Hundreds of ‘No Kings’ Rallies Planned in Opposition to Trump
Progressive groups hope to cast a ‘split screen’ with the president’s military parade
June 12, 2025 The Wall Street Journal
Boasting tanks, cannons, soldiers and fireworks, President Trump’s military parade Saturday is designed to be a spectacle. Opponents to Trump want their nationwide protests that day to be an even bigger one.
Progressive groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Teachers, Planned Parenthood and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign office are planning peaceful protests in over 2,000 cities across the U.S.
Dubbed “No Kings Day,” these demonstrations aim to reject what organizers say is Trump’s overreach. Event leaders expect turnout to pass April’s “Hands Off” protests, which drew at least 3.5 million participants. That would potentially mark the largest opposition display of Trump’s second term, rivaling the Women’s March of his first term.
Organizers are encouraging attendees to wave American flags to show grassroots patriotism.
“We want to take back our flag,” said Sharon Harmon, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C., chapter of Indivisible, an organization spearheading the protests.
Planning gained momentum after Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, leaders say. More than 200 new No Kings events have emerged since the L.A. protests began, according to Ezra Levin, co-founder and executive director of Indivisible.
The goal is to highlight a contrast—or “a split screen”—between the military parade and the rest of America, Levin said.
Democrats have struggled to find a strategy and succinct messaging to combat Trump’s fast-paced presidency, and Saturday’s protests could lay the groundwork to make gains, said pollster David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
But the “No Kings” messaging carries political risk because it is narrowly anti-Trump, he said. “Democrats lost two out of three presidential elections with that. You’ve got to broaden it.”
Another risk: if violence erupts. “You have another Kent State,” said Paleologos, referring to the 1970 shooting when Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on unarmed student protesters of the Vietnam War.
No Kings coordinators say safety and nonviolence are their priority. Volunteers trained in de-escalation and plainclothes “marshals” will help monitor events and keep the peace, some local leaders said.
One city deliberately lacking a No Kings event: Washington, D.C., the site of Trump’s parade.
Levin said organizers intentionally avoided Washington so Trump couldn’t use the protest as justification to crack down on demonstrators or label the movement antimilitary. “We didn’t want to play into his hands,” he said. “We’re going to be in 2,000 communities all across the country.”
Trump warned this week that protesters at his event will be met with “very big force.” The Pentagon has said costs for the president’s military parade could reach $45 million.
“No Kings? I don’t feel like a king,” Trump said during a Thursday press conference at the White House. “I have to go through hell to get stuff approved.”
No Kings protests are set for six major U.S. cities, with Philadelphia’s expected to be among the largest. Participants there will march more than a mile to the art museum and hear speakers, including family members of Martin Luther King Jr. Large crowds are also expected in Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix and Charlotte.
Sanders’s camp is encouraging people to go to No Kings events in 18 congressional districts, all but one of them held by Republicans. These districts are where the Vermont senator, a political independent who caucuses with Democrats, also held “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies against Trump and his erstwhile ally, billionaire Elon Musk.
Support has also come from the billionaire class. Walmart heiress Christy Walton took out a full-page ad in national newspapers urging people to participate in No Kings protests. The retailer has said that it doesn’t endorse the ad.
This week, organizers are conducting online workshops for protest participants, including “know your rights” training led by the ACLU, and an event for military members and their families. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was among the speakers during an online town hall Tuesday.
In Chicago, where tens of thousands are expected to converge on Daley Plaza, many of the volunteers—including around 250 trained “marshals” designated to keep things calm—are participating in their first political event, said Kathy Tholin, who leads the Chicago chapter of Indivisible.
While national groups like Indivisible—founded in 2016 to counter the first Trump administration—are helping to organize some events, local groups are leading most others. Planned demonstrations include an Arctic Circle gathering in Kotzebue, Alaska, and a rally outside a gazebo in Lincoln, Maine.
In Hot Springs, Mont., a small town that historically leans Republican, a No Kings rally will take place at a park off Main Street, said Shelley Eisenrich, the organizer and chair of the Sanders County Democratic Committee.
“It’s a big struggle here to get people to participate because there’s some really far-right people in the county,” said Eisenrich, a retired clinical laboratory scientist. “People don’t wanna be seen as much.” But she said Indivisible has been helpful in getting the word out, even for a rally in rural Montana.
Eisenrich said sign-ups ticked up after the developments in Los Angeles, and she expects up to 20 people at the event—success for a red town with a population of just over 500, she said.
Write to Angel Au-Yeung at angel.au-yeung@wsj.com and Xavier Martinez at xavier.martinez@wsj.com