Protesting the direction of the country, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations.<\/b>
\n‘No Kings’ protests against Trump bring a street party vibe to cities nationwide
Protesting the direction of the country, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations.
Protesting the direction of the country, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations.
Protesting the direction of the country, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations.
Protesting the direction of the country, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations.
WASHINGTON — Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities big and small across the U.S. for \u00a0\u00bb No Kings \u00a0\u00bb demonstrations that the president’s Republican Party disparaged as \u00ab\u00a0Hate America\u00a0\u00bb rallies.
With signs such as \u00ab\u00a0Nothing is more patriotic than protesting\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0Resist Fascism\u00a0\u00bb, in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s \u00ab\u00a0We The People\u00a0\u00bb preamble that people could sign, and demonstrators wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services but is testing the core balance of power, as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
Trump himself was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
\u00ab\u00a0They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king\u00a0\u00bb, Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.
Later Friday a Trump campaign social media account mocked the protests by posting a computer-generated video of the president clothed like a monarch, wearing a crown and waving from a balcony.
People packed into New York City’s Times Square, Boston Common and Chicago’s Grant Park; outside state capitols in several Republican-led states and a courthouse in Billings, Montana; and at hundreds of smaller public spaces.
In Washington, Iraq War Marine veteran Shawn Howard said he had never participated in a protest before but was motivated to show up because of what he sees as the Trump administration’s \u00ab\u00a0disregard for the law.\u00a0\u00bb He said immigration detentions without due process and deployments of troops in U.S. cities are \u00ab\u00a0un-American\u00a0\u00bb and alarming signs of eroding democracy.
\u00ab\u00a0I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad\u00a0\u00bb, said Howard, who added that he also worked at the CIA for 20 years on counter-extremism operations. \u00ab\u00a0And 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.\u00a0\u00bb
In San Francisco hundreds of people spelled out \u00ab\u00a0No King!\u00a0\u00bb and other phrases with their bodies on Ocean Beach. Hayley Wingard, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she too had never been to a protest before. Only recently she began to view Trump as a \u00ab\u00a0dictator.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0I 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\u00a0\u00bb, Wingard said.
Salt Lake City demonstrators gathered outside the Utah State Capitol to share messages of hope and healing after a protester was fatally shot during the city’s first \u00ab\u00a0No Kings\u00a0\u00bb march in June.
And more than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.
\u00ab\u00a0It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize\u00a0\u00bb, said Jessica Yother, a mother of four. She and other protesters said they felt camaraderie by gathering in a state where Trump won nearly 65% of the vote last November.
\u00ab\u00a0It was so encouraging\u00a0\u00bb, Yother said. \u00ab\u00a0I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.'\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up\u00a0\u00bb, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
While protests earlier this year – against Elon Musk’s cuts and Trump’s military parade – drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
More than 2,600 rallies were planned Saturday, organizers said. The national march against Trump and Musk this spring had 1,300 registered locations, while the first \u00ab\u00a0No Kings\u00a0\u00bb day in June registered 2,100.
\u00ab\u00a0We’re here because we love America\u00a0\u00bb, Sanders said, addressing the crowd from a stage in Washington. He said the American experiment is \u00ab\u00a0in danger\u00a0\u00bb under Trump but insisted, \u00ab\u00a0We the people will rule.\u00a0\u00bb
Republican critics denounce the demonstrations
Republicans sought to portray protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders called them \u00ab\u00a0communists\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Marxists.\u00a0\u00bb They said Democratic leaders including Schumer are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut to appease those liberal forces.
\u00ab\u00a0I encourage you to watch – we call it the Hate America rally – that will happen Saturday\u00a0\u00bb, said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
\u00ab\u00a0Let’s see who shows up for that\u00a0\u00bb, Johnson said, listing groups including \u00ab\u00a0antifa types\u00a0\u00bb, people who \u00ab\u00a0hate capitalism\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Marxists in full display.\u00a0\u00bb
Many demonstrators, in response, said they were meeting such hyperbole with humor, noting that Trump often leans heavily on theatrics such as claiming that cities he sends troops to are war zones.
\u00ab\u00a0So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy\u00a0\u00bb, said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.
New York police reported no arrests during the protests.
Democrats try to regain their footing amid shutdown
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
\u00ab\u00a0What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine\u00a0\u00bb, said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group. \u00ab\u00a0The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.\u00a0\u00bb
Associated Press journalists Gary Fields, Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking in Washington, Jill Colvin and Joseph Frederick in New York, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Terry Chea in San Francisco, Chris Megerian in West Palm Beach, Florida, Bill Barrow in Birmingham, Alabama, and Safiya Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.<\/p>\n