protesting peacefully. The vibe is good and Livonians can unify on this,” said Pickard in an optimistic tone, artfully avoiding any divisive vernacular.
Most ironic for the current moment, the youngest person I saw was an early 20-something walking by himself through the crowd of old-timers wearing a MAGA Hat and an American flag draped on his shoulders.
“The Enjoyer!” he yelled, seeing my press badge. “I watch all your videos! You guys are awesome!”
He disappeared into a sea of sign-holding Boomer Libs, carefully avoiding rolling walkers and oxygen-tank hoses. An old lady witnessed this exchange, and sneered.
“Right Wing Media, you’re a disgrace,” she said before rolling away.
I walked away from the No Kings protest with one singular thought in my head: Every serious political resistance since the dawn of the modern era has been moved by young people getting activated and using their political capital to pull the nation with them.
This was true during the progressive era, the civil rights era, the sexual revolution of the late 1960s, the Anti-War movement of the early 1970s, the free speech battles of the 1990s, the Occupy Movement of the 2010s, and the Great Awokening of the 2020s.
Never in history has a generation of Senior Citizens ever directed the political will of a nation, and these protests showed why. America’s young people are not out on the streets.
Why is this generation so politically aroused in contrast to the others? They are draining the last reserves of American Entitlements via our gerontic welfare state. They are the last generation to have pensions. The Baby Boomers have controlled the nations culture, politics, and economy for over six decades.
The 2024 election was the first time Gen X, Millennials, and the Zoomers collectively captured the political will of the nation and pulled a reversal on the culture war, immigration, and the economy, placing the Boomers in the corner.
That fact must be jarring for them, displacing and unmooring them from the reins of power. Their collective voting power is diminishing in every subsequent election cycle.
“No Kings” is the last gasp of the Boomers.
Jay Murray is a writer for Michigan Enjoyer and has been a Metro Detroit-based professional investigator for 22 years. Follow him on X @Stainless31.
