Trump loves nothing more than to dish it out to the libs and get our goat. So after today’s protest (and more to come, many more in fact) which broke records as over seven million Americans took to the streets, expect some lashing out to take place. It could be epic, like the #NoKings protest has been epic.
The Hands Off protest against Trump’s policies and cuts drew 3 million people in April 2025.
The first No Kings protest in June 2025 grew to 5 million people, and the growth has continued with the October 2025 protest.
MoveOn, one of the No Kings coalition partners, posted on X:
Our crowd count estimate from the No Kings coalition responsible for planning today’s event is 7 MILLION nationwide. 7 MILLION of you gathered across the country to peacefully protest today. 2 million more than the first No Kings action in June.
To put this number into context, No Kings has more doubled its number of protesters in 6 months.
None of this would be possible without Donald Trump imposing taxes on the American people unilaterally, doing his best to wreck the economy, trying to destroy healthcare in the United States, and unleashing ICE and the military on American cities.
No Kings has added 2 million protesters in four months. At this pace, by the time the next protest takes place, there should be close to ten million protesters on America’s streets.
It is still uncertain whether No Kings will or can grow into a political movement. Currently, it is a protest movement, and a very effective one.
In terms of one-day protests, No Kings only trails the Earth Day 1970 protest in US history. The first Earth Day protest had 20 million participants. It was also one of the most legislatively significant as it led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. The passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
If No Kings were to have a similar legislative legacy, it would involve legislation to rein in the power of future presidents.
The No Kings protest is the biggest protest against a sitting president in US history, and there is no indication that the number of protesters will shrink or diminish as the months go by.
In political terms, the party that is protested against before a midterm or presidential election has, in recent history, gone on to lose, and there seems to be a connection between the size of the protest and the size of the election loss.
Republicans have tried to discredit the No Kings protest by labeling it Antifa or pro-Hamas, but what it signifies is more base. A large number of Americans are so unhappy with the direction of the country that they are turning out to protest.
Studies show that 85%-89% of people who show up to protest turn out to vote.
There are a whole lot of Americans who aren’t just going to show up on Saturday. They are also going to show up in November to vote against Republicans.
Isn’t that music to your ears? Now, get ready for the return punch. ICE will get crazier. The agenda of acclimating people to troops in the streets as a prelude to declaring martial law will escalate. Stephen Miller, Russell Vought’s shenanigans will get wilder. Expect it all. We’re going to have to fight to stay a democracy but today was a great victory. The troops got out in the street — not Trump-ordered thugs or actual military members being used for political theater, no. I speak of Americans, the troops that matter.
Not since the Founding Father’s were publishing the Federalist Papers (which was the first political blog, by the way. Political blogs may be humble creations, but we have an illustrious and noble history) and doing their own peaceful demonstrations against things like taxation without representation, has there been so many people gathered under the same democratic (and Democratic) banner.
We will win. Today is proof of that. And today the forces of evil looked on in horror and dismay, make no mistake.
EXCELLENT!!!!!! 👍✌️
“the party that is protested against before a midterm or presidential election has, in recent history, gone on to lose,…”
Yes, but Donald Trump! SCOTUS sicced him on us (those bastards), and he’s already fiddling with congressional districts. It would be good if he would faulk up something so bad that we have to go in there and neuter him, but that will be difficult because he never does anything himself, he always has his toadies do it.
In my town, hats-off to a man that wore a burger king cardboard crown w/a No tRump logo over BK’s. He was dressed like a king with a large industrial toilet plunger for a scepter.
Very popular at event and many pics and vids are out there!! town of 12,000 had 800 turnout and we are not far from amilw or Mad where the bigger.protests were. I hope to find pic or vid, as he was good. (majestic bows, mugging it up w/people amd families, rallying exciteme t).
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
The ‘3.5% rule’: How a small minority can change the world.
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
In 1986, millions of Filipinos took to the streets of Manila in peaceful protest and prayer in the People Power movement. The Marcos regime folded on the fourth day.
