Protesters filled the streets Saturday at more than 3,300 rallies across all 50 states for No Kings, a movement that bills itself as nonviolent opposition to what organizers view as authoritarian rulers in the White House and beyond.
The swell of marches marked the third major collective action for the grassroots campaign, which began as an outlet for those infuriated by the Trump administration. To many hitting the pavement, America’s leaders are stomping on democratic values with escalating immigration crackdowns, rolled-back abortion rights and, among other grievances, another unpopular war.
The theme of the day was executive overreach, with no one issue singled out as the raison d’être. But like many political uprisings, the meaning of No Kings varies from protester to protester. Some showed up eager to defend what they cast as lofty ideals. Others just don’t like President Donald Trump.
“It’s just … everything,” said one first-time protester, 37-year-old Caitlin Pease, who brought her 14-month-old daughter to a rally in a predominantly Republican Upstate New York county.
She’d made a sign that said: “It’s so bad the introverts are out here.”
The backlash comes as Trump’s approval ratings have plummeted to new lows, and even key chunks of the MAGA base have discarded their once-bulletproof solidarity to express growing frustrations. Among their objections: The president who vowed to stop wars has started a new one with Iran that has so far killed 13 U.S. service members and wounded hundreds more. Operation Epic Fury has triggered surging gas prices. Groceries remain stubbornly pricey. Trump’s tariffs have lifted the expense of houses, cars, phones, televisions, sneakers, dishwashers — the list drags on. Vacations are thwarted by hours-long airport security lines, the consequence of a government mired yet again in gridlock.
Some Republicans have bashed No Kings as ineffective and out of touch, with Trump once calling the marches a “joke” full of “whacked out” participants.
While real-time turnout is tough to measure, the coalition of left-leaning groups steering No Kings expected this weekend’s headcount to break records. The last eruption of nationwide gatherings in October drew approximately 7 million people, according to their tally. Loads more have signaled interest since then, they said, as Trump’s critics recover from burnout that tailed a bruising election loss and channel their energy into banding together.
Whether that translates to ballot-box results remains murky. Expanding demonstrations don’t guarantee policy wins, as the country’s messy history of protest movements shows. But for those showing up, the displays of resistance in blue cities and red strongholds — from Alaska through the heartland to communities near Mar-a-Lago — serve as proof that democracy is alive and well even under a president they slam as a self-styled “king.”
The movement has spread globally, with rallies springing up in at least 15 other nations at a time when much of the international community has aired fears that Trump’s war could spiral into wider bloodshed. Protesters congregated Saturday in Rome, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Sydney and Tokyo, among other big cities.
Across the United States, in urban centers and tiny towns, demonstrators raged against the decadence of Trump’s new White House ballroom, slipping support for Ukraine, the Pentagon not ruling out the possibility of American boots on the ground in a Middle East conflict without a clear end, Republican efforts to scrap vote-by-mail and the ICE agents sowing fear in neighborhoods and airports.
Thousands crammed outside the Minnesota State Capitol, where No Kings threw what it called its flagship event. The crowd was “the largest protest in Minnesota history,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of progressive nonprofit Indivisible.
Nine months ago, on the eve of the first coordinated No Kings marches, a gunman executed one of the state’s top Democratic lawmakers and her husband in their home. Police urged Minnesotans to stay home after officers found No Kings fliers in the assailant’s abandoned SUV, but people flocked to the rally despite the in-progress manhunt.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recalled the protesters’ determination on Saturday, telling a rally in St. Paul, “When democracy itself seemed to be at risk, it was Minnesota who said, ‘not on my watch.’”
The assemblage got a dose of star power when Bruce Springsteen took center stage to perform a song inspired by the January killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents deployed to Minnesota. “King Trump’s private army from the DHS, guns belted to their coats, came to Minneapolis to enforce the law — so their story goes,” he sang.
Passion abounded in the nation’s capital, where Trump has shaken up the federal workforce and is using executive powers to transform the city’s landmarks. The procession took marchers across the bridge where he hopes to build one of the world’s tallest arches; along the National Mall, near where he wants to install a “National Garden of American Heroes”; and then within view of the White House grounds, where his ballroom is replacing the East Wing.
On a bridge overlooking Route 66, a mix of longtime activists and first-timers waved American flags and signs that read: “Fight for democracy,” as well as, “Sorry for being ‘radical.’ This is my first dictatorship.”
A steady stream of cars honked in appreciation.
Some demonstrators said they were afraid to show their faces, because they or their spouse work for a federal government in which leaders regularly call their livelihood an example of “waste, fraud and abuse.” Others said they had helped immigrants who’d gone into hiding since ICE agents began yanking delivery food drivers without the right documentation off the roads. To them, the point of No Kings is to keep Americans aware of the impacts of the administration. Maybe it could also spark electoral change, they added, pointing to the recent victory of Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
“Earlier, I was afraid of losing my job,” said a federal worker named Kim, 56, explaining why she’d avoided previous protests. “But after starting multiple wars and foreign invasions — and persecuting Americans and ‘to-be Americans’ — that broke some terror water in me.”
Her son has special needs, she said, and most of the caretakers who assist her family come from other countries. She worried ICE could scare away that invaluable workforce. Or hostile neighbors. One man in a car had screamed at her and other demonstrators, “Get a life!”
Katie Pegoraro, a 52-year-old IT manager from Arlington, dressed up as a giant red balloon dog reminiscent of a Jeff Koons sculpture.
“Joyful resistance,” she called it, hoisting a sign that read, “Due Process.”
The killings of Good and Pretti — both 37, both civically engaged civilians, in her eyes — had motivated Pegoraro to do more than just vote.
“I was the kind of person who was like: ‘My representatives are doing a good job,’” she said. “Then 100 percent, ICE killing people in Minnesota pushed me over the edge.”
Robyn Friedman, 72, had traveled from Virginia Beach to visit her sons and join the march. It was her third No Kings experience and one of many rallies she’d attended over the years.
“It can feel like it doesn’t do anything,” she said of protest, especially in a ruby-red district like her own. “But we did just vote in Abigail Spanberger.”
Up in Glens Falls, where 41 percent of registered voters in the county are Republicans and 27 percent Democrats — and Trump won all three of his presidential runs — hundreds added their shouting and chanting to the national festivities.
Dan Szczesny, 59, stood among the crowd with the American flag normally hanging outside his front door slung over his shoulder. A Republican for nearly his whole life, Szczesny left the party when Trump first ran for president.
The bombing in Iran dominated his thoughts.
“We’re going to be stuck yet again in the Middle East with no way out,” he said.
Overnight, an Iranian strike injured at least 10 U.S. troops on a Saudi air base. The war kept coming up among rally-goers, including Marsha Luzier, 57, who served four years in the Air Force.
“It’s heartbreaking to know our people are over there for a war that shouldn’t be going on,” she said, her voice breaking.
Her partner, Jake Shumaker, 49, said his brother is a combat veteran who served three tours in Iraq, where he was seriously injured.
“Our military is being deployed for oil,” he asserted. “Or to cover for the Epstein files — let’s be honest.”
Paquette and Boorstein reported from Washington and Slater from Glens Falls. Maegan Vazquez and Marisa Bellack in Washington contributed to this report.
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