The largest of these protests was in downtown Minneapolis (right) where an estimated 30,000 people gathered to send the message that they intend to defend democracy and the rule of law from the authoritarian rhetoric and actions of the Trump administration.
The message of defending democracy against Trump’s increasingly dictitorial presidency was the same here as it was in Minneapolis and at each of the 2,600 “No Kings” protests that took place across the country and in every state. Indeed, with close to 7 million people nationwide attending today’s peaceful protests, it was the largest single-day of protest against tyranny in U.S. history.
Following are images that I took at today’s “No Kings” protest in St. Paul. They are accompanied by a number of excerpts from articles about “No Kings Day” 2.0. (For my post about the first “No Kings Day” in June, click here.)
[Today in Washington, D.C.] was awesome. We had hundreds of thousands of people on the street to protest Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. It was passionate, then it was joyful. There was a dance party on the steps of the Labor Department where people inflatable costumes. There were hysterical signs.
But there was a really clear message that we intend to defend our democracy by exercising our democratic rights. We’re not capitulating to Donald Trump and his authoritarianism, his effort to scare us into submission.
I think that Trump’s authoritarianism is getting worse and mobilizing more people, but I think his effort to intimidate is failing as well. And each time people turn out, each time people protest, each time people stand up, it makes it easier for the next set of people to do that. So we think that today, when all is said and done, it will have been the largest day of protest in American history.
All to defend our democracy, oppose the ICE raids, oppose the National Guard on our streets, oppose the illegal firings of federal employees, opposing the illegal shutdown of agencies. And more people want a government that works for us, not for Donald Trump and his oligarch friends.
. . . [P]eople are really worried about the fate of our country and understand that, in total, what Trump is trying to do is take away our democracy and replace it with authoritarian regime.
So some people may be more motivated by the pressure on universities or by the illegal abductions of immigrants or by the deployment of the National Guard, or by the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that’s protecting us from financial fraudsters, or by the weaponization of the Department of Justice.
But everybody understands whatever the thing that gets them going, it’s all part of a bigger tapestry of this authoritarian agenda, and they’re ready, willing, and passionate about standing up to it.
– Robert Weissman
Quoted in “‘We Intend to Defend Our Democracy,’
Says ‘No Kings’ Protest Organizer”
PBS Newshour
October 18, 2025
Quoted in “‘We Intend to Defend Our Democracy,’
Says ‘No Kings’ Protest Organizer”
PBS Newshour
October 18, 2025
Authoritarianism feeds on fear. The No Kings Day protests showed that fear can be broken. Peaceful demonstrations signal more than opposition; they reveal a widespread sense of being ignored. The No Kings Day protests make visible what millions already know: Republican representatives understand their constituents are being harmed by this administration and have chosen silence. They no longer hold town halls. They no longer answer questions. Instead, they parrot Trump, labeling the protest a “hate America” rally, and frame participants as radical leftists or terrorists. The message is unmistakable – this administration not only refuses to listen, it no longer cares what people think.
Our government rests on majority rule, compromise, and the slow, difficult work of consensus. Dictators reject all three. Force replaces deliberation; opponents become “enemies within.” The message this regime delivers is not through debate, but through deployment—troops in the streets, mass arrests, and intimidation dressed up as law and order. Consent has been replaced by fear – the new currency of governance. I live in a community that historically votes Republican. The so-called “enemy within” are our neighbors, many of them lifelong conservatives. Like me, they have learned that when the choice is between tyranny and constitutional freedom, partisanship disappears. That is what makes the No Kings Day protests so remarkable. Their message is clear and loud: we are not afraid and we will not be intimidated.
– James Greenberg
Excerpted from “The No Kings Day Protests”
James’s Substack
October 19, 2025
Excerpted from “The No Kings Day Protests”
James’s Substack
October 19, 2025
Today, millions of Americans and their allies turned out across the United States and around the globe to demonstrate their commitment to American democracy and their opposition to a president and an administration apparently bent on replacing that democracy with a dictatorship.
Administration loyalists tried to claim the No Kings protests would be “hate America” rallies of “the pro-Hamas wing and Antifa people.” Texas governor Greg Abbott deployed the Texas National Guard ahead of the No Kings Day protests, warning that “[v]iolence and destruction will never be tolerated in Texas.”
In fact, protesters turned out waving American flags and wearing frog and unicorn and banana costumes and carrying homemade signs that demanded the release of the Epstein files and defended Lady Liberty. They laughed and danced and took selfies and sang. City police departments, including those of New York City, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., said they had made no protest-related arrests.
In Oakland, California, Mother Jones senior editor Michael Mechanic interviewed a man named Justin, asking him if, as a Black man, he had particular concerns about the actions of the Trump administration.
Justin answered: “You know . . . a lot of times I have a hopeless feeling, but . . . being out here today just reminds me about the beauty of America and American protests. And, you know, the fact that they tried to . . . stomp on this, step on this, you know, say it’s non-American, because that’s what I've been reading a lot about. No, this is the point of America right here: to be able to have this opportunity to protest. . . . [This] does not look like Antifa, Hamas, none of this stuff that they’re talking about. . . . [Y]ou know, this is the beauty of America.”
