On Saturday, millions of Americans across all 50 states took to the streets in a sweeping rebuke of Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian second term. The “No Kings” protests, organized by a coalition of over 100 groups, drew demonstrators to more than 2,100 locations nationwide, voicing unified opposition to the president’s abuse of power, militarized governance, and attacks on civil liberties.
The timing of the protests was no accident. While tanks and troops paraded through Washington D.C. in a disturbing show of force ordered by Trump, protesters chose to rally elsewhere, intentionally avoiding the capital to highlight the contrast between military spectacle and democratic resistance. From New York to tiny towns like Pentwater, Michigan, Americans gathered peacefully—despite threats of violence and actual attacks in some regions.
In Minnesota, tragedy struck when two Democratic lawmakers were shot, one fatally, in a politically motivated attack. Yet thousands still gathered at the state capitol in defiance, refusing to let political violence silence democratic expression. In Texas and Florida, governors deployed National Guard units and issued alarming rhetoric—Florida’s Ron DeSantis even encouraged drivers to run over protesters in certain circumstances, normalizing violent suppression of dissent.
The protests centered on a growing list of grievances: Trump’s expanded deportation policies, his use of military troops against civilians, and his escalating retribution agenda. In Los Angeles and Portland, peaceful rallies were declared unlawful by police and met with teargas and rubber bullets. In Georgia, California, and Virginia, cars were driven into crowds of protesters. Yet even in the face of violence and threats, turnout remained massive and resolute.
Participants came from all walks of life—immigrants, veterans, workers—many carrying signs that rejected Trump’s cult of personality and called for the restoration of democratic norms. A chef in Philadelphia summed up the mood: “This is supposed to be the land of opportunity, not a place ruled by fear and exclusion.”
According to the Harvard-based Crowd Counting Consortium, 2025 has seen a dramatic surge in political activism, already surpassing the protest numbers of Trump’s first term. Saturday’s protests, likely the largest of the year, send a clear message: Americans are rejecting the rise of authoritarianism, and they’re doing it not with violence, but with solidarity and determination.
The “No Kings” movement reminds us that this country was founded on opposition to tyranny—and millions are once again standing up to say that the presidency is not a throne, and Donald Trump is no king.