To celebrate her 70th birthday, retired government worker Peggy Cole says she and a friend drove nearly 10 hours from her hometown of Flint, Michigan, to join a protest in Washington, DC, on Saturday.
By Dalia Faheid
Cole said she felt compelled to mark the milestone at the large demonstration because it’s a “scary time” for Americans and democracy is at stake.
“It seems to me, (Trump is) taking our government, our democracy, and dismantling it piece by piece, slowly, but surely, if we sit by and don’t do anything about it,” Cole said.
The event was one of more than 2,700 “No Kings” rallies held across the country on Saturday, protesting what organizers describe as President Donald Trump’s “authoritarian” agenda. That’s hundreds more events than were planned for the first go-round in June, when about 5 million people across the country took to the streets to protest Trump’s administration as he held a military parade in Washington.
Nearly 7 million people showed up for Saturday’s rallies – including more than 100,000 people in New York, organizers and officials said. Along with larger events in major cities, small pockets of “No Kings” protesters cropped up along busy thoroughfares, in small town squares and at municipal parks in red and blue states alike.
The largely peaceful protests followed a tumultuous summer of mass immigration raids, demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement and the deployment of federal troops into Democratic-led cities.
Police in Portland and New York City reported that the protests concluded with no arrests.
Trouble came later in the day when some individuals targeted protesters: A woman in South Carolina was arrested for brandishing a firearm while driving near a demonstration and a man in Georgia was seen on video taking a protester’s flag and pushing another demonstrator to the ground.
While the Trump administration and some GOP officials have painted anti-Trump protests as the work of “violent left-wing radicals,” the organization behind the “No Kings” events, the Indivisible Project, says it is committed to “nonviolent action” and had trained tens of thousands of people in safety and de-escalation. That became especially important amid growing political violence across the country, some organizers said.
Some demonstrators wore yellow – a symbol of unity and a reference to other nonviolent resistance movements, according to organizers. “Yellow is a bright, unmistakable reminder that millions of us stand together in the belief that America belongs to its people, not to kings,” reads a flyer on the “No Kings” website.
Other protesters wore costumes, including inflatable chickens, frogs and dinosaurs, which some said emphasized the peaceful nature of the demonstrations. “It’s really hard to call something a war zone, when you look at something and it’s just a block party and people in Halloween costumes,” said a Los Angeles protester who wore a unicorn costume as he danced to music.
Protesters could be heard loudly cheering and chanting slogans into megaphones, including, “This is what democracy looks like,” and “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” They waved American flags along with signs opposing ICE, authoritarianism and billionaires.
CNN field teams spoke with attendees at rallies across the country. Here’s what protesters had to say:
‘We can all save democracy’
Many protesters emphasized the importance of democracy – an institution they fear is eroding with Trump’s attempts to expand executive power.
“We’re a democracy. And that, in a democracy, people can stand up and voice their opinions. And that we are not going to be silenced,” Joan Press told CNN at a protest in Atlanta.
A rally that kicked off the Atlanta protest featured high-profile speakers, including Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
“In this moment, in which we are seeing a president and an administration arrogating to himself power that doesn’t belong to him, our message is very clear,” Warnock later told CNN. “This is not about the people in power, it’s about the power in the people.”
Kimberly Diemert, an organizer and communications director for the Georgia chapter of 50501, a “decentralized” movement that has helped lead the wave of nationwide protests, reminded the crowd about the city’s civil rights legacy.
“Atlanta is the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement as well as democracy … we don’t want to lose that,” Diemert said.
In New York City, one demonstrator held a sign reading: “We protest because we love America, and we want it back.”
The protester, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, said she’s been protesting since the 1960s, but this time feels different.
“In the 60s we wanted to expand rights – women’s rights, gay rights, minority rights, voting rights,” she said. “But all that’s being taken away now. Now our entire democracy is being threatened, the basic tenets, the press, the judiciary.”
She described feeling “very sad, a sense of loss, fear” under the Trump administration.
“I’m hoping together, we can all save democracy,” she said.
Dressed in Revolutionary War-era clothing and wigs, members of the group All in for Democracy attended the “No Kings” protest in Washington, DC.
“I just see all of our institutions changing, and I don’t want us to change as a country and as a people,” said DC resident Lee Ayres, sporting a coat, wig and hat. “I want all of America to realize the Declaration of Independence is about no kings.”
‘Our free speech is frightening’
Many demonstrators called out what they feel is a threat to freedom of expression in the US.
“It doesn’t seem like we’re able to peacefully or safely (express ourselves) right now, without fear of repercussions” from the government, work or families, said Bobbie Castillo, who traveled hours from her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, to DC for her first protest ever.
