Third Nationwide “No Kings” Protests Held in All 50 States on Saturday

Demonstrators gathered Saturday in all 50 states for the third nationwide “No Kings” protest day against President Trump, with the flagship rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. The Associated Press, in a report carried by PBS NewsHour, said more than 3,100 events were registered, about 500 more than in October. NBC News said organizers had planned more than 3,200 marches across all 50 states and several continents.

Organizers, who include Indivisible, Public Citizen, MoveOn, the ACLU and the National Action Network, according to NBC News, expected millions to turn out. They have said the first two rounds drew more than 5 million people in June and about 7 million in October, the AP reported; NBC News cited more than 7 million for October. Those totals are organizers’ own estimates, and the AP said it was too early on Saturday to tell whether this round would exceed them.

The AP and NBC News both reported that protesters cited the war with Iran and the administration’s immigration enforcement, particularly in Minnesota. NBC News said demonstrators also pointed to rising gas prices. NBC News said St. Paul carries particular meaning because of the fatal shootings by federal agents during January’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, and the AP said Bruce Springsteen performed a song he wrote after those shootings.

Springsteen headlined the Minnesota rally. “Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said, according to the AP. NBC News quoted him as saying of the administration, “They picked the wrong city.” NBC News reported that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized the immigration crackdown at the St. Paul event.

Organizers said the movement reached beyond big cities. NBC News reported, citing organizers’ website data, that more than half of the events registered for Saturday were in Republican-leaning or battleground areas, and the AP reported that organizers said two-thirds of RSVPs came from outside major urban centers. Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert told NBC News, “This is not a partisan issue.”

The administration and Republicans rejected the protests’ premise. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” according to both the AP and NBC News. The AP reported that the White House described the events as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support. The National Republican Congressional Committee, through spokesperson Maureen O’Toole, called them “Hate America Rallies,” the AP said.

The AP also reported rallies in Europe, including London and Paris, where some protesters carried signs such as “Stop the far right,” and said organizers used the name “No Tyrants” in countries with constitutional monarchies. Turnout figures for the day had not been independently confirmed at the time of reporting.