Nation prepares for weekend “No Kings” protests

Millions of demonstrators nationwide are expected to protest President Donald Trump and his administration on Saturday during a planned “No Kings” day. The website of No Kings, a coordinating group, showed a map with hundreds of markers across the country representing individual planned demonstrations. The group held a previous No Kings rally on June 14, Trump’s birthday, claiming his administration was wrongfully deporting Americans, violating due process, and attacking basic civil rights.

The group claims the Trump administration has doubled down on authoritarianism by sending masked agents into the streets to terrorize communities and illegally detain people. The No Kings demonstrations intend to help unite citizens against dictatorship, according to the group’s website. All No Kings events are nonviolent, and participants are expected to de-escalate any possible confrontation with those who disagree with the peaceful demonstration, the group says. Weapons of any kind are not welcome at any No Kings event, say coordinators.

What are people saying?

• Trump acknowledged the planned protests in an interview clip released Friday. “They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he said.

• House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday that no one would stand in the way of protesters exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest. Johnson previously described the protests as anti-American rallies mounted by Hamas supporters and antifa members.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pushed back on Johnson’s comments, insisting last week that No Kings is not a rally for hating America, but one for people who believe in American freedoms they don’t want to lose under Trump.

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., released a Thursday statement encouraging people not to be frightened into silence by the Trump administration. Don’t be afraid to exercise the right to free speech and proudly stand up for democracy, he wrote.

• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged people to participate in the protests as a way to push back on Trump’s power grabs. America doesn’t do monarchs, she wrote.