A wave of “No Kings” protests swept across small towns and big cities across the US on Saturday, with crowds gathering to attack President Trump, immigration and Customs enforcement actions, the war in Iran and high gas and food prices.
Saturday’s demonstrations were expected to draw millions from across the country, including thousands who attended a rally in downtown Los Angeles. More than 40 protests were planned for LA, Orange and Ventura counties, part of a national “No Kings Day of Nonviolent Action”.
None of the organizers of the Kings Coalition expected that the crowds at rallies in all 50 states would become the largest one-day protest in American history. He pointed to growing anger over the direction of the country, including deadly ICE shootings and troops sent to the Middle East, since the first “No Kings” demonstration was held last June.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of people gathered around the Reflecting Pool at Pasadena City College. A band performed a fascism-themed parody of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Sign-toting protesters lined Colorado Blvd., causing constant honking of horns from passing cars. For many, the Iran war was top of mind.
“Every time we protest, something completely new happens, which speaks to the lawlessness of the Trump administration,” Cindy Campbell told The Times. “ICE raided last year, Epstein filed a few months ago. Now, war.”
“This administration doesn’t serve us. It serves billionaires,” said Kent Miller of Monrovia, who participated in the Pasadena protest. “The war with Iran is only making life harder for working people.”
Miller pointed to a Chevron gas station that was advertising gas for $6.45 a gallon.
“Look?” He said.
National coordinators said there was increased interest in smaller communities, including Republican strongholds, with higher-than-expected attendance during Saturday’s protests.
“I’m out here because I’m disgusted by what I’m seeing,” said Kersti Kinsey, a mother protesting near Beaufort, S.C., city hall. “People are suffering, and he’s playing golf. People are suffering, and he’s going to other places and blowing things up.”
In Beaufort, an antebellum town founded in 1711, an estimated 3,000 people gathered — a significant increase from previous “No Kings” rallies, said Barb Nash, one of the coordinators. Amid moss-draped live oak trees and blooming pink and white azaleas, a man in a purple Barney dinosaur costume held a sign that read: “Dino is for Democracy.” A young girl handed out homemade “resistance cookies.”
Los Angeles coordinators said they expected more than 100,000 people to attend local events, which were planned for Beverly Hills, Burbank, West Covina, West Hollywood and Thousand Oaks. One group planned a “road outrage” car caravan to drive through midtown, waving “No War” and “ICE Out of LA” flags. At the Torrance gathering, cars honked horns, protesters waved flags, and a man in a green cow costume unfurled a large American flag.
The White House dismissed the protests in a Saturday statement as a “Trump derangement therapy session.”
Organizers said they were particularly encouraged by the increase in interest from groups in rural communities who wanted to join the loose No Kings coalition and hold protests.
Jenny Parrish, founder of the Arizona Native Vote Project, began planning a protest earlier this week for her small town of Kayenta on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona.
“My dad, who is a (military) veteran and veteran, said: ‘We should go,’ and I said, ‘Okay,'” Parrish told The Times.
“Our people don’t always protest for things, but this was very important,” Parrish said. “So many of our families are feeling the effects of higher prices right now and cuts to things. Many of our health care benefits are being cut … and our tribal sovereignty is being threatened.”
Excited Midwestern activists braved strong winds to form a line of protesters stretching about three blocks down Burlington Avenue in Hastings, Neb. Under clear blue skies, one of the protesters, Drew Fawcett, told The Times in a phone interview that he is, of course, a registered Republican in the red state.
Fawcett said, “My politics haven’t really changed – but the party around me has.” “It used to be that both parties were two sides of the same coin, and they worked together – but not anymore.”
He and his wife Becky have participated in “No Kings” and other protests because “it’s the only way to show that people have different opinions,” he said. “People are here speaking up for their families and neighbors. That’s what it’s all about.”
Debbie Thompson, one of the organizers in Hastings, said Trump’s policies are hurting many people in Nebraska — including farmers.
“We want to urge our representatives in Congress not to just approve whatever Trump wants because it’s really hurting rural people and farmers,” Thompson said. “The tariffs on fertilizers and the huge increase in prices are really hitting farmers badly.”
The “No Kings” campaign began in June as a form of defiance on Trump’s 79th birthday. He wanted a military parade in Washington to mark his milestone, and anti-Trump protesters — an estimated 5 million people nationwide — came out with their own demonstration. At the time, Trump’s second-term policies were coming into focus, including increasing immigration raids, deploying the National Guard to L.A. in response to protests, and mass shootings within the federal government.
A subsequent incident in mid-October drew even larger crowds, an estimated seven million people protesting across the country.
Saturday’s event coincides with a decline in Trump’s approval ratings. A Reuters/Ipsos poll Last week, 36% approved of Trump’s job performance, the lowest level since he returned to office last year. in a different fox news poll Released last week, 59% disapproved of his performance.
“Since the last ‘No Kings,’ we have been seeing higher prices for gas and groceries while there is an illegal war going on in Iran,” Sarah Parker, national organizer for Organization 50501, said during a Thursday press conference. “We have also seen our neighbors beaten – American citizens hanged.”
Mass protests and candlelight vigils followed the fatal shootings of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, and Alex Pretty, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January.
“The defining story of this Saturday’s mobilization is not just how many people are protesting – but also where they are protesting,” Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg said during a press briefing. He said two-thirds of the RSVPs to national organizers came from outside major urban centres.
The Los Angeles event was organized by the local chapter of 50501 (short for “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement”) and other progressive groups, including the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible and Public Citizen, as well as labor unions such as Unite Here Local 11 and the Service Workers International Union.
“There is an affordability crisis in this country – people can’t afford groceries or health care,” SEIU Executive Vice President Joseph Bryant said in a statement. “But this administration is focused on expanding its power, starting unnecessary wars that benefit billionaires, and targeting immigrants and citizens who dare to stand up for them.
