The second No Kings protest against President Donald Trump attracted far more attendees than one held earlier this year, initial estimates suggest: According to the organizers of the rallies held on Saturday, October 18, the global demonstrations drew seven million people to over 2,600 events across the US, with more held in countries around the world. The previous No Kings protest on June 15 drew five million.
Over 100,000 people took to the five boroughs of Trump’s hometown of New York City, the New York Times reports. The largest crowd gathered in Times Square, while a small counter-protest (a “handful,” reports Gothamist) assembled outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, in front of a banner that read “Trump for King.”
According to Trump, he has no such aspirations of royalty. “They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” the president said in a preview clip released Friday of a Fox News interview set to air on Sunday. But on Saturday, the president shared a bizarre video via Truth Social in which—clad as a king—the president flies a jet named “King Trump” over New York City, then dumps an unspecified brown sludge over a protest.
Meanwhile, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the White House posted an image of Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance in crowns, above an image of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in sombreros. “We’re built different,” the tweet reads.
CNN reports that many of the protesters in Washington, D.C. were former and current federal workers, some of whom have been furloughed by the ongoing government shutdown. Elected officials who addressed the D.C. rally included Senator Chris Murphy, who told the crowd that Trump, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home, “is enacting a detailed, step-by-step plan to destroy all of the things that protect our democracy,” citing crackdowns on free speech and voting rights.
“But the truth is also this: He has not won,” Murphy said. “The people still rule in this country.”
Senator Bernie Sanders also spoke, telling Republicans to “come back from your month-long vacation” and “end this shutdown.”
Protests weren’t just relegated to big cities or the coasts. Americans in towns across the heartland—many in states in which Trump won with a landslide in 2024—came out with signs, banners, and the now-ubiquitous inflatable costumes. Over 6,000 people gathered in front of Indiana’s state capitol to protest a GOP-led move to redistrict the state, while throngs demonstrated in Kansas City, Missouri, many citing increased concerns about the tactics demonstrated by ICE. In Wyoming, one of the reddest states in the union, as many as 400 braved the cold to march in Cheyenne.
In California, many protesters had a dual purpose: To oppose the president and to express support for Proposition 50, a ballot measure proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom that would redistrict the state to favor Democratic candidates. An oceanside human banner in Newsom’s former home town of San Francisco urged voters to approve the measure, as did signs held by protesters in Los Angeles and other California cities.
Few Republican leaders addressed the protests, and those who did were dismissive. Speaking with Fox News, Speaker Mike Johnson said “I encourage you to watch – we call it the ‘hate America’ rally – that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that.” Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded “Who cares?” when asked about the event by NPR.
FDA employee Anthony Lee, who spoke with trade publication Government Executive from the D.C. rally, might have an answer for both Jackson and Johnson. “The more people we can get out to events like this, the better that the public can understand what’s at stake,” he said. “The desired impact is to get the public engaged in their democracy to push back on what’s been happening, which is the dismantling of our government institutions and our public services.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
-
What Bari Weiss Means for 60 Minutes
-
All About Melania
-
Meet the British ’90s It Girl Who Wants to Make England Great Again
-
Anjelica Huston’s Cultured Coolness
-
Gore Vidal’s Final Feud
-
The 6 Grisly Films Inspired by Serial Killer Ed Gein
-
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed by the Media
-
The 25 Best Movies to Watch on Netflix This October
-
From the Archive: The Hollywood Secret Katharine Hepburn Helped Bury
The post Fox Teases Trump’s “King” Response After Record-Breaking No Kings Turnout appeared first on Vanity Fair.
