A specter is haunting America. It is a specter long thought vanquished, buried beneath the rubble of monarchies and the triumph of the Constitution. But now it has returned, and it bears a name that is driving millions into the streets: “King.” In an unprecedented wave of civil disobedience sweeping the country from coast to coast, citizens are rising up under the simple yet powerful banner: “NO KINGS.”

This is no ordinary protest. It is not the ideological trench warfare we have come to know. The faces in the crowd are not the usual suspects. They are, as observers mockingly but accurately note, “NPR-tote-bag grandmas.” They are retirees, teachers, ordinary citizens who suddenly sense an existential threat to the very democracy they took for granted. They march peacefully, they wave flags, they hold up signs. But their message is unmistakable: They are protesting against executive overreach, against the authoritarianism that has spread like a slow-acting poison through the nation’s veins.

Political commentators are already drawing parallels to the Tea Party movement of 2009. That too was an outcry from the grassroots, an authentic wave of anger that shook the political establishment in Washington to its core. And just like then, today’s leaders are making the same mistake: They are dismissing the movement.

Leading Republicans, foremost among them the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, defame these millions of demonstrators as puppets of dark forces, as “paid by George Soros,” or, even worse, as people who “hate America.” It is dangerous rhetoric that deepens the divide. They forget that Barack Obama, the target of the Tea Party’s rage, never called his critics “un-American.” He recognized their right to protest. Today’s ruling elite, however, sees anyone who is not for them as an enemy of the state.

But while these “NPR grandmas” march for the soul of their nation, a look behind the scenes in Washington reveals a picture of total decay. The irony is brutal: The people are protesting a dysfunctional government, and that government is providing daily new evidence of its own rot.

We are on Day 20 of the “Government Shutdown.” Twenty days that the government of the United States of America has been incapacitated, paralyzed by a cynical political game that has nothing to do with the welfare of its citizens. The bone of contention: the extension of tax credits for “Obamacare.” Democrats demand it; Republicans block it. Both sides, as is openly said in the halls of the Capitol, are waiting for the other to “blink first.” They believe they have the political advantage.

What they forget is that this “game” has real consequences. Air travel is collapsing because the FAA doesn’t have enough air traffic controllers. Flights are canceled; the chaos at airports is indescribable. Military families don’t know if they will receive their next paycheck, while the President tries to scrape together funds from other pots to pay the soldiers. Millions of Americans fear for their healthcare. But in Washington, they just shrug. It’s a political game.

How deep this rot truly runs is personified in the figure of Speaker Mike Johnson. In an act reminiscent of banana republic tactics, Johnson has refused for nearly a month to swear in the elected Democratic Congresswoman Grijalva of Arizona. She won her election. The people have spoken. Yet her seat remains empty.

Johnson’s justification is a transparent maneuver. He speaks of a “Pelosi precedent,” an alleged rule set by his hated predecessor. But reporters quickly exposed this as a lie. Republicans were sworn in by Johnson days, sometimes hours, after their elections. The real reason, it is whispered in Congress, is far more sinister: Grijalva would be the 218th signature on a “discharge petition.” A signature that could force a vote on the full release of the infamous “Epstein files.”

An elected representative is being denied her office, not for legal reasons, but to keep potentially compromising information about powerful individuals under lock and key. This is no longer politics. This is obstruction. This is corruption.

But the real nightmare unfolding in the shadow of this political circus is far more shocking. While Washington debates, argues, and blocks itself, the Trump administration is apparently waging a secret, illegal war—right on America’s doorstep.

In the Caribbean, according to bipartisan reports, the US military has begun carrying out deadly strikes against suspected drug boats. These are not normal police actions. We are talking about military strikes. Republican Senator Rand Paul is sounding the alarm, sharply criticizing this policy. He warns of a bizarre world where ships are simply “blown up.” Coast Guard statistics, Paul notes, show that in 25 percent of inspections, no drugs are found. The government is therefore accepting the risk of killing innocent people one-quarter of the time.

A retired, high-ranking CIA officer, Mark Polymeropoulos, goes even further. He warns in drastic terms of “slow-walking into a war in Latin America.” He reports that 10,000 US soldiers are already stationed in the region. He speaks of covert CIA operations. And he asks the most important question: Where is the congressional oversight?

There is none. These operations, these deadly strikes, are taking place in a lawless vacuum, unilaterally ordered by the White House. It is a war in the shadows, without explanation, without debate, and without the consent of the people’s representatives.

This is where the circle closes in the most horrific way. In the streets, “grandmas” march holding signs that read “NO KINGS” because they fear for their Constitution. They have no idea that the “king” they fear is already creating facts on the ground reminiscent of the darkest days of imperialism.

They are protesting a man who places himself above the law, while the very institution that is supposed to check him—Congress—is busy tearing itself apart and denying an elected representative her seat, potentially to protect pedophile networks.

The stench of hypocrisy is unbearable. The “NO KINGS” movement is more than a protest. It is a distress signal. It is the last desperate cry of a people watching their government not only become dysfunctional but actively tear down the very foundations of democracy—whether by denying elections at home or by waging secret wars abroad. The question is no longer whether tyranny is coming. The question is whether it is already here.