Man-on-the-street interviews that poke fun at ignorance are an easy brand of humor, but conservatives shouldn’t laugh too long, Blaze Media host Auron MacIntyre said on American Family Radio Monday.
“Behind all the ridiculous protests, there is a very serious element of this," he told show host Jenna Ellis.
"The peaceful, the goofy...they're all out front at these kinds of protests, but behind that, remember that the Left is training up Antifa," MacIntyre continued. "There is a much more radical, especially youthful, element of the Left that is hidden behind this."
Video clips revealed some protesters as silly, but a dangerous anti-Donald Trump, anti-conservative element remains hidden in plain sight in American politics, he said.
“That radical element is still there in these protests,” MacIntyre warned.
Marchers vow to kill Trump, Miller, ICE agents
One viral video shows a woman, since identified as Chicago elementary school teacher. She was recorded reenacting Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder, being shot in the neck.
In another viral moment, a photo posted to X shows a Democrat volunteer in Pennsylvania holding a guitar with "8647" scrawled on it. The numbers "86" are law enforcement radio code for a homicide, and the "47" is a refence to President Donald Trump, the 47th U.S. president.
That person has been identified as Lindsey Scott, chairwoman of the Crawford County Democrat Party.
According to text messages viewed by AFN, the national organizers behind the "No Kings" rallies told participants they are involved in a "peaceful and lawful movement."
At the Seattle rally, however, a marcher with a "kill Nazis" sign was asked what Nazis he wants to kill. The man said Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, who is Jewish.
"You're gonna kill Stephen Miller?" the reporter, Brandi Kruse, asks.
"If I had the chance, yeah, I would," the man replies.
In a similar call for violence, a speaker at the Chicago rally urged others to get a gun and shoot ICE agents, who are routinely compared to Gestapo agents by Democrats.
Social media sleuths have since identified that man as Moises Puentes, who oversees the adult education program at Wilbur Wright College, according to X account Libs of TikTok.
The main organizer behind "No Kings" is a political group, Indivisible, which worked with more than 100 left-wing groups to plan the rallies and organize participants. A common theme of marketing behind "No Kings" rallies, however, was the one-day protest was grassroots and locally organized.
Event organizers say more than 7 million participated in roughly 2,700 events across the U.S.
Hundreds roamed from the Portland, Oregon, No Kings protest for an after party at the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building, according to KPTV.com.
Streets near the building were blocked. Federal agents used tear gas to hold back protesters, and there were three arrests.
“Many people might be unsure about where the country's going we've seen Donald Trump's approval dip into somewhere in the mid-40s, but the only people less popular are the Democrats themselves who are already somewhere in the low 30s.
Even though there's some kind of unease about where the country might be, the Democratic Party is just not a viable option for most people,” MacIntyre said.
Rep. Steve Scalise, in an appearance on Washington Watch on Friday, predicted the rallies would be a “circus of the far Left.”
The Democratic Party's popularity has been largely negative in 2025, with multiple polls indicating unfavorable views outnumbering favorable ones by significant margins. As of August 2025, a CNBC poll found the party's net favorability at -32 points, with only 24% viewing it positively and 56% negatively, marking a near three-decade low.
Other surveys from early to mid-2025 consistently showed similar trends, with unfavorable ratings exceeding favorable ones by double digits across Pew Research, CNN, and NBC News polls.
Not dead yet
But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Democrats’ demise may be greatly exaggerated.
There have been signs of some level of rebound in electoral competitiveness.
By June 2025, YouGov’s generic congressional ballot showed Democrats leading Republicans 44% to 42%, their largest lead since August 2024, attributed in part to voter concerns over President Donald Trump’s "Liberation Day" tariffs and economic policies.
This shift coincided with Democratic wins in special elections in South Carolina, Iowa, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, which some strategists interpreted as a growing momentum against Trump-era policies.
After Trump’s election night rout against former Vice President Kamala Harris last November, many Democrats called for the party to find a sympathetic podcaster or social media voice to reconstruct their image.
Whether Democrats can build from these modest gains remains to be seen.
“When they lost the last election, it was ‘we need a new Joe Rogan, we can't figure out how to win over men’ and all these different soul-searching things. The Democrats never resolved any of those issues,” MacIntyre said.
Anger and violence have become a political strategy.
“You see them going into more radical positions and even violence because you can't win elections on the strategies the Democrats have been advancing,” MacIntyre said.
How the rallies impact government
The rallies, though, are having a major impact on government, Scalise told show host Tony Perkins. Monday is Day 20 of the continuing government shutdown.
House Republicans before the Sept. 30 deadline passed a “clean” Continuing Resolution which would fund government at current levels while spending debate continued.
Senate Democrats continue to block the measure on their side. Minority leader Chuck Schumer hears the voices of the protesters.
“The far Left has taken Chuck Schumer hostage, and so in return, he's taken America hostage by shutting down the government to try to appease them. Everybody in Washington knows this is Chuck Schumer fearing for his political life,” said Scalise, who predicts that Schumer would lose in a New York primary challenge from far Left U.S. House Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez if that matchup where to materialize.
