Bulwark Takes No Kings Could Be the Biggest Protest EVER (w/ Ezra Levin)
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Mar 26, 2026 
Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible and organizer of large-scale nonviolent civic actions, explains the rapid growth of the No Kings protests. He discusses how organizers estimate turnout, run real-time war rooms, and turn one-day actions into sustained people power. He also covers outreach to diverse communities, security preparations against political violence, and the role of humor and discipline in resisting authoritarianism.
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One Day Protests As Part Of A Bigger Strategy
- One-day protests are a tactic within a broader strategy of organized, nonviolent mass people power.
- Ezra Levin says the goal is preventing authoritarian consolidation and that protests signal the leader is not all-powerful, citing past No Kings turnout.
Critical Mass Needed To Defeat Authoritarianism
- Hitting a critical mass of active participants matters: experts target about 3.5% of the population to resist authoritarianism.
- Levin translates that to roughly 11–12 million people in the U.S. and frames No Kings growth against that benchmark.
War Room Spreadsheets Track Local Turnout
- Organizers run a live 'war room' style spreadsheet tracking incoming protest registrations and headcount estimates.
- Levin describes getting updates like "180 in Poughkeepsie" and filling a giant spreadsheet to estimate national turnout.