\u201cGood 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!\u201d Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins wrote on X.<\/p>\n
While independent estimates were not immediately available, organisers said that nearly 7 million people attended Saturday\u2019s demonstrations \u2013 2 million more than they estimated had attended the first round of No Kings rallies, which took place on Trump\u2019s 79th birthday in June.<\/p>\n
The name of the No Kings movement is derived from some protesters\u2019 stated belief that Trump is behaving like a monarch \u2013 and a reminder that the United States does not welcome single-sovereign rule post-1776.<\/p>\n
The President has pushed back at times on the argument from some protesters that he\u2019s behaving like a monarch with unchecked powers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re referring to me as a king. I\u2019m not a king,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A crowd of protesters gathers at Grant Park in Chicago on Saturday. Photo \/ Joshua Lott, The Washington Post<\/p>\n
Big crowds gather around the country<\/p>\n
In Chicago, a city that\u2019s become a focal point of the administration\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations were held in cities large and small, inside the US and abroad \u2013 from gatherings alongside the road in small towns and conservative suburbs to the US Embassy in Dublin.<\/p>\n
In Chicago, a blues player piped scales on the corner of Michigan Avenue across from the Art Institute, while closer to the field, Chicago\u2019s famed \u201cbucket boys\u201d drummed out beats while shouting profane anti-Trump slogans to whooping passersby.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s protest because the area had been hard-hit by immigration enforcement, while Wisconsin had not. Both were impressed by the massive turnout.<\/p>\n
Melissa Haub said she chafed at comments by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who decried the rallies as anti-American. \u201cI think this is literally the most American thing you can do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators came in plain clothes and in costumes \u2013 hot dogs, frogs, bananas \u2013 while some, like Suzy Jackson, 61, coordinated her look with friends as a trio of Morton Salt girls whose umbrellas read \u201cmelt ICE\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s immigration policies, and added, \u201cOur communities are people who came just to work and get a better life for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Washington, many waved placards with messages critical of the Trump administration and wore yellow shirts and bandannas, holding up signs reading \u201cNo Kings\u201d and \u201cbillionaires are killing USA\u201d. Some carried American flags, while one group waved a large Palestinian flag.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cThese are people who came here, some of them refugees, believing in the American Dream,\u201d she said at a \u201cmake a friendship bracelet\u201d tent on the edge of Pennsylvania Ave.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators protest at Grant Park in Chicago during a No Kings march on Saturday. Photo \/ Joshua Lott, The Washington Post<\/p>\n
Largely peaceful protests, precautions taken<\/p>\n
The organisers of Saturday\u2019s events \u2013 a large coalition of groups that includes the liberal organisation Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union \u2013 had emphasised their desire for Saturday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
At Saturday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But the mood among many attendees was light.<\/p>\n
Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, had said before the protests that observers should expect to see \u201cstrategic frivolity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Organisers said they trained \u201ctens of thousands\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Some Republican governors had also prepared their states for the prospect of disorder.<\/p>\n
Before Saturday\u2019s protests, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said that he would be deploying the state\u2019s National Guard to \u201csurge forces\u201d in Austin before protests, alongside Texas Rangers and Department of Public Safety personnel, whom he said would be \u201csupported by aircraft and other tactical assets\u201d.<\/p>\n
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) also said he had \u201cauthorised members of the National Guard to be placed in \u2018state active duty\u2019 status\u201d in response to the protests.<\/p>\n
Protesters march in downtown Washington on Saturday. Photo \/ Peter W. Stevenson, The Washington Post<\/p>\n
Democratic politicians embrace protests<\/p>\n
Democratic elected officials took part in several No Kings protests in cities large and small.<\/p>\n
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) closed out DC\u2019s No Kings programme, urging Republicans to \u201ccome back from your month-long vacation\u201d and \u201cend this shutdown\u201d.<\/p>\n
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who also spoke in DC, claimed Trump \u201cis enacting a detailed, step-by-step plan to destroy all of the things that protect our democracy\u201d, pointing to what he said were the President\u2019s actions to \u201cdestroy\u201d free speech and fair elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the truth is also this,\u201d Murphy continued. \u201cHe has not won. The people still rule in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin was at the No Kings rally in Montclair, New Jersey \u2013 a state where the governor\u2019s race is just two weeks away.<\/p>\n
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 \u201charness\u201d the anti-Trump energy seen at protests around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is one thing to show up at these protests and it\u2019s another to move the needle and get back some power,\u201d Martin added.<\/p>\n
Republicans criticise gatherings<\/p>\n
Before the protests, Republicans suggested that Democrats were using Saturday\u2019s events to delay agreeing to end the Government shutdown. Some continued that line of argument on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe far-left activist groups are pressuring Democrats to keep the government closed until after their radical, anti-America, \u2018No Kings\u2019 rally is over. Sen. [Charles E.] Schumer is now a puppet of the radical, extreme, dangerous, scary wing of his party,\u201d wrote Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) on X.<\/p>\n
Trump said before the protests that he thought \u201cvery few people\u201d would attend them. Johnson predicted that \u201cpeople who don\u2019t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic\u201d would be \u201con full display\u201d.<\/p>\n
Others continued suggesting the rallygoers were unpatriotic. The \u201c\u2018No Kings\u2019 \u2026 or as I like to call them \u2018Hate America\u2019 rallies,\u2019\u201d wrote House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McLain (R-Michigan) on X.<\/p>\n
Demonisation of the rallies only served to boost interest, Levin told The Post. \u201cI did not pay a dollar for this free publicity. It is incredible,\u201d he said Thursday. \u201cThey fear mass peaceful protests, and that\u2019s true of any authoritarian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cGood Morning to my fellow Americans who are celebrating No Kings Day today. While most of us celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2840,74,9092,3378,2841,67070,13504,26636,67072,67071,14736,2178,40671,13574,27509,42,8482,917,27981,19136,27612,647,43,7805,21941,32361,18154,2572,13316,8244,1534,44970,223,8229,40,38,41,39,2179,19096,6923,540,1530],"class_list":["post-88785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-across","tag-after","tag-against","tag-appeared","tag-country","tag-crackdowns","tag-critics","tag-crowds","tag-demonstrations","tag-deployments","tag-domestic","tag-donald","tag-draw","tag-efforts","tag-gathered","tag-headlines","tag-huge","tag-immigration","tag-kings","tag-largest","tag-mass","tag-military","tag-news","tag-no","tag-opponents","tag-opposition","tag-political","tag-president","tag-protests","tag-recent","tag-saturday","tag-spoke","tag-the","tag-they","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trump","tag-trumps","tag-what","tag-where","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}