President Donald Trump was forced onto the defensive when asked about the “No Kings Day” protests planned for this weekend, saying he “doesn’t feel like a king at all.”
The “No Kings” movement is set to stage a series of high-profile demonstrations across the country this weekend, set to coincide with the lavish military parade Trump has thrown himself in Washington to celebrate his 79th birthday.
“No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance,” the group wrote on its website. “From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like.”
When asked his thoughts on the protests during a press conference on Thursday, Trump responded: “I don’t feel like a king, I have to go through hell to get stuff approved.
“A king would say, ‘I’m not going to get this.’ A king would have never had the California mandate to even be talking, he wouldn’t have to call up [Speaker] Mike Johnson and say, ‘fellas you got to pull this off’ and after years we get it done,” he added, eliciting laughter from Republican lawmakers and political allies in the room.
“No, no we’re not a king. We’re not a king at all, thank you very much,” he said, using the royal ‘we’ to emphasize his point.
Trump has, of course, likened himself to a monarch on at least one occasion since his return to the White House, posting “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” on Truth Social back in February.
The official White House account emphasized his point shortly afterwards with an AI-generated fake magazine cover of the president wearing a crown, accompanied by the caption “Long Live the King.”
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/IMr4tq0sMB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 19, 2025
Following the death of Pope Francis, Trump also joked to reporters that “I’d like to be pope,” following the remarks with another AI-generated picture of himself in papal attire, which drew the ire of Catholics worldwide.
Saturday’s military parade, typically associated with autocratic strongman states such as Russia and North Korea, coupled with the deployment of active-duty Marines and thousands of National Guardsmen to Los Angeles in defiance of the state’s governor, has proved to be the tipping point for the No Kings movement, as well as a host of other protest groups who plan to demonstrate against it.
Alongside the No Kings demonstrations will be a series of parallel protests by a group called “Kick Out the Clowns,” who plan to wear clown costumes and hold street circuses to “reflect the absurdity of the MAGA regime.”
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Earlier this week, Trump warned that anyone who planned to disrupt his military parade will be met with “very heavy force.”
“We’re in an existential crisis with respect to our democracy and our Constitution right now, in the face of a wannabe dictator in the White House,” said John Bonifaz, a constitutional lawyer and president of Free Speech for People, who is taking part in the Saturday’s protest.
“That’s why it’s important that we all show up to these events to demonstrate that we will continue to stand up for our democracy and our constitution at this critical moment in history.”
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