Washington, D.C. — Nearly seven million people took to the streets in over 2,700 peaceful protests across America on October 18th for No Kings Day. Organizers said the event was 14 times larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined. Washington D.C., hosted the flagship event on Pennsylvania Avenue, where demonstrators packed the street from the Capitol building to the White House.
It’s no surprise Washingtonians came out in droves. As organizers with Free D.C. noted in a speech to the crowd, D.C. was in its third month of military occupation. Donald Trump sent the National Guard in to ‘combat crime’ in the city, a move that drew the ire of the local community and of many veterans. Even during the peaceful protest, demonstrators spotted military men on the roof of the National Gallery of Art, overlooking the stage.
With a city with as rich a history as D.C., it’s no surprise that both speakers and demonstrators leaned into the No Kings Day theme. Multiple demonstrators wore Founding Father cosplays, Statue of Liberty costumes, or colonial-style dresses. At times, the crowd could be mistaken for the cast of Hamilton. There was no shortage of references to that musical, either; one sign quoted the recurring lyric “History has its eyes on you.”
One demonstrator went even further back in time, dressing up as Jesus to scold Christian nationalists. “Does anyone know if Lauren Boebert wants to watch a production of Beetlejuice with me?” He shouted. Congresswoman Boebert, who represents Colorado, was previously removed from a Denver production of the show for vaping and groping her partner.
Members of the D.C. clergy took a similar approach, using faith to reprimand blasphemous leaders. They preached the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three men thrown into a fiery furnace for fighting against the narcissistic King Nebuchadnezzar. When the flames died down, the three men were miraculously unharmed, protected by their God. The Clergy noted that the same protection would follow the protesters that day.
Some relied on a more modern spin on No Kings. Rather than going all the way back to 1776, some repurposed iconography from the 1940s. One shirt featured Rosie the Riveter, renamed ‘Aunt Tifa,’ a play on antifa, which stands for anti-fascist. Trump attacked antifa in the lead-up to No Kings, comparing it to a terrorist organization, despite the fact that there is no recognized, central antifa group.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson took a similarly shady stance on the protests. He painted the event as a “hate America” rally. Johnson had cancelled House votes for multiple weeks in a row, sending members back to their districts in the midst of a government shutdown. The leaders of Indivisible, a popular grassroots organization, struck back against Johnson’s claims. They challenged him to see the turnout for himself. “There are a dozen No Kings protests in your district. Since you’re not doing your job, you have time to stop by!”
Another speaker with 50501 Nashville summed up the response to No Kings another way. “A hit dog will holler, and I hear a lot of hollerin’ from the Capitol building,” she said. Notably, several canines were spotted amongst the D.C. crowd. One golden retriever wore a No Kings shirt on its back. One carried a small cardboard sign tied to its harness that denounced ICE. Some owners tied yellow No Kings bandanas around their pets’ collars. The four-legged presence reinforced the peaceful nature of the protest, countering the Republican narrative that the anti-Trump resistance was dangerous and violent.
D.C. also took a page out of Portland’s book. To combat a similar narrative about their city, Portland residents showed up to protests in large inflatable costumes, ridiculing the militarized response they received. No Kings D.C. demonstrators showed up as inflatable frogs, dragons, unicorns, dinosaurs, Sesame Street characters, and more. In a clever play on words, some dressed as Monarch butterflies, declaring that they were the only monarchs allowed. One inflatable pig carried a sign, “These fascist pigs give the rest of us a bad name. Make bacon, not authoritarianism.” Some even found inflatable Trump costumes and wandered through the crowd yelling, “You all need Jesus! Baby hungry, want your freedom for breakfast!” After the rally concluded, many inflatables gathered together for an impromptu dance circle.
Despite the moments of joy and humor, the rally reflected the somber moment the country found itself in. Multiple speakers focused on ICE’s alarming actions, wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves as they tore families apart. Mehdi Hasan, an immigrant and journalist, reflected on why No Kings mattered to him. Unlike many in the crowd, “I did not inherit America,” he said, “I chose it.” He warned that Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East was not a peace plan at all, lacking the justice and the restoration needed to truly bring peace. While there may be a ceasefire, it wasn’t the time to relax.
