“Those of us who are out there now protesting, we are the conservatives,” said retired Judge James Ragan. “We are the folks who are the patriots. We’re the ones standing up for our constitution.” 

He was talking about the No Kings Day protest against President Donald Trump that took place Saturday in Pamlico County and around the country.

Ragan is part of a nonpartisan group called Pamlico Partners for Democracy, which helped organize the county protest.

The group, founded by two Republicans, two Democrats, and one politically unaffiliated person, was born of their growing concerns “not about the political differences between the parties,” said Ragan, “but about the rule of law and the United States Constitution and the violation thereof by the MAGA president.”

Ragan’s lifelong career was spent upholding the rule of law, first as a lawyer, then as a judge. “It’s very hurtful to me to see what’s going on in this country right now,” he said.

He cited the prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. “There was definitely no good factual basis — in fact or law — to support those prosecutions,” he said.

The last time the U.S. Attorney General’s office was weaponized against political opponents, Ragan said, was as part of the Watergate Scandal during President Richard Nixon’s term. “Since the Nixon administration, all the presidents that followed made sure there was a barrier between the presidential office and the AG’s office,” he said.

Presidents had seen what happened when they tried to harness the U.S. Attorney General’s office for political reasons rather than legal ones, he said.

“The No Kings protest goes to the very heart of saying, ‘We don’t want anybody who is going to violate the rule of law in the Constitution,’” Ragan said.

At half past noon, protestors began putting out No Kings banners at the intersection of State Highways 55 and 306. Eventually, about 150 people joined the line. Members of the crowd — mostly retired, mostly white — held signs and waved at cars going by.

Some drivers honked and waved back; others revved engines, shouted at protestors to get a job or called them communists.

One protestor, Barbara, said her father had fought in the Pacific in World War II. She had voted both Republican and Democrat in her lifetime, but said that the Republican party has split in two: Trump’s Make America Great Again supporters and actual Republicans.

Her sign listed her grievances with Trump’s administration: “assault on the rule of law,” “personal vendettas,” and an “unqualified cabinet.”

“A lot of people don't agree with what (MAGA supporters) have done and a lot of people have gone away from the Republican Party because of that,” she said.

She said the United States’ three-branch system of government — executive, judicial and legislative — is all under the control of one person, “and it’s not designed to work like that.”

A young woman named Jayden had returned from college to protest with her family. Her complaint is censorship in the news. “All of our news outlets — no one posts things that are seriously important anymore,” she said.

She noted that another high school shooting that occurred the day of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s death received very little news coverage. That one happened at Evergreen High School in Colorado.

Protestor Nick held a No Kings sign with the American Flag in black and white, shown upside down. The flag position is a symbol of distress.

“Nothing promised has happened, right,” he said. “Prices are getting higher, rent is too high, we don’t have any health care. They promised all that stuff in the first term. We’re in the second term now, and still nothing.”

Nick said all the legislation that has passed has benefited the rich. “I’m not one of those (rich people), most people are not one of those, and we’re not getting any benefits from this at all,” he said. “And on top of all that, we have to fight for basic democratic rights?”

The government should be focused on “substantive things” like health care and elder care, he said, “not whether or not we actually have a democracy.”

Miriam, his wife, agreed. “We’re losing our country. Everything Republicans have been crying about Democratic presidents doing, they see this Republican president doing,” she said. “And it doesn’t register with them what’s happening.”

The couple has attended several other protests. “And just obligatory,” Nick said, “we’re not getting paid for this.”

“We’re doing this for free,” Miriam said, “because we love our country.”

Ragan hopes there is a positive outcome from all of this, not just for the nation, but for Pamlico County. “We’re just ordinary folks out there. We’re not members of Antifa groups or any crazy stuff like that. We’re just concerned,” he explained.

“This is not about Republican and Democratic differences,” Ragan said. “This is about the constitution. This is about the very foundation of our country. And that’s why I’m out there.”

About 7 million people are estimated to have attended more than 2,700 No Kings protests on Saturday, organizers said.

Pamlico Partners for Democracy meets twice a month at the Grantsboro Heritage Center at 2 p.m. on the first Friday of each month. The mid-month date changes based on the availability of the speaker, but it’s advertised through the group’s monthly newsletter.

Donate and become a vital part of growing a visual and written history of the county.

Down in the County has its own Instagram page! Check us out @downinthecounty