Not Quite Sure What Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ Protests Really Accomplished
“In 1776, brave Americans took on and defeated the most powerful despot in the world. In 2025, we will do the same.”
The much-hyped “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump’s so-called “authoritarian policies” unfolded in cities across the country on Saturday. Despite rainy weather in some areas, Democrats turned out carrying signs like “We the People Want Democracy” and “No Kings in America,” aiming to express their opposition to Trump 2.0.
Assigned to cover the protests, I checked in periodically throughout the day for any developments of note. Each time, I saw photos of modestly sized crowds gathered peacefully. There was nothing particularly remarkable or newsworthy about the events.
Ahead of the well-funded protests scheduled to take place at roughly 2,000 locations across the U.S., Trump remarked, “I don’t feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved.” Given the Democrats’ unprecedented reliance on highly partisan district court judges to block—or at least delay—the implementation of his agenda, he had a point. The entire premise of the protests feels manufactured.
Trump on No Kings Protest. “I don’t feel like a King. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved.” 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/nZ9PY5cACs
— Susan (@emma6USA) June 12, 2025
For his part, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) praised “all the patriots who will be participating” on Friday evening. He reminded them, “In 1776, brave Americans took on and defeated the most powerful despot [King George III] in the world. In 2025, we will do the same.”
A U.S. senator urging supporters to “take on” and “defeat” a sitting president sounds, at the very least, a bit insurrectionary to me.
I want to applaud all the patriots who will be participating, as I will, in No King rallies across the country.
Americans believe in freedom, not authoritarianism.
In 1776 brave Americans took on and defeated the most powerful despot in the world.
In 2025 we will do the same. pic.twitter.com/04yHxGzDLa
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 13, 2025
His Democratic colleagues were also delivering incendiary messages in the lead-up to the protests. During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, an irate Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) used her allotted time not to question the sanctuary state governors who had come to testify, but to rail against Trump—likening him to a “mad king”—and to promote the “No Kings” protests.
Democrats are the ENEMY within.
They are dangerous.
Unhinged Democrat Rep. Melanie Stansbury promotes the "No Kings" protests and the expected violence.
During a meeting with the Governors…….
She compares Trump to a "Mad King"
These people are unhinged! pic.twitter.com/RhgBoEkEDL
— .*Funkytown™*. (@01Funkytown) June 14, 2025
Despite the buildup surrounding what was billed as the largest mass protest against Trump to date, by 5 p.m. ET, there was nothing out of the ordinary to report. To be fair, the protests faced some pretty stiff competition for viewers’ attention. First, the Israeli airstrikes on Iran dominated the news cycle. Then, just as participants were gathering on Saturday morning, news broke of the murders of a Minnesota state representative and her husband, as well as the attempted murders of a state senator and his wife—allegedly by a man impersonating a police officer—eclipsing all other coverage.
Although the suspect remains at large, police have identified him. After discovering a stack of “No Kings” protest flyers in his vehicle, Minnesota state officials urged residents to avoid the demonstrations out of safety concerns.
Public attention was further diverted by the evening’s military parade in Washington, D.C., held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army—the very event that prompted organizers to schedule the protests for that date. (It also happens to be Trump’s 79th birthday.)
Obviously, the Left is not too pleased by the parade. Here’s what The New York Times had to say about it:
Organizers have characterized the Washington parade — the largest display of military power in the nation’s capital in decades — not as a celebration of the armed forces but as a theatrical “display of dominance” akin to military marches hosted by dictators abroad.
HotAir’s John Sexton pointed out, “It’s not just dictators that hold military parades. In fact, there’s a military parade happening in the UK today as well. Trump got the idea for holding this parade from a visit to France during his first term.”
In any case, organizers of the “No Kings” protests include Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Service Employees International Union, and 50501. A full list can be viewed here.
Fox News contributor Asra Nomani, founder of The Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, conducted an investigation into the Democratic Party’s role in funding the protests. Nomani found that 70 DNC affiliates across 21 states were involved in organizing the protests.
