The No Kings protests exploded nationwide on a massive scale last week, with millions of peaceful demonstrators occupying public places to rail against President Donald Trump's attacks on the country's freedoms — and sending Republicans scrambling to make excuses for why it wasn't that big of a deal.

But one of the most revealing aspects of the protest wasn't to be found in the huge crowds in large cities, Ana Maria Cox argued in an interview with The New Republic's Greg Sargent — it was in the town square of New Braunfels, a small city between Austin and San Antonio where Republicans are used to dominating.

A key aspect of all this, said Cox, is that because New Braunfels isn't generally a place where anti-Trump protests get big turnouts, the people there had all the hallmarks of being grassroots first-timers who have never engaged in this type of political demonstration before.

"There was no one printing out the PDFs that Indivisible has available. There were people who just handmade their own signs. So that meant a lot of the signs had way too much information on them — which also tells me these might be first-time protesters," said Cox. "So this woman I was talking to, in a lawn chair, had a sign that said: I love: God, country, church, family, friends, my dog, Texas, and democracy. And then she had a bunch of Bible verses — too many, in a way — Bible verses on the other side."

"She was not someone who would have shown up — I didn’t ask her — but I don’t think she’s someone who would have shown up for the Women’s March," said Cox. "These are people who’ve been activated — I’m not going to say radicalized, I mean, maybe that’s coming — but activated by what’s happening in Washington. They’re not, they’re not, you know, Soros protesters. They probably don’t know who George Soros is."

This kind of activity and anger in places Republicans typically win, Sargent said, has put Trump on the defensive in a way he hasn't been before — with him telling a crowd of reporters, "I’m not a king. I’m not a king. I work my a-- off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all."

The important thing, Sargent continued, "is that Trump suddenly finds himself forced to deny that he’s a king. Now, obviously Trump is right now essentially trying to neuter the other branches to give himself unconstrained dictatorial power in various ways. He’s throwing out royal decrees. His advisors are openly asserting that his power is quasi-unlimited, etc. But, Ana, at least Trump kind of accidentally illustrated there why these protests are necessary, right? One thing I got from your piece is that people really understand that that’s what’s at stake."