Millions of people are expected to gather today in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. for “No Kings” demonstrations to protest the direction of the country under President Donald Trump — or what the Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.
This is the third mass mobilization and second No Kings Day since Trump’s return to the White House, and it comes 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 organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.
Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.
More than 2,600 rallies are planned in cities large and small, including dozens in Southern California.
Large crowds took to the streets during the first No Kings protest in June to protest Trump’s policies, an event that fell on his 79th birthday.
The June 14 protests were mostly peaceful until protesters and local law enforcement officers clashed in downtown LA, leading to officers deploying chemical irritants and flash bang grenades at civilians.
“Mayor Bass continues to urge Angelenos planning to attend Saturday’s protest to continue protesting peacefully. There is no tolerance for vandalism or crime and those who take advantage of the peaceful protest will be held accountable,” LA Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a statement this week.
Law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire said they support demonstrators’ right to protest but they will arrest any lawbreakers.
Sheriffs in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties said they plan to have additional patrols on Saturday and will place officers near local protests.
The Los Angeles Police Department declined to comment.
In downtown LA on Saturday afternoon, the demonstration will feature a 20-foot-tall balloon of President Donald Trump wearing a diaper, a 20-foot-wide by 3-foot-tall banner that reads “No Kings for U.S.,” and thousands of handmade signs by participants as they march along a nearly two-mile stretch down Spring Street.
“Every day, it seems like there’s something worse than the day before,” Lorraine Enriquez, president of the Redlands Area Democratic Club, said ahead of the planned protest in downtown Redlands. “We’re standing up as the voice of our community.”
“We’re in the Inland Empire, an economically suppressed community,” Enriquez said. “People are not able to pay their groceries, their rent, they’re about to lose their subsidies for their health insurance. We can’t believe the rule of law has gone out the door.”
No Kings rallies also are being held in other countries as a show of solidarity.
While the earlier nationwide protests this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in spring, then to counter Trump’s military parade in June — drew crowds, organizers say this one is building a more unified opposition movement. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining in what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, among the key organizers.
As Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Levin said their own sign-up numbers are growing. Organizers said rallies are being planned within a one-hour drive for most Americans.
Rallies were held in major European cities, where gatherings of a few hundred Americans chanted slogans and held signs and U.S. flags.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of American politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.”
They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down 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, R-La.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”
In a Facebook post, former presidential contender Sanders said, “It’s a love America rally.”
“It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and,” he said, pointing at the GOP leadership, “are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”
The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.