Although it’s unclear what precisely the Democrats’ day of defiance accomplished for the party, event organizers and participants will likely point to Saturday’s protests as a tremendous success.
Update: 8 p.m. ET: Joseph R. Checklick Jr., 21, “deliberately accelerated his SUV into a crowd of “No Kings” anti-Trump protesters in Culpeper, Virginia, striking at least one person,” according to Culpeper police.
A 21‑year‑old man deliberately accelerated his SUV into a crowd of “No Kings” anti-Trump protesters in Culpeper, Virginia, striking at least one person, local police said
The suspect, identified as Joseph R. Checklick Jr., from Culpeper, was arrested and charged with… pic.twitter.com/pdstbHbATq
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) June 14, 2025
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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Comments
The protests show the rest of the country, regrettably not the protestors, how out of touch with reality the protests are, and increasingly extreme, and filled with anti-Americanism, among other things.
https://time.com/7293651/trump-on-no-kings-protests-i-dont-feel-like-a-king/
Just heard Marc Theissen, commenting on the parade, say it is the true No Kings protest, by what it represents. How apt.
We passed one in Columbia SC. About 50-75 grey haired hippies and purple haired teens.
I was there…bunch of decaying hippies that grew up in segregation telling us we are racist.
The protest let me know which of my neighbors are woke idiots with the signs they put in their yards
Trump’s military birthday parade was rained on by the war between Israel and Iran, the No Kings protests, and the murder of two Democrats in Minnesota by a guy whose hit list targeted dozens and dozens of prominent Democrats. What Trump needs to do is to sue Israel, Iran, the leaders of the No Kings protests, and the Minnesota shooter and his family. How dare they rain on his birthday parade!!!
You’ve descended into a vortex of insanity, mediocrity and dementia that reminds me of Joe Biden, especially given your parody post isn’t even funny.
Hell. I can even smell the halitosis, dirty underwear, and B.O. from here.
You’ve failed at everything else in life, and now you’re a failure as a troll.
Quit upvoting yourself.
Wrong again.
Most of us understand exactly what the “No-Kings” protest accomplished; It consumed a quantity of George & Alex Soros’ professional protester slush fund. Other than that, little to no impact. Those grey haired hipsters and guys with man buns looked ridiculous, as the rest of the nation celebrated the birthday of our Army.
I’m out in Moab, UT, vacationing. I went to a drugstore in the morning, by the time I came out around 10 am, it looked like the whole dang town was marching down one sidewalk and back up the other. It was over after one lap. Many of the signs were the no kings ones, but I also saw something about not selling federal lands, federal employees are people too, immigrants are people, and then one said trans rights.
Nearly everyone was old, wealthy, and white. Like, if you missed the protests of the 60s, better get it done now before you die.
It looked absurd.
Not sure about wealthy, but I noticed a lot of elderly, white people in the videos I saw too. Actually, I’ve noticed that in quite a few protests lately.
The Boomer generational cohort holds the bulk of the assets in the US economy. Some of it is life cycle, you go through your working lifetime and save, buy a house, at some point invest in the markets. Many of those homes the Boomers bought as yuppies in the early ’80s have substantial appreciated fueled by cheap $ from Fed Reserve, NIMBY zoning laws and other regulations that have the effect of limiting the housing supply. A patient Boomer stocking away $2K when IRA began in vanguard SP500 then contributing the max allowed would have a very nice nest egg…not b/c they are an investment whiz but due to cheap $ and everyone around them doing the same on the 1st /15th of the month with automatic investment. The super savvy Boomers did even better. IOW the Boomers as a generation are the wealthy. As they die off of old age (oldest Boomers born in ’46 are now 79) the largest wealth transfer in history will occur, assuming the Boomers didn’t fritter it away.
No way, dude. I’m taking it with me.
