Crowds began to hit the streets Saturday in cities and towns across the country to vent their anger over President Trump’s policies in “No Kings” protests, which Republicans have slammed as “Hate America” rallies.
More than 2,700 demonstrations are planned coast to coast and even near Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is spending the weekend. Organizers say they are expecting millions to attend the events, and that there is at least one event planned in every state.
Those numbers would match the massive turnout at similar events on June 14, which was Mr. Trump’s birthday and the day of a giant military parade in the U.S. capital. Protestors said they were outraged over the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and its deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
Since then, Mr. Trump — who returned to the White House in January — has ordered National Guard troops into Washington, D.C. and Memphis. Planned deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon have so far been blocked in the courts.
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Demonstrators are also upset over Mr. Trump’s attacks on the media, prosecutions of his political opponents and a host of other actions they see as authoritarian.
On its website, “No Kings” organizers say, “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.”
“This president is a disgrace and I hope there will be millions in the street today,” Stephanie, a 36-year-old hospital worker who did not give her last name, told AFP in the Queens borough of New York, where hundreds had already gathered in the morning.
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In Los Angeles, organizers said they expect 100,000 people to attend. Beyond New York and San Francisco, protests are scheduled in major cities such as Washington, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and New Orleans, but also in small towns across all 50 states.
In Chicago’s Grant Park, Democratic Congresswoman Delia Ramirez led the crowd in a chant, “When I say people, you say power!”
“May that powerful voice be heard from here to Washington, D.C., and every corner of this country,” Ramirez said, CBS Chicago reported. “I am the proud daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, and I will never be ashamed of my roots.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker joined the demonstration.
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In Miami, one demonstrator told CBS Miami that she showed up to give voice to those who feel the most marginalized in the country.
“I’m most worried about people who aren’t doing well in this country, people who are being marginalized,” said Roxanne Featherly. “The hate [and] I guess you can say the bipolarism that we have.”
More than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and openly citing the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement two generations ago, the Associated Press reported.
“It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize,” Jessica Yother, a mother of four, told the AP. “It was so encouraging. I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.'”
Outside of the U.S., crowds gathered outside U.S. embassies in Berlin, Rome, Paris and Sweden in solidarity with the protesters in the U.S. Photos show them holding signs denouncing fascism and dictatorships.
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So far, the president’s response to the events has been muted.
“They’re saying they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he told Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures,” in an interview that will air on Sunday.
But top surrogates, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, dismissed the event. Johnson called it the “Hate America Rally.”
“You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he told reporters.
Republican lawmaker Tom Emmer also used the “Hate America” phrase and referred to participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin activated the National Guard and announced a “substantially increased police presence” ahead of the planned events. He said that protestors have the right to free speech but that “does not include the destruction of property, looting, vandalism, disruption of traffic, or violence of any kind—for which there will be zero tolerance.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also said the National Guard and public safety employees will be surged to Austin to handle expected protests.
Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer encouraged demonstrators to let their voices be heard.
“I say to my fellow Americans this No Kings Day: Do not let Donald Trump and Republicans intimidate you into silence. That’s what they want to do. They’re afraid of the truth,” he wrote on X. “Speak out, use your voice, and exercise your right to free speech.”