Historic Nationwide Uprising: ‘No Kings’ Protests Grip America

1. Estimated 7 million Americans flooded streets, parks, and plazas across all 50 states
2. In Chicago's Grant Park, where 300,000 gathered under a sea of American flags and inflatable crowns mocking the president

In a thunderous rejection of what demonstrators decried as President Donald Trump's slide toward autocracy, an estimated 7 million Americans flooded streets, parks, and plazas across all 50 states yesterday in the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Dubbed "No Kings Day," the coordinated actions—spanning over 2,600 events from coastal megacities to rural hamlets—marked the third major mobilization against the Trump administration since his January inauguration, underscoring a deepening national rift over democratic erosion, mass deportations, and billionaire-fuelled governance.

Organizers from the progressive No Kings network, a coalition of labor unions, civil rights groups, and environmental advocates, hailed the turnout as a "people's firewall" against what they called Trump's "monarchical excesses." "We are not subjects; we are citizens," declared No Kings co-founder Maria Elena Gonzalez at a rally in Los Angeles, where 500,000 marchers shut down the 101 Freeway in a human chain echoing the 2017 Women's March. 

"Trump's refusal to honor court orders on deportations, his pardons for January 6 insurrectionists, and his handover of federal agencies to Elon Musk and other oligarchs—this isn't leadership; it's lordship."

The protests erupted amid a grinding government shutdown now in its third week, triggered by Trump's demands for $50 billion in border wall funding and the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across federal agencies. Demonstrators linked these tactics to a broader pattern: the administration's executive orders bypassing Congress to accelerate Project 2025's blueprint, including the firing of 50,000 civil servants and the deployment of National Guard troops for immigration raids in sanctuary cities. In Chicago's Grant Park, where 300,000 gathered under a sea of American flags and inflatable crowns mocking the president, speakers blasted Trump's recent AI-generated video—depicting a crowned "King Trump" defecating on protesters from his jet—as "a tyrant's tantrum."

From dawn in Honolulu's Waikiki Beach to dusk in Portland's Hawthorne Bridge—where thousands locked arms to halt traffic— the rallies pulsed with a carnival-like defiance blended with raw fury. In San Francisco, 100,000 formed a mile-long human banner on Ocean Beach spelling "NO KINGS," visible from drones and applauded by passing ships. Memphis saw costumed revelers in T-rex suits and colonial tricorn hats parade past the National Civil Rights Museum, chanting, "From Pharaoh to Pharaoh—Trump must go!" Kansas City's event drew 50,000 to the Liberty Memorial, where veterans in attendance invoked the Revolutionary War: "We didn't bleed for billionaires' playthings."

The scale dwarfed previous anti-Trump actions. The inaugural No Kings wave in June, protesting a military parade coinciding with Trump's 79th birthday, mobilized 3 million. August's "Rage Against the Regime" and September's "Workers Over Billionaires" Labor Day marches each topped 4 million, but Saturday's surge—verified by aerial imagery and crowd-sourcing apps like CrowdCount—eclipsed even the 2017 Women's March's 4.2 million peak. Abroad, solidarity actions rippled through Europe: 10,000 in London's Trafalgar Square waved "Yankee Doodle" banners, while Berlin's Brandenburg Gate hosted a "No Emperors" vigil decrying U.S. trade wars crippling Mexican and Canadian economies.

High-profile allies amplified the roar. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, addressing 200,000 in D.C.'s National Mall, skewered Trump's inner circle: "Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg—these multibillionaires grew richer under Trump while you scrape by. This is feudalism with Teslas." Georgia's Raphael Warnock invoked King's "fierce urgency of now," linking deportation camps to Jim Crow. California's Adam Schiff, fresh from House Intelligence probes into Trump's Ukraine-Russia calls, warned of "a president who talks Putin more than Pelosi." New Jersey's Cory Booker and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined choruses of "We the People" in New York, where Times Square's LED billboards flickered with protest footage, drowning out tourist selfies.

Hollywood's A-listers turned out en masse, transforming rallies into star-studded spectacles. Mark Ruffalo emceed Denver's 150,000-strong march, quipping, "Hulk smash kings!" Alyssa Milano led a "Moms Against Monarchs" contingent in Phoenix, while George Clooney's remote video from Italy urged, "America rejects crowns—wear your tricorn." These infusions of glamour countered online smears from Trump allies, who flooded X with claims of "paid Soros puppets" and Antifa infiltrators. Still, footage showed families with strollers, seniors in wheelchairs, and union workers in hardhats dominating the crowds—peaceful tableaux shattered only by isolated counter-protester scuffles, like a Trump supporter's assault charge in Portland.

The White House fired back with venom. Trump, golfing at Mar-a-Lago, dismissed the masses as "losers waving Mexican flags" in a Truth Social rant, insisting, "I'm no king—I'm the people's champion! These riots prove the radical left hates America." House Speaker Mike Johnson branded the events "Hate America rallies," while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused participants of being "pro-Hamas agitators or Antifa stooges." No arrests exceeded 200 nationwide, mostly for minor jaywalking— a stark contrast to the 14,000 detained during 2020's George Floyd unrest, which Trump weaponized for his "law and order" campaign.

This crescendo of dissent traces to Trump's 2024 victory, secured by a slim 1.2 million popular vote margin amid voter suppression allegations in swing states. Polls show approval languishing at 38%, with independents fleeing over economic whiplash: inflation at 6.2% despite tariff hikes, and 2 million jobs lost to automation mandates favoring Musk's AI empire. Critics point to hallmarks of "king-like" rule: ignoring Supreme Court stays on DACA repeals, stacking the FBI with loyalists, and floating term-limit repeals via constitutional convention whispers.

As night fell, bonfires dotted Boston Common, where 100,000 sang "God Bless America" in a nod to 1776. "This isn't just protest—it's premonition," said organizer Gonzalez. "If Trump crowns himself, we'll dethrone him at the ballot box in 2026." With midterms looming, yesterday's thunder may echo louder than any AI slur. For now, America's streets affirm: No kings, only the people.

The great irony is of course that Donald Trump is the son of an immigrant. The grandson of an immigrant and married to an immigrant. In fact two of his three wives were immigrants, proving yet again that immigrants will do the jobs that even Americans are not willing to do.

-Mehdi Hasan, British born Indian-American broadcaster