Hey man, it is your $ to do with as you please. No judgement from me. For all I care liquidate the assets, turn it into cash, light it on fire, put the ashes in an urn and have it buried with you. Be just like Poppa was a rolling stone…’all he left us was alone’.
I’m an “Elderly” white person and my guess is that many are being paid. After Biden’s inflation, many retirement incomes took a huge hit and other than being a greeter at Walmart, protesting is an easy way to make money. If they had been interviewed, I’ll bet many had no idea what “No Kings” meant. My beautiful wife informed me years ago that she had attended protests as the Univ. of Florida because her boyfriend was there. She said it was just a fun time for all, she had no idea what they were protesting, and back then no one ever threw things at the cops.
No offense intended – I’m an “elderly” white person too.
I think you’re right. A lot of people turned out yesterday. The Democrats can arrange “protests” extremely quickly. The cause was stupid, but they know how to draw a crowd. Money speaks. And I bet it drew a lot of young people too.
The pictures out of Raleigh, NC are similar. Despite a population of roughly 500,000 and demographics of 50% White, 50% others including 30% black estimates are 1,500 people and from what I saw the crowd was predominantly middle aged or older and I saw exactly 1 black man. These are from the left wing Raleigh News and Observer.
Same in Columbia, SC…decaying hippies that grew up in a segregated society and utilized white priviledge to obtain worthless degrees protesting FOR waste, fraud and abuse.
It was pathetic.
I’ve seen the type numerous times since Trump 1.0…I just call them “aging hippies.” Some people just can’t let the 60s go.
“around 10 am, it looked like the whole dang town was marching down one sidewalk and back up the other. It was over after one lap.”
Up the street, back to the starting point, and done.
Yessir, the Democrats musta found new leadership.
In an Atlanta ‘burb….. A LOT of people protesting for hours. Old and young ignorant girls.
Trump is old, wealthy and white.
And?
JR’s jealous.
Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump / 🎶
Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump /
Glorious Truuuuuummp…. Wonderful Truuuump…
Democrat circle-jerk.
Vile, stupid and evil career neo-communist apparatchik and parasite, Comrade Sanders, dares to posit that a President who was democratically elected by a majority of voting citizens a mere seven months ago, is an alleged “despot.”
This idiot dares to compare the patriots of the American Revolution to the Dhimmi-crats’ motley crew of brazenly and gleefully lawbreaking and destructive illegal alien criminals, “Anti-fa” terrorist thugs, genocidal Islamofascists/Muslim supremacists and assorted other miscreants and subversives! What an obnoxiously dishonest, offensive and inapposite comparison.
That’s how utterly inflammatory, dishonest and wicked the Dhimim-crat fifth columnists are.
“inapposite” – Nice. Learned a new word today!
Bernie really means the ousting of royalty that took place in 1917. He prefers commissars to kings.
Much ado about nothing.
For the record, the real No Kings Day is July 4th.
Looks like they got their share of extreme violence with some murders thrown in. That’s all these protestors really want anyway is to kill people who don’t agree with them. Then they can make a musical about their martyr murderer and give themselves some awards about how awesome their musical was. After all there is only one solution: intifada revolution. See it even rhymes.
It was a tantrum by those to ignorant to to understand under the last regime we had a dictator.
The last regime was a junta.
That’s such a perfect response. I’m sure not one Dem in 10,000 would understand what you mean, much less agree with you.
“She compares Trump to a “Mad King”
From the party whose last president WAS unarguably mentally deranged.
Well, they proved they can, if they work at it, get together in groups of more than 6 and not light anything on fire.
Baby steps.
Columbia, SC had about 1000 at the SC state house. It was exactly what I expected…geriatric, decaying hippies in a circle-jerk of self-loathing.
Papssing traffic wasn’t too pleased, lots of one-finger salutes and catcalls by motorists.
