On Oct.18, thousands of people gathered around the U.S. to protest the Trump Administration’s policies. More specifically, how Trump is acting as more of a monarch than an elected official in many people’s perspectives. This marked the second large protest organized by No Kings–a group dedicated to fighting against dictatorship.
On that Saturday, over seven million Americans across over 2,700 events in all fifty states joined together–an uprising fourteen times bigger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined. Many protesters sported yellow, a color showing unity, while protesting through nonviolent action. Several large groups were also seen in large inflatable costumes, dancing to music and singing.
The No Kings group fights to oppose several key issues, including the widespread immigration detention centers, the slashing of federal education resources and environmental protections and gerrymandering, among others.
As the day went on, several Republican officials decided to weigh in on the protests. Senator Mike Johnson called the protests a “hate America rally.”
Meanwhile, Connecticut House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora stated that, “I think our democracy is still strong as ever—but, you know, they’re free to express themselves.”
Trump made no comment that day, as he was not at the White House during the protests.
The protests united a group of people wanting to fight for this country–to take it back to what the Founding Fathers intended it to be. As the No Kings group put it, America “belongs to We the People—the people who care, who show up, and who fight for dignity, a life we can afford, and real opportunity. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.”
