‘No Kings’ protests: Largest demonstration against President Donald Trump planned across US
“No Kings” protests set to take place across America today are expected to be the largest demonstration against President Donald Trump so far.
The second No Kings protest is set to take place across the US today - with millions expected to take to the streets in opposition to the second Trump administration. Thousands of events are planned across all 50 of the United States in response to what many see as the growing authoritarianism of Donald Trump’s presidency.
It comes amid the US leader’s deployment of military personnel in ‘blue’ Democratic-led states, including California and Oregon, which are being challenged in court.
In response to the planned protests, members of the ruling Republican Party have branded the gatherings ‘Hate America’ rallies, claiming they will be made up of ‘Hamas supporters’ and ‘terrorists’.
No Kings also comes amid a government shutdown in the US, with federal agencies not operating as Congress cannot pass a budget - with opposition Democrats insisting the Republican leadership negotiate to continue subsidies funding medical insurance for millions of Americans under the ACA (American Care Act).
So far, the Republican-led Congress has refused to budge, attempting to blame the closure on Democrats, and threatening to sack thousands of federal workers and cancel ‘Democrat programs’.
Mr Trump himself is away from Washington, choosing to see out the demonstration at his Mar-a-Lago home, in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Mr Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired before he departed for a one million-dollars-per-plate Maga Inc fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
The first No Kings protest saw an estimated five million people take to US streets in opposition to the Trump administration and cuts being imposed by the Doge initiative, led by Tesla billionaire, Elon Musk.
Top Democrats, including senate leader Chuck Schumer and Independent senator Bernie Sanders, are set to join demonstrations, with Ezra Levin, co-founder of the Indivisible group, which is involved in organising No Kings, saying: “There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power.”
As Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Mr Levin said their own sign-up numbers are growing, with more than 2,600 rallies planned in cities large and small, organised by hundreds of coalition partners. They said rallies are being planned within a one-hour drive for most Americans.
Overseas, a few hundred Americans already gathered in Madrid to chant slogans and hold signs at a protest organized by Democrats Abroad, with similar rallies planned in other major European cities.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of American politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
Yet from the White House to Capitol Hill, Republican leaders have disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists”, saying the Democratic party is beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch - we call it the Hate America rally - that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker, Mike Johnson. “Let’s see who shows up for that,” he added, saying protestors would be “antifa types”, people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display”.
Senator Sanders, of Vermont, instead called the gathering a “love America rally”.
“It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society,” he said.