Much like those against “climate change” are the real “climate deniers” (the climate changes, all by itself), these people claim to be “pro-democracy” but their goal is to stymie the agenda of a POTUS who is doing exactly that for which he was elected. I believe that’s called “democracy” and these people actually seem to be against it. It’s all very confusing!
It’s election denial by people who denounce you for election denial.
It’s a curious thing that laws that permit audits of elections weren’t put to use after the 2020 election. Those opposed kept claiming “There’s no evidence of fraud or cheating.” This was besides the point. One of the purpose of audits is to expose fraud and cheating. OK, for the sake of argument, we could have agreed. But then we should have insisted upon the audits to perform their other purpose – to demonstrate that the elections were fair and honest. Pretty sure those opposed to the audits would have also been opposed to their use for this purpose too.
People tried. In GA, for example, ballots were not released, chains of custody went missing, etc. Just an example of what Josef Stalin said. It’s the vote counters, not the voters, that decide elections.
This protest was astroturfed to within an inch of it’s life. Outside of cities, it was just a bunch of old, predominantly white people, waving signs and waiting for the early bird specials to start.
They are junkies still chasing that magic high from their first anti-war protest.
They’re way off schedule. Country Kitchen Buffet opens at 6 AM.
It was pretty much what was expected – turnout high in deep blue cities and enclaves and everywhere else only a few. This is what happens every time the left tries to hold mass protests, because what they are preaching about has basically no appeal outside of their enclaves.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, I refuse to be stuck in the middle with them. The “protesters” can all take a flying leap off the nearest pier.
Non-event in Brunswick GA.
No gala at Tipsy McSways?
I’m sure it was quiet at FLETC too.
So what’s with the rumor that demonstrators entered the Capitol? Fake news, or “suppressed news” (51 intelligence retirees say it never happened)?
https://nypost.com/2025/06/14/us-news/capitol-police-arrest-60-veteran-anti-ice-protesters-breaching-capitol-barricade/
This is all too funny from the left. Trump is trying to take power away from the federal government. Yes, he’s trying to enforce federal laws (and strongly defend American sovereignty) but overall he’s trying to return power to the states and cut federal overreach (that was done by Democrats).
And the people who are marching in these “No Kings” laugh riots (after their latest actual riots) are the ones who supported the most insane, tyrannical, un-American, un-Constitutional seizures of power by executive officials in American history, with their totally insane COVID power grabs where they were just copying moves by the Chinese Communists on American soil – and how they extended that un-Constitutional web of tyrannical rule by YEARS!!! And in between all that was the Traitor Joe inauguration where all of D.C. was turned into a military garrison for months!! No parade … no, but the complete militarization of Washington D.C. for months (dutifully ignored and unreported by the propaganda media).
These people – these lovers of COVID tyranny and all that came with it – these lovers of vaccine mandates and vaccine passports and throwing people in prison camps for refusing to be part of the most insane medical experiment in history … these people are marching for “No Kings”. It’s amazing, really. Just … amazing.
“…these people are marching for “No Kings”. It’s amazing, really. Just … amazing.”
This is the party that refused to hold a primary and coronated Kamala Harris without a single vote.
We should’ve chose a special day to protest Biden. We could’ve called it “No Vegetables Day”.
Instead of all the commie fossils, you would have attracted all the primary schoolers.
I laugh at the Dem governors on TV complaining about Trump this, Trump that.
You jackasses, you gave away your say in the federal government when you ratified the 17th Amendment! If you want back your seat at the table, why are you not working to repeal the 17 Amendment?
That is stupid. The governors had no say before the 17th amendment. The amendment didn’t affect them at all.
Senators are now elected by the people they are supposed to represent, and state legislatures are now elected to do their job of actually legislating, rather than serving as elaborate electoral colleges for the senate, with the added bonus of also being able to legislate.
Senators now have to care, every six years, what their constituents actually want, rather than buy off some state legislators, or fund their stooges’ election to the legislature. It’s orders of magnitude harder to fix a senate election now than it was before the 17th.
