Millions of Americans gathered together for “No Kings Day” protests across the country on Saturday, with elected leaders also participating in — or lampooning — the marches.
About 2,600 demonstrations aimed at criticizing the Trump administration were planned across all 50 states. Protests were held in small towns and major cities, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New Orleans, Miami and Portland, Ore.
In Illinois, where President Trump has quarreled with Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker over deploying the National Guard in Chicago and elsewhere, protests peppered the state. Pritzker, in a post on the social media site X, called the protests “democracy in action.”
“Proud of our state for peacefully showing up and speaking out together in one voice to fight back against Donald Trump’s takeover of our democracy,” Pritzker posted.
“No kings,” Pritzker said in a separate post. “Not now, not ever.”
“We will not bend,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), who also addressed protesters in the city, posted on X. “We will not bow. We will not cower. Chicago will not submit to Trump’s authoritarianism and I will use every resource at my disposal to Protect Chicago until Trump ends his war on the working people of our city.”
In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) deployed the Texas National Guard and claimed the protests were “antifa-linked,” the Austin Police Department praised those who gathered.
“Thank you to everyone who participated in the No Kings March today,” the department said on social media. “The rally remained peaceful, with no arrests reported. We’re grateful to our community and event organizers for coming together to make sure voices were heard safely and respectfully. Great job ATX!”
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) took photos with protesters and wrote on X, “Colorado bows to no kings.”
On the West Coast, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) thanked “all of the patriots who made their voices heard peacefully across Washington state.”
“This is what democracy looks like!” she wrote on X. “We use our voices and our votes. NO KINGS IN AMERICA!”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) praised San Diego after its police department said 25,000 people turned out for the “No Kings” protest in the city and no one was arrested.
North of San Diego, in Los Angeles, the city’s mayor Karen Bass (D) said there were 10 different marches across the city.
“There’s tens of thousands of people peacefully exercising their First Amendment right and their complete rejection of military intervention in our cities,” Bass said on MSNBC’s “The Weekend: Primetime.”
Back in Washington, D.C., Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) met with protesters and shook their hands.
“From our nation’s capitol to cities across California, millions stood shoulder to shoulder to say that our democracy is worth fighting for, that our voices will not be silent, and that we will not sit back and let a wannabe king take our freedoms,” Schiff wrote on X. “Proud to stand with you.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was one of the speakers at the “No Kings” protest in Washington, where thousands gathered after the nation’s capital did not host any demonstrations on the first “No Kings Day” on June 14.
“Thank you to the millions of Americans who turned out in small communities and big cities all over this country to say loudly and boldly: No more kings,” Sanders posted on social media Saturday afternoon. “In America, We the People will rule.”
But as Democrats took part or voiced support for the protests, Republicans — including the president himself — poked fun at the them.
Trump shared on his social platform Truth Social an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown while piloting a fighter jet. As Kenny Loggins’s song “Danger Zone” plays in the background, the jet flies over Time Square in New York City and dumps what appear to be feces over “No Kings” demonstrators.
Trump shared another AI-generated video, originally posted by Vice President Vance’s account on the social platform Bluesky, of himself wearing a crown before a cape forms over his shoulders and he unsheathes a sword. The video ends with a clip of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), kneeling to honor George Floyd in 2020.
Schumer posted photos on X of himself with demonstrators in New York City, adding that “we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy.” But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), meanwhile, shared a post on X as a comment below Schumer’s previous words about “No Kings Day.”
“If Trump was a king, the government would be open right now,” reads a caption above a portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that says, “There’s already an actual ‘No Kings Day.’ It’s on July 4th, we call it Independence Day.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Saturday shared a video of himself, wearing a crown and holding a hamburger, outside a Burger King.
“In America, we don’t have a king, but we do have a dadgum good President in @realDonaldTrump,” Burchett posted. “Celebrating the fact I don’t have a British accent with a charbroiled whopper from @BurgerKing.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also weighed in, reposting a video of protesters in Carrollton, Texas, which the original poster described was “almost exclusively old white people.”
“Boomers gotta boom,” Cruz wrote above the video.
