WASHINGTON (AP) — To protest President Donald Trump’s leadership of the country, people will gather Saturday in the nation’s capital and in communities across the U.S. for “No Kings” demonstrations — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.
This is the third mass mobilization since Trump returned to the White House and is expected to be the largest. This comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that is not only shutting down federal programs and services, but is also testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive branch confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers say represent a slide toward American authoritarianism.
Trump himself is not in Washington, but at his home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
“They say they call me a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News that aired early Friday before heading to Mar-a-Lago for a $1 million-a-plate MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser. Protests are expected next Saturday.
While previous protests this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in the spring and then against Trump’s military parade in June — drew crowds, organizers say this protest is building a more unified movement among opposition parties. Top Democrats like Senate leader Chuck Schumer and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers see as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the government’s curbs on free speech to its military immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people power,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible and a lead organizer.
While Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally by radicals, Levin said her own registration numbers are rising. More than 2,600 rallies are planned in cities vast and miniature, organized by hundreds of coalition partners. They said rallies were planned within an hour’s drive for most Americans.
Republicans have sought to portray those attending Saturday’s rallies as figures far outside the mainstream of American politics, a key reason for the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 18th year.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders denounced rally participants as “communists” and “Marxists.”
They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are committed to the far left and are willing to keep the government closed to appease these liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch — we’re calling it the Hate America Rally — that’s going to happen on Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“Let’s see who comes forward for this,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in all their glory.”
Democrats have refused to vote on a bill to reopen the government because of their demands for health care funding. Republicans say they are prepared to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, shutting down the government is also a way to defy Trump and try to push the presidency back into its place in the US system as a co-equal branch of government.
In a Facebook post, Vermont’s Sanders, himself a former presidential candidate, said: “It’s a rally of love for America.”
“It’s a rally of millions of people across the country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and,” he said, pointing to the GOP leadership, “will not let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”
The situation represents a potential reversal from six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and desperate, unsure of how best to respond to Trump’s return to the White House. Schumer, in particular, was reviled by his party for allowing a previous government funding bill to pass the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
In April, there were 1,300 registered locations for the nationwide march against Trump and Elon Musk. In June, there were 2,100 registered locations for the first No Kings Day. More than 2,600 locations will be registered for Saturday’s march, Levin said.
“What we’re seeing from the Democrats is a backbone,” Levin said. “The worst thing Democrats could do now is capitulate.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he wasn’t sure whether he would join rally participants on Saturday, but he took issue with Republicans’ characterization of events.
“What is abhorrent is what happened on January 6th,” he said, referring to the 2021 attack on the Capitol when Trump supporters stormed the building to protest Joe Biden’s election victory. “What you will see this weekend is what patriotism looks like: people showing up to express their opposition to the extremism that Donald Trump has unleashed on the American people.”
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Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed.
