Cities across the United States came alive with chants, music, and color on Saturday as tens of thousands of protesters marched in “No Kings” rallies, denouncing what they see as President Donald Trump’s authoritarian turn.
Crowds filled Times Square in New York, Boston Common, and Chicago’s Grant Park, waving placards that read “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” and “Resist Fascism.” Similar scenes played out in Washington, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and dozens of smaller towns, where demonstrators gathered outside state capitols, courthouses, and city squares.
Though Republican leaders dismissed the movement as “Hate America” rallies, many events had the air of celebration rather than confrontation. Marching bands played, participants carried giant banners printed with the U.S. Constitution’s “We the People,” and inflatable frog costumes, symbols of resistance that originated in Portland, bobbed through the crowds.
The mass turnout marked the third nationwide protest since Trump returned to the White House. It came amid a prolonged government shutdown that has shuttered federal services and deepened tensions between the president, Congress, and the courts. Organizers warned that such standoffs were pushing the country toward authoritarianism.
Among those in Washington was Iraq War veteran Shawn Howard, who said this was his first-ever protest. “I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad,” said Howard, a former CIA officer. “And now I see a moment in America where we have extremists everywhere who are, in my opinion, pushing us to some kind of civil conflict.”
Trump, meanwhile, spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. In a Fox News interview that aired Friday, he responded to the protests with a mix of humor and defiance. “They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he said, before attending a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser at his Florida estate. His campaign later shared a computer-generated video portraying him as a crowned monarch waving from a balcony.
Across the country, creative acts of dissent filled the day. On Ocean Beach in San Francisco, hundreds of participants arranged themselves to spell “No King!” in the sand. Hayley Wingard, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said the demonstrations reflected a growing alarm. “I was actually OK with everything until I found that the military invasion in Los Angeles and Chicago and Portland — Portland bothered me the most, because I’m from Portland, and I don’t want the military in my cities. That’s scary,” she said.
Tens of thousands filled downtown Portland for a peaceful rally that later escalated when federal agents fired tear gas near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The site has seen nightly protests since June, prompting Trump’s attempt to deploy the National Guard, an effort temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
In Salt Lake City, about 3,500 people gathered at the Utah State Capitol to share messages of unity following the fatal shooting of a protester during the city’s first “No Kings” march in June.
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Birmingham, Alabama, drew more than 1,500 participants invoking the city’s Civil Rights legacy. “It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize,” said Jessica Yother, a mother of four. “It was so encouraging. I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.’”
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told the Associated Press that mass rallies like these give “confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up.”
Organizers say Saturday’s demonstrations united the fragmented opposition. The turnout exceeded 2,600 registered rallies, far more than earlier anti-Trump and anti-Musk protests. Prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders, lent their voices to the movement.
“We’re here because we love America,” Sanders told a cheering crowd in Washington. “The American experiment is in danger under Trump, but we the people will rule.”
Republicans, however, tagged the protesters as radicals bent on deepening the government shutdown. “I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who listed “antifa types” and “Marxists in full display” among expected attendees.
Many demonstrators responded with satire, mocking what they called the administration’s theatrical exaggerations. “So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington participant wearing a wizard hat and frog sign.
Despite the massive crowds, New York police reported no arrests.
While Republicans accused Democrats of prolonging the shutdown for political gain, protesters said the gatherings were about more than politics, they were about reclaiming civic power. “What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the organizing groups. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”