In 2003, the people of Georgia ousted Eduard Shevardnadze through the bloodless Rose Revolution, in which protestors stormed the parliament building holding the flowers in their hands. While in 2019, the presidents of Sudan and Algeria both announced they would step aside after decades in office, thanks to peaceful campaigns of resistance.
There are 174 million voters in the USA.
7 million of that is 4%.
It looks like we might be there.
There’s an old Chinese parable about a man who owned a horse that ran away. His friends showed up to commiserate. What terrible luck they said. The old man said we’ll see. A few days later his horse return with several other horses following. His friends came to celebrate his good fortune. The old man said we’ll see. His son then tried to ride one of the wild ponies, fell off and broke his leg. Again the friends came to commiserate his bad luck. The old man said we’ll see. The next day the army came to draft his son only to excuse him due to the broken leg. What luck said the friends. The old man said we’ll see.
The protests didn’t end Nixon. It resulted in the bogus war on drugs that has arrested millions since 1970 for using cannabis, while alcoholics, smokers, pill addicts and cocaine snorters make laws. Luckily we had two parties and the Republicans forced his hand for BREAKING THE LAW. Those days are past. Protests are feel good events no doubt. He still owns the gold and the guns. Unless the military revolts…we’ll see. He’s just getting started.
My biggest concern, and I don’t think it’s an idle one, is that tRump and his Merry Band of Grifters will see to it that the midterm elections either never happen at all, or suddenly most if not all the local election workers won’t show up for their shift because someone scared the living crap out of them and told them to watch out for real retribution happening to their loved ones and family members. Mark my words: we might be able to cast our ballots in November but they will be there to try to muck up the works.
“In terms of one-day protests, No Kings only trails the Earth Day 1970 protest in US history. The first Earth Day protest had 20 million participants.”
Yeah, but it’s a very disappointing comparison in play. In 1970 (though, well after the Earth Day protest), the Census would report the country’s population in excess of 204 million, meaning roughly 10% of the existing total population participated in the protest. As all those people would be unlikely to have been participating, the population of people 14+ exceeded 150 million (so the percentage would be more than 13%) and the population of people 18+ exceeded 134 million (so the percentage would more almost 15%).
With a current estimate of the US population of 342 million and an estimated 290 million being 14+, the 7 million figure is about 7.5% of the likely participants in the protests. (The figure of 7 million coming from the *entire* total is just over 2%)
In a way, it’s similar to Nielsen numbers. Nowadays, there’s so much programming that Nielsen covers (prime time viewing, streaming, network vs cable broadcast) there’s no real way to compare (daily and weekly streaming numbers, for instance, can count single-episodes and “bingeing” in the same count) but, looking back at 2018-2019, the year’s most-watched non-sports broadcast show was “The Big Bang Theory” with an average rating of 10.6. Going back to 1998-1999, that rating wouldn’t have been able to get into the Top 10 for the year; “Everybody Loves Raymond” was #11 with a 10.6 while the #1 show was “ER” with a 17.8 rating. Going back to 1978-1979, even “ER’s ratings wouldn’t have put it in the Top 30; the #30 show for that year was “Lou Grant” with a “paltry” 19.7 rating while #1 for the year was “Laverne & Shirley” with a 30.5 rating.
Basically, just comparing “whole” numbers between two different events–especially held over such a wide time frame–doesn’t really have much meaning. It can be heartening on the one hand (“so many people showed up and it’s only 2nd of all time”) but a bit depressing on the other (as my comparison of numbers indicates).
Not to mention the Earth day protest didn’t stop the fossil fuel industry, the chemical polluters, and so on. Biden’s policies moved us in the right direction. The rich puppeteers have managed to stomp the pedal with Trump’s policies. We’re losing the coral reefs…close to 50% of the plankton,(the foundation of the food chain), and so on. Our tv culture really believes FEELINGS matter…they do not. Protests don’t create policies. Politicians do. We live or DIE with the results. At the moment the sword of Damocles hangs over our head, and our ignorance and arrogance will be our undoing. Fifty five years after earth day, we’re closer to the edge than ever.