On Saturday (October 18), hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC and cities across the country to protest what they say are increasingly authoritarian actions by the Trump administration.
“We’re here to represent ordinary people – ordinary, peaceful Americans – who are against the actions of this administration, who are against the occupation of our cities and the disappearance of our neighbors from the streets,” Jermaine Collins, a 34-year-old veteran of the Afghanistan War, tells Rolling Stone next to a city dump truck set up to block the entrance to the National Gallery of Art block.
More of a rally than a march, the “No Kings” demonstration centered on a stage set up on Pennsylvania Avenue with the U.S. Capitol in the background. The event comes at a time when the Trump administration is increasingly seeking to directly confront its political opponents using various levers of state power, including through the use of counterterrorism tools originally designed to combat foreign extremists against domestic targets and the deployment of the National Guard in major cities under federal jurisdiction.
Protests remained peaceful
In Washington, groups of patrolling National Guardsmen in MultiCam uniforms and body armor armed with M17 pistols and M4 rifles are now a common sight, but on Saturday the law enforcement presence was relatively light and relaxed. A contingent of Metropolitan Police Department bicycle officers — who stand in reserve as a quick-reaction force and are typically called into action when a demonstration turns violent — lounged in the shade of the art gallery’s east wing, mostly dozing while protesters gathered nearby in the hot fall sun. No National Guard was seen near the demonstration site – apparently the decision had been made to keep their presence in the Capitol Hill area to a minimum over the weekend.
Still, sending soldiers into American cities was high on the list of concerns for many at the demonstration.
“It’s frightening,” said a 68-year-old Washington, D.C., resident, holding a sign reading “Freedom of the Press.” He had gathered with a handful of friends under the shade of a tree in Union Square to listen to speeches broadcast from the nearby stage. “We have friends who are there [in der Nationalgarde von Washington, D.C.]. This is a waste of time and resources.”
The pensioner and his three friends, all of whom asked not to be named for fear of possible retaliation from the American government, spoke to this reporter at length about what they see as the collapse of usual politics in the United States. Describing themselves as political moderates, they say they are not optimistic that the Trump administration’s “vindictive lawlessness” — as one of them put it — could be easily defeated, especially given the current emotionally charged and polarizing partisan political environment.
And yet they hope that opposition to the administration will translate into anti-Republican votes in next year’s midterm elections, despite what one called a “pathetic” performance by the Democratic Party.
America must address its problems
The reason for Trump’s re-election is that “behind the extravagant rhetoric are real problems that need to be addressed,” says the 68-year-old. Democrats need to confront that reality, he adds, but it’s also important to convince voters to reject the MAGA movement and its excesses. “I have to hope that events like today help make progress among independents who voted for Trump in the last election.”
Others see protests like “No Kings” as the start of a broader movement of national resistance.
“I’m going to keep it simple. This administration is leading the United States down the path to authoritarianism,” said Ethan Wilson, a 42-year-old Iraq War veteran who – along with Collins – represented a progressive nonprofit veterans organization called Common Defense.
“Courts are important. Elections are important. But that probably won’t be enough to save us,” Wilson believes. “What we need is a large-scale nonviolent civil resistance movement in the United States that is capable of building levers of power that can be used against the government and its supporters – particularly against the top echelon of the elite in American society who either actively support or go along with the government.”
The goal, Wilson says, is to put pressure on elites and institutions to withdraw their support for what he calls “the emerging regime.” “Again: non-violent,” he adds.
In fact, there were no signs of violence at the “No Kings” demonstration in Washington, ROLLING STONE observed. This reporter saw a lone man wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap and a Donald Trump shirt walking unmolested through the crowd of protesters, staring defiantly as those around him largely ignored his passing.
That wasn’t surprising to Collins, the Afghanistan veteran. “There’s a lot of regular people here protesting. It’s not what you see on Fox News and stuff. Look around. There’s no group of – they’ve portrayed us as ‘terrorists,'” he says. “That’s kind of crazy. Of course it’s crazy.”
