The Largest One-Day Protest In American History
Millions turned out in support of basic ideals.
AP (“‘No Kings’ protests against Trump bring a street party vibe to cities nationwide“):
Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in cities across the U.S. Saturday for “ No Kings ” demonstrations decrying what participants see as the government’s swift drift into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
People carrying signs with slogans such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism” packed into New York City’s Times Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public spaces.
Trump’s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as “Hate America” rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, huge banners with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People” preamble that people could sign, and demonstrators wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came 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 protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
[…]
Trump, meanwhile, was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” the president said in a Fox News interview that aired early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.
A Trump campaign social media account mocked the protests by posting a computer-generated video of the president clothed like a monarch, wearing a crown and waving from a balcony.
NYT (“‘No More Trump!’: Protesters Denouncing the President Unite Across the Country“):
They were teachers and lawyers, military veterans and fired government employees. Children and grandmothers, students and retirees.
Arriving in droves across the country in major cities and small towns, they appeared in costumes, blared music, brandished signs, hoisted American flags and cheered at the honks of passing cars.
The vibe in most places was irreverent but peaceful and family-friendly. The purpose, however, was focused. Each crowd, everywhere, shared the same mantra: No kings.
Collectively, the daylong mass demonstration against the Trump administration on Saturday, held in thousands of locations, condemned a president that the protesters view as acting like a monarch.
[…]
Known as No Kings Day, a follow-up to a demonstration in June, the events were scheduled at roughly 2,600 sites across all 50 states. They were organized by national and local groups and well-known progressive coalitions including Indivisible, 50501 and MoveOn.
The rallies came even as Mr. Trump’s approval ratings at the polls have not changed significantly. Republican leaders denounced the protests, blaming them for prolonging the government shutdown and calling the event the “hate America rally.”
The Guardian (“Republicans mostly silent as millions of Americans protest Trump on No Kings day“):
Republican voices were mostly silent as No Kings rallies and marches against Trump administration policies unfurled on Saturday, many in the spirit of a street party that countered the “hate America” depiction advanced by senior members of the party.
Instead of provocation, there were marching bands, huge banners with “we the people” references to the US constitution, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came 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 protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
[…]
Republican voices were mostly silent as No Kings rallies and marches against Trump administration policies unfurled on Saturday, many in the spirit of a street party that countered the “hate America” depiction advanced by senior members of the party.
Instead of provocation, there were marching bands, huge banners with “we the people” references to the US constitution, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came 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 protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
[…]
Fox News, meanwhile, ran a report claiming that organizers embedded in the global intifada to destroy the state of Israel had moved to join the No Kings protests in New York under the organizational groupings of “UAW Labor for Palestine” and “NYC Labor for Palestine”.
The right-leaning outlet also reported on Friday that foundations connected to George Soros were funding the No Kings protests via a $3m grant to the organizer Indivisible “to support the grantee’s social welfare activities”.
The relative silence of Republican leaders on Saturday came in contrast with efforts last week to preview the second No Kings day as a “hate America” day populated by Hamas sympathizers and a reason why Democrats were delaying an agreement to end the government shutdown, now on its 18th day.
Republican leaders disparaged rally-goers as “communists” and “Marxists”, and claimed that centrist Democrats, including the senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who marched in New York, were being held political hostage by the far left.
G. Elliot Morris, former Editorial Director of Data Analytics at ABC News, provides a “median estimate” that “4.2 million people participated in a No Kings Day demonstration somewhere in the country on Saturday, with an upper bound of 7.6 million people.” While that’s a small sliver of a country with 340 million residents, or even the 152 plus million who voted in the last election, that’s a staggering number of people to take time on a fall Saturday to protest. Indeed, Morris estimates that this was “very likely the biggest single-day protest event since 1970.”
I would have guessed that the 1970 milestone was a Vietnam War protest but, no, it was the first Earth Day, with an estimated 20 million attendees. Given the vagueness of that event—who could be against the Earth and peace, in the abstract?—I’m not sure it’s even comparable. It was more festival than protest. (Then again, the U.S. population was a mere 203 million then, so it would be the equivalent of 30 million today.)
The only other contender was the George Floyd protests of 2020. An estimated 15 to 26 million attended one of those events, but they were spread over weeks. There was no single day with more than 500,000 in attendance.
So, I think it’s fair to consider this the largest single-day protest in American history. The runner-up, by the way, was the June No Kings protest, with an estimated 5 million attendees.