Bill Nye, “The Science Guy,” rallied the crowd at the DC protest, arguing that Trump and his associates “cannot tolerate dissent.”
“To them, our free speech is frightening. They are arresting people and denying due process in courts. They tried to silence television hosts,” Nye, a former TV host, said.
Participants in smaller cities and towns said they were struck by the size of the turnout Saturday.
In Ashland, Oregon, Joel Lesko said the day was about “joyfully celebrating our love for America, for free speech, for the importance of community and using our voices for diversity and inclusion and democracy.”
After attending a protest in ruby-red Hendersonville, North Carolina, author Lynn Ames told CNN, “If you love this country, saving democracy is a priority no matter where you live, including in small-town America. Maybe especially in small-town America.”
Immigration raids and National Guard deployment
Many protesters connected their attendance to the ongoing immigration crackdown and the federal government’s forceful response to anti-ICE protests that first erupted in Los Angeles following local raids. The demonstrations have since spread to numerous other cities, including Chicago, New York City, Dallas and Portland.
Trump’s attempts to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-controlled cities – which he argues is necessary to quell violence and support his deportation initiatives – have drawn legal challenges by state and local officials.
Demonstrators in Los Angeles – where federal immigration raids triggered massive protests in June and led to Trump sending in the National Guard against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes – emphasized rights for immigrants and called for a stop to the Trump administration’s deportation campaign.
Sitting in front of LA’s City Hall, Gilberto Beas told CNN the protest is “a message for ICE to stop doing what they’re doing.”
Maria Rivera Cummings, who was born in Los Angeles and is of Mexican descent, said: “We’re all immigrants and everyone has rights here.”
At a demonstration in DC, Michael Langfeldt said he was protesting what he sees as “hatred” toward immigrants and the deployment of the military to US cities.
“I feel like there’s a lot of overreach in the federal government, specifically in like the executive branch,” he told CNN. “Congress doesn’t do anything about it.”
Hailey, a 24-year-old demonstrator in an inflatable frog suit, told CNN that she was inspired by demonstrators in Portland, who have faced off against federal law enforcement for weeks. Protesters there have donned inflatable costumes at rallies outside an ICE facility — in part to dispute Trump’s characterization of the city as “war-ravaged.”
“I think it’s hard to see a country that you love descend into fascism,” Hailey told CNN.
In Chicago, which has been an epicenter for the resistance to Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, many carried Mexican flags and signs like “Hands off our Democracy” and “ICE OUT!”
Actor John Cusack, a Chicago resident known for being outspoken about Hollywood and the US government, said the city’s message to the Trump administration is: “Go to hell!”
“No, you can’t put troops on our streets. You can’t create enough chaos to invoke the Insurrection Act so you can stay in power,” the actor said, addressing the president.
Dakota Englert, from Coal City, Illinois, said she came to stand up for basic humanity.
“We all bleed the same color … I feel for the people that are being separated from their families, the people that are being hurt, killed,” Englert said.
Cuts to federal programs
Other protesters expressed concerns about cuts to federal programs — particularly health care. The protests come as the federal government is shut down, with GOP lawmakers and the White House locked in a standoff with Democrats over a funding bill.
Danielle Guinto, a mother of two, said she worries about the major federal changes to Medicaid and other health-related policies that could impact her children’s health, as well as the rising cost of living.
“I just don’t understand how you can rip food out of people’s mouths, how you can separate, rip people out of their homes,” she told CNN at the Chicago demonstration. “How can you look at a family with fear in their eyes and you’re just going to go take them away?”
Anthony Lee, who works at the Food and Drug Administration and was one of many federal workers who were furloughed following the shutdown, said he came to the demonstration to protect public services. Lee, president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter in DC, attended the event with a group of unionized federal workers.
“I’ve been a public servant for over 20 years, and to see the destruction, really, of our government, our public services, over the last several months has been really scary,” Lee said.
Another federal government employee who was furloughed said she joined the DC protest because the Trump administration has affected her livelihood and “demonized” federal workers.
“The elimination of all these jobs are creating mass threats (for people to be able) to keep their home, to keep a roof over their head, send their kids to college and the hope of the American dream,” said Monica, who declined to share her last name out of fear of retaliation.
Elizabeth Nee, a 25-year-old social worker from Maryland, told CNN she’s seeing an impact at the psychiatric hospital she works at in Baltimore.
“We have a lot of people who are coming in and they’re unhoused, a lot of people on Medicaid. Everything’s at risk right now,” she said.
Speaking at the DC protest, Sen. Bernie Sanders called out Trump and his billionaire allies, like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
“This moment is not just about one man’s greed, one man’s corruption or one man’s contempt for the Constitution,” Sanders 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 throughout this country.”
