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.