Crowds waving flags
Did any of yez do any No Kings partying? I didn’t. No doubt I should have, but I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. We couldn’t keep him out 6 months ago so what’s the point of protests now? We’re fucked, and pouring into the streets isn’t going to change that. But maybe I should have anyway. But I didn’t.
Hundreds of protests against President Donald Trump have taken place in towns and cities across the US, organised by a group called “No Kings”.
The demonstrations coincided with a rare military parade hosted by Trump in Washington DC, and came after days of protests in Los Angeles and elsewhere over his immigration policies.
Lawmakers, union leaders and activists gave speeches in cities including New York, Philadelphia and Houston to crowds waving American flags and placards critical of Trump.
You can add Seattle to that. Much of the city was at a standstill. Well ok not much, but some.
The military parade on Saturday evening, also Trump’s birthday, was timed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army. He warned that any protests at the parade would be met with “heavy force”.
But we’re allowed to protest.
That was when we lived in the USA. Now we live in Trumplandia, and all rights to protest accrue only to those who protest and riot over honestly won elections that Trump loses. All others must be mowed down.
The Nebraska governor called out the National Guard to deal with protestors in Lincoln (maybe in Omaha, too; my husband read the story. I haven’t read the paper yet). With the peaceful quiet in the city today, I suspect they weren’t needed. I imagine the protests were mostly peaceful. Of course, I haven’t been out today, but I live close to downtown and on a very busy street corner. Nothing has been different, and I’ve actually heard many fewer sirens than usual, so I’m guessing the governor was just doing performative Trumpism.
I live in Arlington, Virginia. I did not go out, but this local report has a gallery of 35 photos. I really like seeing American flags for this.
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/06/14/developing-huge-no-kings-crowds-protest-in-arlington-ahead-of-military-parade/
At least it sounds like Trump’s parade was a bit of a flop…
@Dave Ricks,
Another Arlingtonian here. When we heard about Trump’s birthday bash, we decided we didn’t want to stick around. Instead we got tickets to Buena Vista Social Club and took Amtrak to NYC yesterday. Ran into a huge protest marching down 5th Avenue.
I don’t know if the protests help much, but my sense is that right now there’s a lot of anger against Trump, and not just among the usual crowd. Hopefully that will carry through to the next few years of elections
I ran into protests everywhere I went. I accidentally implied I hadn’t poured into the streets at all but in fact I did my usual brand of pouring into the streets by taking buses to distant nabes – I just didn’t take them to March Central. But lots of protesters did their protesting away from March Central and I did see some of those. The last bus I took going home got fuller and fuller until it couldn’t add one more body.
If only it made any difference…
I have heard that the military parade was a bit of a flop, and that the American army is actually not that great on the parade ground – which I think reflects well on them – that they don’t want to piss around practising marching but get on with doing military stuff. A perfectly co-ordinated military parade smacks of dictatorships. (The UK goes in for that sort of thing, but it has a harmless Ruritanian air, like Trooping the Colour, with the military wearing crazy costumes of busbies and red jackets).
As for not taking part in the anti-Trump demo – I’m with OB in thinking that this doesn’t achieve much – last time Trump came to the UK I joined a demo (it was a fine day, and quite jolly) but if he comes again I wouldn’t bother crossing the street – it’s paying him too much attention.
I went to a protest in a neighboring Southern California town. The main benefit is probably just knowing that many people share the same opinion. We stood in the sun waving our rude signs and cheering when passing cars gave us the thumbs up. One contractor’s pickup drove by waving his MAGA hat, but we laughed when we saw the sign on his rear window that said he was “Now Hiring”. I guess he was on his way to Home Depot.
So, nothing concrete was done to fix our situation, but for a few ours we felt optimistic.
Sacramento was calm but there were quite a few people. Also A LOT of police, including helicopters. They did block the Tower Bridge.
My cynical friend opined that maybe it will scare enough borderline Republicans (not ALL are Trumpers) and stiffen the spine of feckless Democrats. Have to say Governor Newsome has been quite on target.
I remain skeptical and fearful, though. The antiwar parades were far larger and we still destroyed Iraq…and W, despite his many horrors, was no Trump.
Barbyra – feeling optimistic for a few hours is a good reason for doing it. Morale matters. I’m glad people did it, I just couldn’t persuade myself to join in.
I did join the No Kings protest in Prescott, AZ and I was honestly surprised by how many people turned out – 3,500 – which given the population of the metro area is about 100,000 is significant! The event was organized by the Yavapai County Democrats and Kris Mayes, the Arizona Attorney General (she’s a Democrat) spoke to us too. There were a lot of just ordinary people there along with a few activists and there was no piggy-backing pet causes in evidence, other than one pro-Palestine sign I saw. A couple of organizers were also passing out American flags to everyone to show and I think that threw the few Trumpers nearby off of their game, although I’m sure the police presence (I guessed around 40 law enforcement officers were there) also helped.
What was great about being there was also talking with several other protesters face-to-face and finding out there are more of us than we thought. I needed that.
I skipped it, too, but mainly because any protest of any kind here in Bellingham always turns into a trans-pride celebration and loses focus on what the organizers actually intended. And sure enough, reading the Cascadia Daily this morning, I see that that is exactly what happened.
I went to the protest in Chandler, AZ yesterday and found it exhilarating. I have also been to marches in Phoenix and Tempe as well. I think Barbyra is right that it is cheering to be among people who share ones views. I also think that it is good to push back. Timothy Snyder says we should not surrender in advance. J.A. @10: 450 is a good turnout for a conservative town like Prescott. A friend told me they had 150 in Show Low. And as you are no doubt aware there is a heat emergency in AZ this weekend.
J.A.
That’s a very important point. Indeed letting each other know that “it’s not just you” is almost certainly the main reason such public protests are so important in the first place.
Many have also suggested that what Trump was hoping for more than anything was to be able to contrast the TV images of violent protesters throwing rocks at the police, setting cars on fire etc. with his own “patriotic” Parade in order to portray himself as “the only thing protecting your home village from the violent mob”. From what I have gathered so far that seems to have failed.
It’s a fillip for foreign audiences, who have been watching the USAn political scene in horror, seeing great crowds of Americans marching against the Mad Emperor. It reminds them that the USA is not just the news-grabbing antics of their President, and that it may turn itself round.
I dunno about No Kings. We have one here in the UK and he really is a more creditable head of state than your elected incumbent. He’s a bit of a souphead, but he means well, and he likes flowers.
Seriously. There’s nothing like a Trump for making a Charles look less absurd. Go ahead, Choss, talk to your plants, I don’t mind any more.
My understanding is that Army personnel are actually quite good at marching, and this was an anomaly. I’ve read speculation that this march was deliberately sloppy as an act of insubordination.