Alexandria, VA—One week out from the No Kings III March planned for March 28, and grassroots groups were finishing final plans and projects likely to result in one of the most massive protests in US history. The groups have built formidable clout by coalition building and linking dozens of groups in the DC-Maryland-Virginia region. They’ve pooled talent and drawn on expertise from carpenters and artists by building visual art props, and painting the leading banners that will criss-cross Washington streets. The props and banners are likely to feature the cover stories on international websites the world over as they did for No Kings II March last year. Others have been organized behind the scenes producing a network of contacts, signup sheets, flyers, signage, and logistics support.
No Kings Day III has gathered more signups than previous No Kings Marches as public opposition has grown against the unpopular authoritarian takeover of the republic. With each democratic guardrail Trump has mowed down, with each outrage he and his cabinet have carried out, with each institutional takedown, the regime has thrown kindling onto the furnace of national anger and distrust. No Kings III has required very little financial advertising because Trump and his cabinet have freely provided the needed opposition advertising for the No Kings III March.
With every norm Trump’s courtiers have steamrolled, grassroots groups have been buoyed with volunteers. The result has built even more support from citizens than the No Kings II March held on October 18, 2025 when an estimated 10 million poured into the streets of over 2500 cities across the nation. Grassroots groups throughout Northern Virginia, many of which are barely a year old, have completed a full year of networking and collaborating on unique art projects, certain to capture the attention of photojournalists’ lenses.
Coalitions have linked arms in a mass mobilization from ordinary citizens in an extraordinary way, many of which have not been involved in coalition building before. The No Kings III March is likely to result in even more than the millions of Americans who peaceably demonstrated against Trump’s chaotic on-again off-again policies in hundreds of cities across the country during No Kings II on October 18 last year.
The original No Kings rallies in the region were timed for Trump’s birthday on June 14, 2025 and were designed to effectively discourage citizens from attending Trump’s self-tribute military parade and birthday celebration held on the National Mall. We of Action (WofA) helped organize a messaging campaign at busy overpasses and bridges throughout the Northern Virginia region with giant billboards reading “No Kings In The USA,” “No Kings Since 1776,” and “Dump Trump,” among others. This encouraged motorists not to travel into Washington DC for Trump’s birthday. We of Action also held a multi-mile human chain through Arlington which drew 1000s from the local communities and from the suburbs.
Montgomery County (MoCo) also built and displayed bridge and overpass signage over major roadways in Maryland on October 18, reaching 1000s of motorists for No Kings II.
Props and Banners Lampoon Trump Cabinet
At a one-storied house in Alexandria, under a giant nude oak tree, not yet showing any signs of Spring buds, a group of visual artists from Third Act of Northern Virginia is busy inside a shed, building a set of paper-mâché heads parodying Trump’s cabinet. The artist’s shed is small but potently stocked with the ingredients of every sort of artist’s delight. A montage of blues music plays pianissimo on a miniature speaker while bottles of glue and unused paper-mâché in plastic buckets line the floor. Carpenter tools and paints line the shelves. A 150 lb anvil rests on an old tree segment base. This is used to bend the metal parts that support the paper-mâché heads.
The oversized heads they’re building will take the lead in a march into the city on March 28, a Saturday morning. They are certain to be photographed and sent around the world onto the front pages of printed newspapers and featured in the lead stories about the No Kings March on news websites. Independent media will largely cover this action.
The artisans take their time and dole out liberal amounts of skill rendering Trump’s cabinet from paper cartoon images, to three dimensional life-like replicas. Later they will finish them with hand-painted strokes drawing out their features. To transform them from cartoon images into three dimensional cartoonish heads will take weeks and the skillsets of both carpenters and artists.
One of the team’s artistic leads, guides the artists with a gentle patience as the paper mache slowly takes shape. Marcos Smyth, a metal and wood sculptor, painter, and abstract artist with over 50 years of experience, works in his studio shop under shadows of the old oak tree. He guides another artist in shaping the facial features of Pete Hegseth. She declines to give her name. She is determined to see the regime’s behavior stopped before it destroys another country. The war in the Middle East is still a few weeks old and the damage is already too much to calculate. There’s only a short discussion about the nihilistic destruction of the global order at the hands of the Defense Secretary before she starts shaping Hegseth’s eyebrows. But that destruction is driving her forward with deliberation to do something, anything, to expose the regime, and for her it means using her skills as a visual artist to create a parody of one of its key henchmen. “ I haven’t done paper-mâché before” she says but the features are coming out just like Hegseth appears.
Smyth is simultaneously working on a paper-mâché of Pat Bondi. He describes the details of crushing used paper into a mashed up concoction of glue and water while he forms a paste. He previously successfully completed a giant paper-mâché of Trump which was used in the No Kings II March. It was photographed and shared on the covers of major newspapers and websites across the European Union. It reached millions of viewers. It is proof that art as protest can have a gravitational affect on political branding.
