No Kings: A Reaction to America Today
PC: Unsplash
On Oct. 18, 2025, every single state in America saw a massive turnout of peaceful protesters flooding its cities; so did U.S. territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Holding signs, playing music, and chanting, millions of people from the United States, Germany, and France had taken the time out of their day to express one of the strongest and most consistent sentiments in American history: No Kings.
Four months prior to October, in June 2025, the original No Kings Day protested a fast-growing fascist tilt to Donald Trump’s administration; it opposed his anti-diversity campaigns, apparent support of political violence, elitist policies, and anti-immigrant measures. Since these issues persisted through the year, the October event addressed the same problems. Both protests were organized by the same groups, including Indivisible, Public Citizen, League of Conservation Voters, and 50501 Movement, who also coined the name “No Kings.”
No Kings is a powerful name that calls back to the American Revolution. Our foundation as a country was the American colonies separating from Britain to escape a dictatorial, unrepresentative monarch. Since 1776, America has prided itself on being the land of the free– a democratic republic of, by, and for the people. Seeing a government and a president that were quickly gathering power and backsliding on democratic values, the American people felt a duty to call ourselves back to our roots as a nation.
A turnout of a combined 11 million people is something meaningful and indicative of our political climate: the general populus is dropping party labels and uniting under a common American interest. People are starting to get more politically involved and aware, trying to use their voices for change.
No Kings seemed to be nationwide and bipartisan; Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike showed up in numbers to the protests. June 14th drew an estimated four million people, while Oct. 18th saw seven million. Easily two of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history, the No Kings days showed the spirit and desire for change of the American people. The media shows the United States to be increasingly divided day by day, but in reality, a majority of the population share similar desires for peace, equality, and access.