The No Kings demonstrations ran the gamut from hundreds of thousands of protesters in large, blue cities, to smaller crowds in small towns in Republican-dominated states. Together, they demonstrate that the administration’s claims to popularity are a lie. Such a high turnout means businesses and institutions that thought they must cater to the administration to appeal to a majority of Americans will be forced to recalculate. And the protests showed that Americans care fervently about democracy.
– Heather Cox Richardson
via social media
October 18, 2025
via social media
October 18, 2025
What happened on October 18 was a civic thunderclap. From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, from Atlanta to Seattle, Americans poured into streets, parks, bridges, and capitol steps under a single, simple banner: No Kings. Early tallies from organizers, municipal transit data, cell-mobility snapshots, and live aerial counts point to a turnout on the scale of the largest demonstrations in modern U.S. history. In city after city, the photos tell the same story: corridors of people, handmade signs, strollers and wheelchairs, clergy and veterans, students and seniors. It looked less like a rally than a referendum.
The most remarkable part was not the size. It was the discipline. Across hundreds of permitted marches and spontaneous gatherings, the overwhelming pattern was calm crowds, cooperative marshals, and largely routine interactions with local police. Volunteer de-escalators were everywhere. Medical tents, water stations, ADA escorts, “leave-no-trace” cleanups. In a political climate drenched in attempts to bait the public into televised chaos, millions refused the script.
Despite relentless efforts to frame the movement as dangerous, the arrest picture cut the other way. As of the first full sweep of police incident logs and verified media reports, there were no confirmed arrests of No Kings demonstrators for violence. The confirmed arrests tied to the day’s events were counter-protesters aligned with MAGA branding. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a woman in a Trump shirt was arrested after allegedly brandishing a firearm near marchers. In downtown Cincinnati, police took a female counter-protester into custody after she allegedly grabbed and tried to rip away an American flag from an older participant. Both cases were processed without incident. Everywhere else, the tape shows chants, speeches, and people going home.
That outcome was not an accident. Organizers built for it. The “peace first” posture was baked into the trainings, route plans, communications, and on-the-ground logistics. Crowd briefings reminded people how to film safely, how to avoid provocations, and how to exit quickly if needed. Legal hotlines were staffed. Rally MCs repeated the same refrain: “We are here to be seen, not to be baited.” When an event refuses to supply the violence its opponents are praying for, the narrative starves.
They called it the “No Kings” rally for a reason.
Because power isn’t sacred just because someone grabs it.
Because democracy isn’t self-sustaining.
Because deep down, we all know that freedom has to be guarded, especially from those who crave control.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood in the shadow of an empire that demanded loyalty to Caesar. He refused. He preached a way of love, equity, and liberation so threatening to those in charge that Rome hung him on a cross. Not because he was “too spiritual.” But because he was too political for the comfort of the powerful.
When people filled the streets on October 18 shouting “No Kings”, they weren’t just talking about one man, they were invoking a truth as old as faith itself: no human being is meant to wield godlike power over others.
Not Caesar.
Not any president.
Not any would-be strongman whose ego demands our submission.
History has seen this story before. Every empire insists it’s different. Every would-be ruler says “trust me.” And every time, ordinary people have to decide whether they’ll stay quiet or if they’ll stand up.
Authoritarianism doesn’t start with military boots and torches. It starts with fear. With apathy. With churches blessing cruelty because it’s wrapped in the flag. With leaders who treat compassion as weakness and dissent as disloyalty.
That’s why progressive Christians are speaking up: because our faith requires it. The same love that moved Jesus to challenge empire calls us to do the same today.
This is not about left or right. It’s about whether we still believe in “we the people.”
It’s about whether we’ll trade our neighbors’ freedom for the illusion of control.
It’s about whether we’ll let history repeat itself or write a different ending.
Love resists empire.
It’s done it before.
It’s doing it now.
And it’s not about to quit.
– Re. Dr. Mark Sandlin
via social media
October 20, 2025
via social media
October 20, 2025
Above and below: The two-sided sign I’ve now taken to both today’s “No Kings” protest and the first one on June 14. For my thoughts on the overall message of my sign, click here.
For more about Omar’s campaign, one which I clearly support, click here, here and here.
Related Off-site Links:
“We the People Will Rule!”: Millions Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Against Trump Tyranny – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, October 18, 2025).
Millions Across All 50 U.S. States March in “No Kings” Protests Against Trump – Rachel Leingang and Edward Helmore (The Guardian, October 18, 2025).
Protesters Decry Trump Administration Policies in “No Kings” Rallies Across the U.S. – NPR News (October 18, 2025).
Minneapolis “No Kings” Rally Draws Out Thousands Opposed to Trump Policies – MPR Newshour (October 18, 2025).
UPDATES: Long Live “No Kings” – William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Jim Swift (The Bulwark, October 20, 2025).
“No Kings” Protests Are Just Not Enough – John Ross and Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, October 20, 2025).
Seven Million Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Nationwide. Next Up, Massive Disruptions Backed by Unions? – Luis Feliz Leon (In These Times, October 20, 2025).
Troops on the Streets, a Polarized Country and Climbing Prices: Welcome to Trump’s “Golden Age” – Steven Greenhouse (The Guardian, October 20, 2025).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thoughts on the Eve of “No Kings Day” 2.0
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
Images of the “No Kings” rally in St. Paul: Michael Bayly
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