2,700 “No Kings” rallies across the US
The event in Washington was one of more than 2,700 similar protests across the country, organizers said. The government and its allies oscillate between trivializing and ignoring the protests and portraying them as a major threat to national security.
On Wednesday (October 15), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he would introduce a bill that would allow the Justice Department to prosecute No Kings funders and organizers under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
“Follow the money. Cut off the money supply,” Cruz told Fox News. “Looking at this No Kings rally, there is significant evidence that George Soros and his network are behind the funding of these rallies, which could well turn into riots.”
“This is the authoritarian playbook,” said Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the LGBTQ rights nonprofit Human Rights Campaign and one of the organizers of the “No Kings” rally. “They rely not only on division and chaos, but also on intimidation – because they are in the minority in this country. Not only is Donald Trump extremely unpopular, but the vast majority of people in this country do not support dictatorships. They do not support tyranny.”
“Without the First Amendment, we wouldn’t have a country, and people should absolutely exercise their right to peacefully assemble and petition their government,” Wolf said. “Regardless of what threats come from the White House or their supporters, this is a fundamental American freedom.”
Still, Cruz’s threats are part of a larger pattern in which the Trump administration has shown a willingness to crack down on protesters. In September, the president signed an executive order classifying the leaderless anti-fascist collective movement Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Trump administration cracks down on dissidents
On Thursday (October 16), federal prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment against members of an alleged “Antifa cell” on charges of “providing material support for terrorism” in connection with an incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4. In that incident, a group of people dressed in black stormed the ICE facility, shooting fireworks and destroying property, the U.S. government said, in an attack that amounted to an “ambush” and “attempted murder of federal officers.”
It is believed to be the first time that terrorism allegations have been made against suspected supporters of the anti-fascist movement. Protests against ICE officers and facilities and alleged rampant crime formed the basis for a series of unprecedented enforcement actions by the Trump administration – including the deployment of the military to Los Angeles, the National Guard to Washington, DC, and a planned deployment of National Guard members to Chicago.
An injunction blocking that deployment was upheld Thursday by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which explicitly stated in its decision that “political opposition is not rebellion” and argued that the evidence did not support the president’s federalization of the troops over local authorities’ resistance.
“A protest does not become a rebellion solely because the protesters advocate for a variety of legal or policy changes, are well organized, demand significant changes in the structure of the U.S. government, use civil disobedience as a form of protest, or are exercising their Second Amendment right to bear firearms as the law currently permits,” the court wrote, adding, “Nor does a protest become alone “There is a rebellion because there are occasional illegal acts or even acts of violence by individual participants in the protest.”
outrage and hope
There was certainly little sign of open rebellion at the protest in Washington on Saturday. But there was plenty of carefully considered outrage.
“I’m an immigrant. I wasn’t born in this country. That means I love this country the way immigrants do. It’s a different kind of love in a way, because you’re aware of what your life could have been if you hadn’t had this chance,” says Nancy, a 57-year-old lawyer from Maryland who, like many of the people ROLLING STONE spoke to, asked not to use her full name to be called. “I’ve lived here my whole life. My father was American, my mother was from South America. I think this country is very important and I think it’s worth fighting for.”
“I’m a lawyer and I believe in the rule of law,” she added. “The rule of law is what defines free people. That’s why I’m very, very concerned about the abolition of the rule of law – and how easily it happens. Almost without thinking, we become desensitized to all the violations that happen.”
The large-scale protest largely had the atmosphere of a street party, with lively supporters of a variety of causes taking part. Regardless of each individual’s motivations or political views, organizers said, the most important thing you can do to defend the rights you believe are under threat is simply to be there.
“No matter how far this administration is willing to go to suppress dissent in this country, it is still our duty to show up and defend our most basic freedoms,” Wolf said. “You can’t say what this government will do from one day to the next. It has already shown that it is willing to back down when it is under enormous public pressure. Often they are just empty threats with little substance behind them. And sometimes that is the case.”
“But I just want to say that throughout American history and around the world, brave people have stood up and defended freedom despite frightening circumstances,” Wolf adds, “and they were on the right side of history when it was written.”