In response to a recent essay questioning the absence of young people in anti-Trump protests, two Gen Z readers offer fresh perspectives on why the "No Kings" movement fails to resonate with their generation.
Juliana Birkenkamp of Boulder, Colo., writes that the protests evoke an America she and her peers hardly recognize. The movement's focus on restoring democratic norms and political normalcy feels disconnected from a generation that came of age during the Trump era, where such norms were already eroded. "The No Kings movement centers largely on the idea of restoration—of democratic principles, political normalcy and American decency," she explains. "Gen Z, having come of age in the Trump era of political discord and the erosion of democracy, has hardly known any of these things."
Moreover, Birkenkamp argues that the backward-looking nature of the protests fails to harness young people's desire for transformative change. "Young people by nature desire to reform, rectify, reshape," she writes. "To stand against apartheid, sexual harassment or police brutality is to dismantle the present and construct the future." The notion of restoration, she says, implies a return to a status quo that her generation considers fundamentally unjust.
Another letter challenges the premise that youth are demobilized, citing recent examples of activism. In 2020, young people played a major role in racial justice uprisings; in 2024, college students built pro-Palestine encampments; and this year, high school students have walked out to protest ICE repression. "Even in the face of attempted federal suppression of demonstrations, the record is more mixed than Mr. Edsall suggests," the writer notes.
These letters highlight a generational divide in political priorities—one that may require anti-Trump movements to reframe their message if they hope to inspire the youngest voters.