The cabinet heads will take many days to build. They will chacacture six figures—Hegseth, Leavit, Bondi, Patel, Vance, and Miller.
One Week later, the cabinet and banners are moved to another home in Alexandria where on its driveway there is more space for the team to work. They are in their final phase of finishing as 15 artists and carpenters scurry around them like bees in a hive.
Lisa Finn, an organizer at Third Act, speaks about the project and the purpose of the No Kings III March. “We are all going to show up at No Kings with our communities, our friends, and our families. We’re going to be a loud voice to say this is not normal. This is authoritarianism. We don’t need a war. We don’t need ICE in our neighborhoods. We’re going to bring a lot of great artwork to No Kings.”
Finn also emphasized that artwork is a big part of a protest as well as chanting and songs. “It’s really important that we enjoy ourselves, and that we have a good time, We’re mad about what’s happening in our communities but we want to be a joyful protest. We want others to join us.”
Other Grassroots Groups Participate
We of Action is in its final stages of planning a hands across Northern Virginia “human chain of conscience” consisting of 1000s of citizens holding hands across 4 miles from North Arlington to South Arlington. Their peaceful protest will not block streets and is a family friendly action to draw in mainstream families and children who have either rarely participated or not participated in First Amendment activities before. We of Action (WofA) media liaison Chris Adair said that the No Kings actions and rallies are designed, in part, to help get out voters for the Virginia April 21 redistricting special election and to vote’Yes’ to temporarily redistrict Virginia to make up for the lost districts signed into law by Texas Governor Abbot in August 2025.
“Join WofA and Friends as we form a human chain of conscience across Arlington in peaceful protest against Trump’s illegal and authoritarian actions. We will line the sidewalks along Glebe Road from Chain Bridge in North Arlington to National Gateway in South Arlington. This is a peaceful protest. We will not block streets or businesses along the route. Bring signs, flags, and wear your favorite resistance wear! Inflatable costumes if you have them and make some noise! We will also be running Bridge Brigades, the morning of! If you can’t make it on March 28th, we could use your help prepping in advance (see volunteer form) Still have questions? Email handsacrossarlington@gmail.com
We of Action is always looking for volunteers. You may join without cost or request for membership at https://wofava.org/ by following the prompts.
Of course on most everyone’s mind are the illegal extra-judicial roundups of 10,000s of immigrants legally seeking citizenship and migrants searching for safe haven through amnesty applications. WofA has a plan for that too. And their website provides answers to questions on how citizens can prepare and what they can do.
For citizens witnessing ICE roundups WofA has created this two-sided printable zine to help them document illegal ICE raids, kidnappings, and brutality against persons legally in the US. ICE has also been documented murdering US citizens who have gotten caught up in their extra-judicial lawlessness. These murders were caught on video tape by citizens who were using the principles outlined in the WofA zine.
Many Reasons To Join No Kings III Marches
Maybe you don’t like your country bombing other countries in a war (the US is involved in 8 wars presently) without a coherent justification and costing a billion a day while you can barely afford groceries and healthcare. Perhaps billionaires buying elections for $300 million as Elon Musk did in the 2024 election, while you can barely afford gas to get to work, is not your style of government by and for the people. Presumably you get nervous when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents drive through your neighborhood in unmarked cars wearing masks, knock on doors, provide no warrants, and round up your neighbors or worse, shoot and kill citizens getting in their way.
Maybe you’re a federal worker who has had their agency summarily disbanded without Congressional approval, or you doesn’t much appreciate your employee data being taken by DOGE operatives and distributed to unknown entities. The passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” giving tax breaks to billionaires while you paid increased consumer taxes based on arbitrary tariffs, may be unsuitable to your home economics, wages and posterity. Presumably you’d prefer a government that works for your needs like healthcare, education, and public services like airport safety, and honors the taxes you pay to it by intentional and responsible funding, not frivolously allocating tax revenues on bloated budgets for Departments of War and Homeland Security (ICE). Conceivably you’re a fan of the environment and ecology and don’t want Big Oil and gas companies lobbying away the health of the planet so your grandchildren may inherit a livable planet.
Or maybe you just don’t care much or even agree with the slanted hypotheticals above and you’re conservative and you love the republic and what it stands for and don’t want to see it converted into an authoritarian state. If so then perhaps the No Kings III March is a place you’d find yourself on March 28. To learn more about it in the DC-MD-VA region you may register here: No Kings III March on Saturday March 28.
Then maybe you’re libertarian and don’t trust sign-ups anyway. You can still show up unregistered. Many conservatives showed up in October for No Kings II.
