Summary
- “No
Kings” protests held nationwide against Trump policies. - Over
2,600 gatherings are planned in all 50 states. - Organizers
criticize Trump’s authoritarianism, National Guard deployments.
The government shutdown, which has shut down federal
programs and services and is putting the fundamental balance of power to the
test as an aggressive executive faces off against Congress and the courts in
ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism, is the
backdrop for this third large-scale mobilization since Trump’s return to the
White House in January.
Attacks on their motivations particularly infuriated a lot
of demonstrators. The placard that one person was holding in Bethesda,
Maryland, said,
“Nothing is more patriotic than protesting.”
Brian Reymann held a giant American flag in adjacent Washington,
D.C., and termed the Republicans’ constant calls for him to be a terrorist
“pathetic.”
“This is America. I disagree with their politics, but I
don’t believe that they don’t love this country. I believe they are misguided.
I think they are power hungry,”
Reymann said.
Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago
estate in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a
king,”
Trump said in a
Fox News interview that aired Friday, before he departed for a $1
million-per-plate MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Protests are
expected nearby on Saturday.
Hundreds of coalition partners are organizing more than
2,600 protests in both large and small cities on Saturday.
This year’s rallies against Trump’s military parade in June
and Elon Musk’s cuts to government employees in the spring attracted large audiences,
but organizers say this one is strengthening the opposition movement’s unity.
Prominent Democrats including Independent Senator Bernie
Sanders and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are attending in what
organizers see as a counterbalance to Trump’s policies, including the
administration’s military-style deportation raids and restrictions on free
speech.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime
than patriotic people-power,”
said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of
Indivisible, a progressive democratic movement that was among the key
organizers.
Before midday, thousands of protesters had assembled in
Times Square in New York City, yelling, “Trump must go now,” and
occasionally brandishing offensive signs that denounced the president’s immigration
enforcement and insulted him.
On Saturday morning, Terence McCormally, a retired family
physician, was on his way to Arlington National Cemetery to walk among others
across the Memorial Bridge that leads into Washington, right in front of the Lincoln
Memorial. He claimed that he is now more cautious of police than he was before
the National Guard was recently deployed.
Republicans have attempted to paint rally attendees on
Saturday as being significantly out of touch with American politics and the
main cause of the protracted government shutdown, which is currently in its
eighteenth day.
Party leaders from the White House to Capitol Hill
criticized the event attendees, calling them “communists” and
“Marxists.”
They claim that Schumer and other Democratic leaders are
loyal to the far-left and are prepared to keep the government closed in order
to please those extreme forces.
However, many Democrats see the government shutdown as a
means of opposing Trump and working to restore the presidency as a coequal body
of government within the American system.
Just six months ago, Democrats and their allies were split
and dejected, unsure of how to react to Trump’s return to the White House. Now,
the scenario could be a turning point.
His party chastised Schumer in particular for failing to use
a previous government funding bill to fight Trump and instead letting it pass
the Senate.
There were 1,300 registered locations for the nationwide
march against Trump and Elon Musk in April. 2,100 places registered for the
inaugural “No Kings” day in June.
“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some
spine,”
Levin said.
“The worst thing the Democrats could do right now
is surrender.”
How did local officials respond to planned demonstrations?
Local authorities reacted to the intended “No
Kings” demonstrations with some mixture of preparedness, caution, and a
call for peaceful protest. Many cities, such as Washington, D.C., deployed
National Guard troops to strategic locations as a precaution for potential
unrest and size of crowds.
Some officials resisted federal deployment of troops based
on their leadership of their respective cities, primarily in Democratic
controlled cities such as Washington, D.C., Portland, and Chicago, using legal
avenues to oppose what they saw as an overreach of authority by the Trump
administration.
Protest organizers engaged with cities to train protesters
in methods for safety, methods for de-escalation, and strategized in
anticipation of intimidation tactics by law enforcement or military.
