'No Kings' protests against Trump bring a street party vibe to cities
nationwide
[October 20, 2025]
By MIKE PESOLI, MATT BROWN and GARY FIELDS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in
cities across the U.S. Saturday for “ No Kings ” demonstrations decrying
what participants see as the government's swift drift into
authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
People carrying signs with slogans such as “Nothing is more patriotic
than protesting” or “Resist Fascism" packed into New York City’s Times
Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and
Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los
Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states,
a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public
spaces.
Trump's Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as “Hate America”
rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party.
There were marching bands, huge banners with the U.S. Constitution’s “We
The People” 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.
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 “disregard for the law.” He
said immigration detentions without due process and deployments of
troops in U.S. cities are “un-American” and alarming signs of eroding
democracy.
“I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad,” said
Howard, who added that he also worked at the CIA for 20 years on
counter-extremism operations. “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, was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in
Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” the
president 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.
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.
Nationwide demonstrations
In San Francisco hundreds of people spelled out “No King!” 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 “dictator.”
“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,” Wingard said.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Portland for a peaceful
demonstration downtown. Later in the day, tensions grew as a few hundred
protesters and counterprotesters showed up at a U.S. Immigration and
Customs enforcement building, with federal agents at times firing tear
gas to disperse the crowd and city police threatening to make arrests if
demonstrators blocked streets.
The building has been the site of mostly small nightly protests since
June — the reason the Trump administration has cited for trying to
deploy National Guard troops in Portland, which a federal judge has at
least temporarily blocked.
About 3,500 people gathered in Salt Lake City outside the Utah State
Capitol to share messages of hope and healing after a protester was
fatally shot during the city’s first “No Kings” 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.
“It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize,”
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.
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People are signing a giant Constitution as they take part in a "No
Kings" protest Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP
Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
“It was so encouraging,” Yother said. “I walked in and thought,
‘Here are my people.’”
Organizers hope to build opposition movement
“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been
sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” 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 “No Kings” day in June
registered 2,100.
“We’re here because we love America,” Sanders said, addressing the
crowd from a stage in Washington. He said the American experiment is
“in danger” under Trump but insisted, “We the people will rule.”
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
“communists” and “Marxists.” 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.
“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that
will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
“Let’s see who shows up for that," Johnson said, listing groups
including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists
in full display.”
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.
“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 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.
“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said Ezra
Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group. “The
worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”
___
Associated Press journalists 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, and Bill Barrow in Birmingham, Alabama, contributed.
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