And of course during those six years senators don’t have to care what the voters think, especially if they don’t intend to run again. That’s exactly the same as it was before the 17th. And the six-year term was given for exactly that purpose, so they wouldn’t be constantly looking over their shoulders and worrying about reelection, and could instead use their own judgment.
Except they’re NOT supposed to represent the people. They are supposed to represent states. The House represents the people.
The R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T-A-T-I-V-E-S represent the people.
The Senators represent the states.
How remedial a lesson on the American system do you actually need?
With all of them protesting on the main street, we were able to find a table even in commencement filled Corvallis this afternoon, so there’s that.
Sure was top story, besides the ‘political hit job’ on CNN and the Philadelphia ABC affiliate all day.
Those claiming that 1776 America took on the most powerful despot in the world are showing either their ethnocentrism, their historical illiteracy, or both.
The largest empires in order were probably Russia, China (Qing Dynasty), Spanish, Ottoman, France, and then either Britain or Portugal!
As for despots, that shows a gross misreading of history. Not only was Britain not ruled by a despot, unlike the other empires, it was actually a democracy. A limited democracy to be sure – only about 3% of the population who were property owning males, but it was democratic. And the power of the king was limited.
It was at least as democratic as the colonies were, and as the states were after the revolution.
He might not have been the most powerful despot in the world, but if you know anything about the American Revolution, yes, he was most certainly a despot. And the only portion of British government that was democratic in even the broadest sense of the word was the House of Commons. The House of Lords and the king made most of the decisions (specifically during George’s reign). Heck, the colonists even wrote down a bunch of the very un-democratic crap they were doing when we decided to get uppity. They admitted they “should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
That’s easy. They accomplished their intended purpose, which was to distract attention from Trump’s parade.
In his first term Trump saw a military parade in France and thought “Why can’t we have one of those?”. An innocent enough desire. But the military establishment resisted it and it never happened, so when he started his second term he decided “this time we’re having it, and I don’t care who doesn’t like it”. Good for him. But the Dems couldn’t let him have it, so they ruined his day by sucking up all the attention that was left after the news from Iran and Minnesota. Grinches, the lot of them.
Growing up in Rhode Island, we would go to the Bristol Parade on July 4th. I believed every parade would be like the Bristol Parade. As I got older and moved away and had a family of my own, I went to a parade or two, but nothing could compare to what I saw in the pomp and pageantry of the nation’s oldest parade celebrating the birth of our great nation.
I cooked and ate dinner, then sat down and watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees on television. I’m sure Trump’s military parade was enjoyed by many, but I’ve seen the best already. Ah, to be a true patriotic Southern New England native!
Yes–imagine the Red Sox winning consecutive one-run games! While I enjoy watching the new kids up from Worcester, I found the U.S. Open more compelling. I saw no protesters in my town of 1800.
I think it was also to distract from the rioting in LA (and a few other spots). Get the same group of people supporting the LA riots, but make it all about anti-Trump.
Of course, other events were already distracting from that by the time the “No Kings” event rolled around. Life comes at you fast; even faster when you’re in a walker.
The problem with that theory is the 250th anniversary Army parade was planned and permit issued… One year ago during the previous administration.
In short, the Left saw a parade celebrating the US military as a threat to them, particularly if it had a chance of making Trump look better. Leftists are being justly blamed for the LA riots, the wheels have fallen off their political ambitions after grabbing onto far too many wrong ends of 80/20 issues, and there’s a lot of suppressed anger out there, fed by the media constantly blaming everything that goes wrong on Trump and a bunch of their fantasy ‘budget cuts for the elderly and Medicare’ blamethrowing. So create an imaginary theme, pump it up by millions of dollars funneled through the usual suspects, and P on the US servicemembers. That’s their normal MO. And they’ll do it again on Thursday for Juneteenth, and on the 4th of July.