Unlike the Floyd protests, yesterday’s were, by all reports, uniformly peaceful. While those who get their news from Fox and other pro-Trump sources will likely not get that impression, it’s hard to paint these rallies as violent.
While I put more emphasis on data—Trump’s job approval is 6.2 points underwater and 55 percent of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track, compared to only 39 percent who think we’re on the right track—than I do things like demonstrations, rallies are surely an indicator of intensity of sentiment.
It’s noteworthy that, of all the large protests documented, all but the 2009 Tea Party Day protests (311,000) were for causes that most of us would code left. While the reflex would be to treat yesterday’s protests as left-leaning, given that one presumes the attendees overwhelmingly vote Democratic, the general tenor of them was remarkably centrist.
Looking at the rally photos uploaded to Flickr, which should be more representative than news photos, they’re remarkably focused on basic freedoms, democracy, the Constitution, the rule of law, the value of protest itself, and the like. The only ones with leftist themes (Tax The Ultra Rich, for example) that I’m seeing were from rallies in France. That’s a remarkable amount of message discipline for an event that was rather loosely organized.
The pushback to my post yesterday expressing skepticism that these rallies would change anything was manifold. Large protests can
- call attention to democratic backsliding, especially to those who usually don’t follow politics (@steve222)
- energize people so that they don’t just give up (@steve222)
- demonstrate that the opposition isn’t just coastal elites, but ordinary Americans across the country (@Michael Reynolds and @DK)
- remind the powers-that-be that a) we will not be bullied into silence and b) we have the numbers to burn their shit down if they push us to the edge (@DK)
- let Ds and D leaners who sat out ’24 see they’re not alone and spark them to turn out in ’26 and ’28. (@gVOR10)
- give people a chance to be part of the journey back to normalcy and decency (@al Ameda)
These are all salient points.
I still don’t think the rallies, in and of themselves, change anything. I don’t think, for example, that it will change a single Supreme Court vote or stiffen the spine of a single Member of Congress to defend their Constitutional prerogatives.
But, could this be the genesis for something bigger? Maybe. Regardless, there’s value in the communal experience of getting together to vent common frustration.
Moreover, I do think there’s something to the “normie” thing. Since the weeks-long fight over the 2000 election, the idea of Red and Blue states and Red and Blue counties has been cemented into our consciousness. But the reality is that we’re actually pretty damn purple. The fact that some 800 people showed up to the rally in Fredricksburg, Virginia—which is very much Trump country—is a useful reminder that a lot of their neighbors oppose what’s going on. Indeed, that may be more meaningful than 100,000 people showing up a few miles down the road in DC.
And furthering the charge that Trump is acting like a king, “President Donald Trump and the White House responded to the millions of protesters who took to the streets at “No Kings” rallies by jabbing them with a series of apparently AI generated videos and a photo of Trump wearing a crown.
In one video the president shared on social media, Trump wears a crown and flies a fighter jet with “King Trump” written on it and drops what appears to be excrement on protesters. In another, he wears a crown and robe and wields a sword as a song with the words “hail to the king” plays and former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others bow to him.”
@Moosebreath: It is, to say the least, bizarre.
The scenes out of Chicago, in particular, provide rather stark evidence that the place is not a war zone in need of National Guard deployments.
Granted, evidence needs to be consulted to have any effect, but the truth is there, in substantial visual form, nonetheless.
Plus, in general, it is rather difficult for a fair-minded person (yes, I know) to look at yesterday and take them seriously as “Hate America” rallies infused with support for Hamas and criminals.
@Steven L. Taylor:
In my gilda radner voice…
Hummus and croissants? I love hummus! But not on croissants.
I don’t like protests as a rule because I hate being in crowds, do not chant and am annoyed when finding myself amidst people waving irrelevant and off-topic signs. But I did attend the smaller of the Las Vegas protests – the one nearer to bars, bathrooms and Italian food – and the message discipline was surprisingly tight. I did not see a single off-message sign.
I’ve been to a few protests in my life. My first was an anti-Vietnam protest on the steps of the Iowa state capital in 1969. There I saw people waving Vietcong flags and chanting anti-military slogans. Which even at age 15 I knew was a mistake – my father was Army, and was at that moment serving in Vietnam and I knew how little enthusiasm professional military had for the war, never mind the draftees. Some time later I stood in front of the White House demanding Nixon resign. And protested George HW Bush in Kennebunkport. And I’ve never seen the kind of focus I saw yesterday in Las Vegas of all places. People knew exactly why they were there, and they were not clowning or trying to draw focus to themselves or pushing other causes.
