The first two record-breaking editions of the international “No Kings” protests were each tied to major news events. The first took place last July, coinciding with Donald Trump’s underwhelming birthday military parade on the National Mall. It was directed against the president’s penchant for corruption and rule by decree. The second came in October as a national response to the deployment of National Guard troops in American cities amid an increasingly violent immigration crackdown. It broke the record as the largest single-day protest in American history.
On Saturday, Americans took to the streets again to protest the Trump administration’s autocratic policies. There are again more than enough reasons for this. The president has drawn the United States into a growing military mess with Iran. In doing so, he has triggered both a foreign policy disaster and an economic crisis at home. The war follows incidents in which ICE agents shot and killed two American citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year. It was the result of an escalating immigration offensive that has included documented attacks against migrants and minorities who have been targeted by authorities.
The nation is grappling with the fallout from the Iran War as Trump loses the support of much of the coalition. This paved his way back to the White House. “No Kings” organizers are now trying to expand their coalition into the president’s backyard.
Bridges to Trump voters
“I think the success of this movement depends on reaching out to people who don’t fully align ideologically,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible — the founding nonprofit of the No Kings coalition — tells Rolling Stone. “We need Trump voters who voted for lower bread and egg prices, who didn’t want war and who feel betrayed. I want them to be welcomed into our coalition. It’s up to us to welcome them with open arms and not say, ‘Hey, where were you or why did you do that?'”
The protest, which Levin expects will break previous attendance records, comes at a time when Trump’s approval ratings are at a record low. Voters who swung to the right in 2024 — including Latinos and young men — are turning away from the MAGA movement. These people vote, they send representatives to Washington, and in Levin’s eyes, they are an important part of ensuring that action and accountability are bipartisan.
“We don’t just want Democrats protecting free and fair elections. It takes everyone protecting free and fair elections if Trump tries some crap,” he added. “We want people who are on our side, who pay attention to politics every day, to also keep an eye on this. We are painfully aware that that is not enough. It is not enough to just organize yourself in the same old circles. You have to penetrate the cultural sphere, not just the political one.”
Focus on young voters
One of the areas the coalition is focusing on is students and young voters. Aida Mackic, national organizing director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), tells Rolling Stone that the organization saw an increase in youth participation between the first and second No Kings protests. The ACLU partnered with the Sunrise Movement to launch a campus outreach initiative. The results seem promising.
“What we are observing are student-led feeder marches that are organized independently,” says Mackic. “They don’t just show up at a protest. They build their own — on their own campuses, in their own communities, at their own schools.”
“This generation has grown up watching institutions fail. They’re watching the climate crisis accelerate and gun violence increase. All the while they’re being told to have faith that everything will be okay,” she adds. “They have no illusions about power. [Jetzt] watch as your fellow students are arrested. Professors are fired. Their campuses become targets. This is her life. This isn’t a civics lesson for them.”
Broken promises, lived reality
For young men “regardless of how they voted,” an accumulation of crises and broken promises are on the rise, Mackic says: “Student debt, economic insecurity, watching their communities being torn apart. These are not partisan issues. What we see are lived experiences. What No Kings offers is a concrete, nonviolent way to turn that frustration into something powerful.”
For many, the conflict with Iran casts a long shadow over events. This weekend’s “No Kings” protests in some ways evoke the specter of the 2003 protests against the American invasion of Iraq. At the time, they were the largest global protests in history. The parallels are unmistakable: an unpopular president waging an unpopular war in the Middle East while expanding the power of the executive branch. George W. Bush’s presidency marked a massive expansion of domestic surveillance, the bloating of federal law enforcement, and the establishment of extrajudicial torture prisons. Most of these reconfigurations of presidential power were never reversed and formed the basis for Trump’s own autocratic ambitions.
In the early 2000s, there was a “moment where a generation looked up and said, ‘We didn’t agree to that and that’s not who we are,'” Mackic says. “This feels like that legacy. Young people aren’t just protesting a policy. They’re protesting a vision of America that was never voted on.”
Republicans are feeling the headwind
Trump himself is not on the ballot in November, but the first two years of Republican control of the government are at stake. Republicans themselves see the signs. Some of the president’s once most loyal followers — including former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Co.) — now regularly break with the president, whether over funding the Iran War or his repeated attempts to bury the Epstein files. A series of byelections in which Democrats managed to flip safe Republican seats portends a potentially devastating midterm election cycle for the GOP. No Kings organizers believe the time is right to appeal to disaffected Trump supporters who believed his promises to stay out of further foreign adventures.
Studies analyzing mass protest movements have found that large-scale, nonviolent protests have enormous impact in election years. “It makes sense when you think about it,” Levin says. “Most people don’t pay attention to politics most of the time, and most things don’t penetrate their bubble. But when you have a massive protest where a lot of people – including their neighbors – show up and are pissed off about the direction of the country, then damn it, that’s reflected in election results.”
Springsteen, Baez and Sanders in St. Paul
Organizers expect over 3,500 individually registered events this weekend, surpassing October’s attendance record. The lead protest is taking place in Minnesota in recognition of the state’s collective resistance to ICE’s violent advance in the city. Singers Bruce Springsteen, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez are announced for the central rally in St. Paul. Actress Jane Fonda, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also want to appear.
“We can’t just wait until November to vote,” Levin added. “We need to mobilize voters and we need to protect the election – and a ‘No Kings’ protest is a great way to activate your community and then educate them in the coming months.”
