Yorktown, 1781 — A Surrender Worth Remembering

Sunday, October 19, was the 244th anniversary of  the surrender of British General Lord Cornwallis to General George Washington at Yorktown. The cannons quieted, the flags lowered, and something even more revolutionary than independence took shape:
The rejection of kingship as a way of political life.

What followed — the Treaty of Paris in 1783 — didn’t just recognize a free nation. It recognized a new kind of people:
A people who refused the crown.

George Washington could have taken one. He didn’t. He handed power back and walked away. He set the standard:
In America, leaders serve. They do not reign.

October 18, 2025 — The “No Kings” Rallies

Yesterday, across the country, millions rallied under a simple phrase: No Kings.
Their message wasn’t partisan. It was historical.
It cut back to Yorktown.
It reached forward to now.

But almost immediately, a wave of pushback surfaced from certain voices:

“Trump isn’t a king. These rallies are overreacting.”
“Nobody is actually calling him a king.”

And yet — the same day — from the White House and the president’s own accounts came AI-generated images and videos celebrating exactly that idea:

• Trump in a crown and royal robe, sword in hand, as a chorus sings “Hail to the King.”
• Trump flying a fighter jet labeled “KING TRUMP,” dropping excrement on protesting citizens.
• Opponents digitally altered to bow before him.
• An official image of Trump and JD Vance wearing crowns, contrasted with political opponents mocked in sombreros.

It’s not the first time the White House has posted an image of Trump as King.

So when citizens respond by chanting No Kings, and some leaders respond with, Relax, he’s not a king — while sharing imagery literally celebrating kingship — we are not just debating politics.

We are debating memory. Identity. The meaning of Yorktown.

A Moment of National Self-Reflection

This is not about whether one supports Trump or opposes him. This is deeper.
This is about whether we still agree to the founding claim: No crowns on this soil.

The Call of the Moment

We are living in a time where symbolism matters — and symbols of royalty are being reintroduced into our public imagination.
Not quietly. Not accidentally. But proudly.

So maybe the question isn’t whether Trump wants to be king.

Maybe the question is:

Do we still want to be the kind of people who say no to kings — not just in 1781, but now?

Yorktown wasn’t just a battle site.
It was a vow.
A vow worth repeating.