The unity of the MAGA 45% has been frightening, but yesterday reminded the country that the 55% have not gone away, have not bent the knee, and have not been cowed. We have numbers, we are everywhere in every city and every state and even out in the small towns, we have money, we have votes, we have will, and if it goes there, we can buy guns, too.
We are not subjects, we are citizens. And here’s an atheist practicing message discipline: God bless America!
The BBC interviewed people who said (and sounded like) they were republicans and they were protesting Trump, too.
That is encouraging.
You know who does put a lot value on crowd size and spectacle?
I expect a ketchup shortage soon.
@Michael Reynolds: Message discipline is so hard. The civil rights protests are damn near unique in that regard. Even the anti-Vietnam protests, as you note, had pro-VC elements.
The Tea Party folks had some good points. They were ahead of Trump and Sanders in pointing out that the bipartisan elite consensus was screwing over the working man. But their messaging sucked, mainly because they allowed it to be corrupted by yahoos carrying assault rifles.
Ditto Occupy Wall Street. Beyond the “99%” message, which stuck, they didn’t seem to be about anything.
BLM was much more focused, but their messaging got overwhelmed by the violent fringes and the Defund the Police types.
The early Resistance folks, in their pink pussy hats, mostly seemed to be mad that Trump won.
Given the crazy Usual Suspects who can be counted on to glom on to any protest, I’m frankly amazed how normal this thing was. That’s an accomplishment in its own right.
Thank you for that James.
That NYT piece is pretty good. Maybe if we got a drummer with a tricorne hat we could get above the fold. I guess Soros isn’t as good as the Koch Bros at driving story placement.
Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?
Ho! Ho! Ho Chi Min! NLF is going to win!
Bring the boys home!
Those slogans from more than 50 years ago still ring in my ears.
@James Joyner:
On the other hand, Trump has apparently gone on his own social media platform to share an A.I. generated video of himself wearing a crown and flying a jet that dumps sh!t on these “normie” protesters. F*cking unhinged public behavior, yet based on the media coverage so far, it’s just another typical weekend in Trumpistan.
I’m pretty convinced that at the Denver event, there were some “Antifa” cosplayers. Dressed like anarchists, waving Palestinian flags, and also weirdly a Lebanese flag, they were marching back and forth, buttonholing people to tell them that they were Antifa, but not very convincingly. It seemed very performative, in a very fake way. It’s not hard to buy black T-shirts, baseball caps, and backpacks, cover your face with a bandana, and then claim you’re “Antifa,” and shout what you think sounds like radical positions, while betraying your ignorance. Project Veritas? Young Republicans? Someone else?
Powerful speech by Mehdi Hassan yesterday at the No Kings rally before a crowd of 100 000+ in Washington D.C.
@Kingdaddy: ” It’s not hard to buy black T-shirts, baseball caps, and backpacks, cover your face with a bandana, and then claim you’re “Antifa,” and shout what you think sounds like radical positions, while betraying your ignorance.”
Hey, if you’re working for ICE, you’ve already got the wardrobe…
@Kingdaddy:
Does this mean I have to stop wearing black T-shirts?
Damn.
I’ve tried covering my face with a bandana (most people say it’s an improvement), but find walking into stationary obstacles becomes a problem.
😉
Also, first read that as “cover your face with a banana”.
Which is perhaps worth a go for lol.
@Michael Reynolds:
It does appear that the people who are turning out are not cosplay “revolutionary” dimwits, but actually understand the issues involved.
That seems like a good sign.
If it wasn’t for me being a monarchist, I could sign up.
😉
Seriously: as the US was founded on the basis of “no king” (which was always a bit unfair to poor old George III, but there you go) a repudiation of autocratic power seems central to what the US is founded upon.
Also, some Hamas-fans aside, there seems no obvious lure of an anti-American ideological propaganda to capture the opposition to Trump.
Who is likely to march and chant for the hegemony of Xi, or the autocracy of Putin, or the enlightened rule of the Ayatollahs?
Maybe you could get “All hail the inevitable, yet entirely reasonable and lawful, triumph of the EU and the principles of the ECHR appeals procedure, as instituted in the codicils to the Maastricht Treaty!” as a slogan.
But then again, perhaps not.
@JohnSF:
MAGAts.
If they didn’t already have their own dictator and theocracy.
Man in Black
Johnny Cash
Encore