“No Kings” Protests Draw Millions

June 16th, 2025

Arnav Goyal

On June 14, 2025, millions of people partook in protests against Donald Trump’s administration, labelled “No Kings.” There were major protests in every state, and in every major city across the United States, due to controversial actions by President Donald Trump, which led to widespread resentment against his policies, and approval ratings that have been declining due to such policies. These protests are one of the largest in American history, and the largest anti-Trump protest since he took office.

For context, the Trump administration has enacted many controversial policies that drew the ire of many, such as:

Conducting ICE raids to fulfill his promise for mass deportations of migrants, leading to major protests in Los Angeles and other cities such as Houston and Chicago
Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles due to anti-ICE protests turned riots, a sign of the increasing militarization on immigration enforcement, which has proved highly controversial as some claim that the National Guard only inflamed tensions in LA
His broad usage of the unitary executive theory, including the abolishment of the Department of Education, sweeping Liberation Day tariffs that have contributed to trade wars, but also talks among countries with such tariffs, and terminating DEI programs
DOGE workforce cuts spurred by ambitions to cut funding in the federal government, which have angered many, who claim that these workforce cuts are arbitrary and don’t achieve much of a purpose

Moreover, these protests coincided with a military parade that happened on the same day, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Army, however, some believe that there are ulterior motives for it, as it also happened to be Trump’s birthday on that say. This coincides with the whole “No Kings” belief, as many believe that Trump held this military parade not to commemorate the Army, however, to hold a large birthday party for himself, and some officials have privately called it the “Trump Birthday Parade.”

These protesters came out in droves, with estimates ranging in the millions across all major cities (5 million, according to organizers,) and they marched and chanted against Trump’s agenda. They also decried the military parade that was going on, with their website saying it’s purely to show dominance, and advocating that the power resides across all Americans, not just a select few “kings.” These protests remained largely peaceful, and many elected officials, such as Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, came to these rallies and advocated for the protesters and their causes.

While the protests remained largely peaceful, with governors urging calm due to the incidents in Los Angeles, there were still some major confrontations and threats that led to some protests being outright cancelled and some places being evacuated, going to show an unhealthy rise in political violence across the United States.

In Minnesota, after 2 lawmakers were shot and killed in their homes, the State Patrol urged people not to come to these protests, after finding out the suspect had papers with “No Kings” written on them, and had a manifesto where he threatened to kill people at No Kings protests
In Texas, state lawmakers who supported the protests had to evacuate the State Capitol after threats against them materialized because they were going to attend the protest on Capitol grounds
In Virginia, a man drove right through people participating in a regional “No Kings” protest. No one was injured, however.

Overall, these protests show how people can check the power of the government. People have a constitutional right to protest under the 1st Amendment, and many Americans exercised such a right to protest, which is how a democracy functions. Many of them decried a rising oligarchy within government (such as Elon Musk,) and a rise in policy that is deemed as not helping people, rather helping Trump and his friends. Despite that, President Trump said during a press conference, “I don’t feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get things approved.” Yet, one thing is clear: there is clear resistance against Donald Trump’s agenda, and many people are not happy with such an agenda.