Some disparaged the state-wide protests against President Trump as “performance art” and “theater” and, in so doing, unwittingly nailed it for what it was (“Thousands in Maine march at ‘No Kings’ rallies to protest Trump policies,” June 15).

The events in Maine last weekend can best be described as a political happening. No one hired actors, wrote scripts, built sets or sold tickets. Instead, American politics combusted, placing people who would ordinarily be in the audience in artful productions of their own. (I saw one sign at the Freeport protest that read: “I am an introvert and even I am here.”)

Through great improvisation, “No Kings” made a serious political point at the expense of those who ignored it.

While protesters flooded Freeport’s Main Street, the Maine Republican Assembly rejected “the greatest show on earth” to gather at the Harraseeket Inn for a hackneyed Flag Day rerun. Trump was at his own show, a “spectacle” in theater terms, scripted with hired players and produced on an extraordinarily expensive set. The props were to die for, I hear.

Anne Michalec Payson
Falmouth