Senator Chris Murphy issued a dire warning to the crowd, which had grown so large that many were too far to hear the stage. “We are not on the verge of an authoritarian takeover, we’re in the middle of an authoritarian takeover,” he said. To the right of the stage, a flag reading “don’t give up the ship” snapped in the wind. One light pole was marked with a black sticker warning, “ICE kidnapped someone here.”
Native Washingtonian Bill Nye took the stage to raging applause. Attendees chanted his name, much like in the theme song of his show, Bill Nye the Science Guy. He recalled growing up in the capital city, sitting on his father’s shoulders and waving to astronauts in 1964. He remembered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on the National Mall, resurrection city, and the protests against the Vietnam War, where people stood shoulder to shoulder, “much like today.”
As a man of science, Nye was outraged by Trump’s attacks on many of America’s scientific institutions. Trump had slashed the funding and staff at leading scientific agencies like NASA and the CDC. Nye didn’t sugarcoat his words. “We are confronting the possible end of our republic,” he said. But, there was hope, because millions of people across America showed up to support the same message: “No thrones, no crowns, No Kings!”
Afeni Evans, a local D.C. activist, reminded the audience that marginalized communities bore the brunt of Trump’s attacks, and that even under previous administrations, they had to fight for their rights. “The social contract in this country has been broken, but we the people must revive it,” she said. Evans emphasized that a humane economy that invested in people and communities was necessary to move forward.
Nee Nee Taylor, a longtime D.C. activist, also took the stage at one point, challenging the white people in the crowd to get involved in movements and learn from the Black and Brown communities who were fighting this fight well before 2024. “When our movements need funding, where will you be?” She asked.
“We’ll be there,” the crowd shouted back.
At the end of the two-hour rally, organizers brought out the final speaker: Senator Bernie Sanders. His name alone was enough to spark chants of “tax the rich” from the crowd. Sanders, who had previously run for president and traveled across America on his ‘fighting oligarchy’ tour, greeted the attendees warmly, but he cut to the chase. The American experiment was in danger. Trump only wanted power for oligarchs, not for the average person.
“This is not just about one man’s greed, one man’s corruption, or one man’s contempt for the constitution,” he said. “This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on Earth, who in their insatiable greed, have hijacked our economy and our political system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of working families across this country.”
That greed threatened Americans’ healthcare. In fact, Democrats were fighting to prevent thousands from losing their healthcare due to Trump’s so-called big beautiful bill. That’s why they shut the government down, Sanders shared. They refused to endanger Americans like that, no matter how much the Republicans tried to force them to.
“We rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s,” Sanders said. “We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.”
As the afternoon social media wave gave way to evening news reports, it was clear the numbers of participants far exceeded organizers’ estimates. Over 7 million joined in the historic march, the largest turnout for a protest against government policies in the country’s history. The fear-mongering, disparaging remarks of Speaker Mike Johnson and other MAGA leaders of the week before, portraying the protesters as “radical” and “far-left of the Democrat party” including “Marxists,” and Antifa advocates,” had devolved to nothing. To the contrary, the No Kings rallies in DC and nationwide were patriotic, joyful, non-violent, much needed relief to a struggling republic, and to put it more simply, fun.
Participants gathered by the hundreds at the Department of Labor led by the Georgetown contingent of Tesla Takedowns, and danced while scores of idle bored police looked on. Groups of costumed caricatures danced. Citizens from every walk, including conservatives, joined in a celebration like atmosphere. Over 200,000 lined Pennsylvania with signs of dissent and comical repartee poking fun at the regime.
Speakers told of the anti-constitutional wrongs of the regime in furtherance of its own power and denounced it. They spoke of the promise of people power in fighting authoritarianism. There were no acts of property damage reported by any participant and therefore there were no arrests. There didn’t need to be.
The resistance had found its footing and gained much needed confidence for the challenges to come.