Yes, but what were they doing? Were they innocently protesting on the sidewalk, or on the road with a permit and police blocking it off for them, or were they obstructing traffic and preventing him from going about his lawful business? If the latter, then I think he did the right thing, even if the law disagrees.
I’m not seeing any background on this story except the headline as described. I’d guess they were blocking a road and the guy got angry he couldn’t drive to his destination.
Actually, I found a story. It’s reported that the protest was in front of a WalMart parking lot and as the crowd was crossing the lot to leave blocking entrance or exit I’d imagine, the guy drove threw the crowd. No injuries. Sounds like he wanted to leave and they wouldn’t get out of the way.
“No Kings” was an NPC event.
These protests were purely narrative. Their only purpose was so the media could point to them to support the lefty assertion that the country is opposed to Trump and his deportations.
They were not spontaneous, they were not even attended by the grass-roots of the Democrat Party. Just rent-a-mobs, dancing briefly for their organ grinders.
OK, someone needs to do a cartoon with some elderly hippies dancing on an organ grinder’s leash, and the organ grinder is Soros.
Checked Branco’s page, not there yet.
Just nice to see so many people who see the Scumbag MORON for who he really is. Sometimes it’s a little depressing to see how many rubes have fallen for this conman’s racist BS.
Meds running low again? Go see your doctor for a prescription refill.
“Just nice to see so many people who see the Scumbag MORON for who he really is.”
No worries, TeeJayVaJayJay. We figured you out a long time ago.
Just nice to see so many people who see the Scumbag MORON for who he really is.
Yes.
Their president. YOUR president.
As he was before, and as he will be after these idiot protests.
Felon …sex offender…. fraud 3 time. NAH,not my President.
I have standards.
That you do… double standards.
And they’re all in DSM-5.
Demonstrations are all the same in what they “accomplish.” They seek to show numbers and boost the morale of the demonstrators. This is true regardless of the cause or the politics. I don’t agree one bit with the “No Kings” crapola, but they got a lot of people out and boosted their own morale, so I’d have to call it somewhat “successful.”
What it did not do was persuade anyone of anything, but demonstrations are almost never intended to do that, the only exception being the civil rights marches of the 1950s and earlier 1960s. Myself, I spent the afternoon taking garbage to the county dump and then stopping at the hardware store and a tavern.
Did any of the garbage find their way back to the protests?
Local press (Seattle Slimes) claimed 70,000 protestors for No Kings day, but here in my little left-leaning suburb, there were maybe 100 aging Karens and their henpecked husbands walking around with their lame little signs. I do not think the foundational pillars of the Republic were moved.
I loved one of Trump’s responses on Truth Social (I can’t find it in my search engine). It said something along the lines of “I’m glad to see the No Kings protests. I was worried for a minute that someone was trying to get rid of me and install a king. But their marches worked! I am still your president!”
oh my god. Hilaaaaaaarious. Besides being a super competent ,intelligent strong leader, he’s sooooooo funny. I bet that line made the redhat crowd spit their chewing terbacky. And that’s the women.
I really enjoyed Senator Sander’s statement in support of the “No Kings” protest, “In 1776 brave Americans took on and defeated the most powerful despot in the world.”. He does not acknowledge the irony that it was primarily the US Army that should be credited with defeating “the most powerful despot in the world”. And yet he is encouraging Americans to turn their backs on celebrating with President Trump the key institution that provided the freedom to stage this ungrateful and misinformed display of street theater. Thanks for the laugh senator.
Irony. The fat blob isn’t even eligible to join the military since he’s a felon. Pathetic.
He’s their commander in chief, you galactic-class moron.
yea – you don’t see the irony? LAFFRIOT
Look – his criminal resume would preclude him from getting hired almost anywhere, but a bunch of uninformed,gullible ,racist rubes thought he was their last best hope for keeping America white again.
I’m pretty sure that if PDJT was a king, he’d have already eliminated several judges and mouthy political opponents…and truth be told, sometimes I wish that would happen 😉