“Good Morning to my fellow Americans who are celebrating No Kings Day today. While most of us celebrate this reality on July Fourth, you do you!” Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins wrote on X.
While independent estimates were not immediately available, organisers said that nearly 7 million people attended Saturday’s demonstrations – 2 million more than they estimated had attended the first round of No Kings rallies, which took place on Trump’s 79th birthday in June.
The name of the No Kings movement is derived from some protesters’ stated belief that Trump is behaving like a monarch – and a reminder that the United States does not welcome single-sovereign rule post-1776.
The President has pushed back at times on the argument from some protesters that he’s behaving like a monarch with unchecked powers.
“They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in an interview clip with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo released on Friday. After staying quiet on the protests for most of Saturday, the President shared memes on social media Saturday night that depicted him as a king and a pilot of a fighter jet soiling demonstrators from above.
The New York Police Department said on Saturday afternoon that it had not made any protest-related arrests. The DC police also said Saturday afternoon that it had made no protest-related arrests.
A crowd of protesters gathers at Grant Park in Chicago on Saturday. Photo / Joshua Lott, The Washington Post
Big crowds gather around the country
In Chicago, a city that’s become a focal point of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in recent weeks, a large crowd showed up at Butler Field in Grant Park. Demonstrators also filled the lawn of Boston Common, gathered outside the Atlanta Civic Center, held up signs in front of Los Angeles City Hall and marched across bridges in Portland.
Demonstrations were held in cities large and small, inside the US and abroad – from gatherings alongside the road in small towns and conservative suburbs to the US Embassy in Dublin.
In Chicago, a blues player piped scales on the corner of Michigan Avenue across from the Art Institute, while closer to the field, Chicago’s famed “bucket boys” drummed out beats while shouting profane anti-Trump slogans to whooping passersby.
The gathering in Chicago marked a first for Melissa Haub, 50, and her husband Ron, 53. The couple, who are from the western suburbs but now live in Madison, Wisconsin, wanted to take part in Chicago’s protest because the area had been hard-hit by immigration enforcement, while Wisconsin had not. Both were impressed by the massive turnout.
Melissa Haub said she chafed at comments by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who decried the rallies as anti-American. “I think this is literally the most American thing you can do,” she said.
Demonstrators came in plain clothes and in costumes – hot dogs, frogs, bananas – while some, like Suzy Jackson, 61, coordinated her look with friends as a trio of Morton Salt girls whose umbrellas read “melt ICE”.
Nancy Tapia, 43, a factory manager from suburban Westchester, Illinois, who was born in Mexico City and came to the US at 17, carried an American flag and a Mexican flag. She voiced concerns about Trump’s immigration policies, and added, “Our communities are people who came just to work and get a better life for their families.”
In Washington, many waved placards with messages critical of the Trump administration and wore yellow shirts and bandannas, holding up signs reading “No Kings” and “billionaires are killing USA”. Some carried American flags, while one group waved a large Palestinian flag.
Sharon Warner, 35, who brought her 3-year-old daughter to the rally, said she was compelled to attend the protest after her Hispanic neighbours had been targeted in ICE raids. “These are people who came here, some of them refugees, believing in the American Dream,” she said at a “make a friendship bracelet” tent on the edge of Pennsylvania Ave.
As No Kings demonstrations dispersed, some crowds gathered on Saturday evening near ICE buildings in Portland and Broadview, Illinois, and a federal building in Los Angeles, which have been the site of protests and clashes with law enforcement. No Kings organisers said those gatherings were not part of the events they scheduled for Saturday.
Demonstrators protest at Grant Park in Chicago during a No Kings march on Saturday. Photo / Joshua Lott, The Washington Post
Largely peaceful protests, precautions taken
The organisers of Saturday’s events – a large coalition of groups that includes the liberal organisation Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union – had emphasised their desire for Saturday’s protests, which they have said are anti-authoritarian, to be a peaceful show of disagreement and concern with the direction of the country under Trump.
Although the overwhelming majority of the first round of No Kings demonstrations on June 14 were peaceful, some sporadic violence led to several arrests, and one man died in Salt Lake City after he was shot by an event peacekeeper who opened fire when another man ran toward the crowd with a rifle.
At Saturday’s DC demonstration, speakers delivered remarks from behind bulletproof glass and law enforcement snipers were spotted perched on the roof of a museum near the stage.
But the mood among many attendees was light.
Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, had said before the protests that observers should expect to see “strategic frivolity”.
Organisers said they trained “tens of thousands” of people in de-escalation to avoid friction with law enforcement and counterprotesters. A statement on the No Kings website said that weapons of any kind should not be brought to the rallies.
Some Republican governors had also prepared their states for the prospect of disorder.
Before Saturday’s protests, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said that he would be deploying the state’s National Guard to “surge forces” in Austin before protests, alongside Texas Rangers and Department of Public Safety personnel, whom he said would be “supported by aircraft and other tactical assets”.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) also said he had “authorised members of the National Guard to be placed in ‘state active duty’ status” in response to the protests.
Protesters march in downtown Washington on Saturday. Photo / Peter W. Stevenson, The Washington Post
Democratic politicians embrace protests
Democratic elected officials took part in several No Kings protests in cities large and small.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) closed out DC’s No Kings programme, urging Republicans to “come back from your month-long vacation” and “end this shutdown”.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who also spoke in DC, claimed Trump “is enacting a detailed, step-by-step plan to destroy all of the things that protect our democracy”, pointing to what he said were the President’s actions to “destroy” free speech and fair elections.
“But the truth is also this,” Murphy continued. “He has not won. The people still rule in this country.”
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin was at the No Kings rally in Montclair, New Jersey – a state where the governor’s race is just two weeks away.
Martin, who introduced gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill onstage at the rally, told The Washington Post that the onus is on the Democratic Party to organise to “harness” the anti-Trump energy seen at protests around the country.
“It is one thing to show up at these protests and it’s another to move the needle and get back some power,” Martin added.
Republicans criticise gatherings
Before the protests, Republicans suggested that Democrats were using Saturday’s events to delay agreeing to end the Government shutdown. Some continued that line of argument on Saturday.
“The far-left activist groups are pressuring Democrats to keep the government closed until after their radical, anti-America, ‘No Kings’ rally is over. Sen. [Charles E.] Schumer is now a puppet of the radical, extreme, dangerous, scary wing of his party,” wrote Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) on X.
Trump said before the protests that he thought “very few people” would attend them. Johnson predicted that “people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic” would be “on full display”.
Others continued suggesting the rallygoers were unpatriotic. The “‘No Kings’ … or as I like to call them ‘Hate America’ rallies,’” wrote House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McLain (R-Michigan) on X.
Demonisation of the rallies only served to boost interest, Levin told The Post. “I did not pay a dollar for this free publicity. It is incredible,” he said Thursday. “They fear mass peaceful protests, and that’s true of any authoritarian regime.”
Bellware reported from Chicago. Karen Tumulty in Montclair, New Jersey; Casey Parks in Portland, Oregon; and Juan Benn Jr. and Liam Bowman in Washington contributed to this report.
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