‘No Kings’ organizers project a massive turnout for this weekend’s protests

Organizers of the “No Kings” protests are projecting that millions of Americans will demonstrate against the policies of the Trump administration on Saturday, amid ongoing ICE arrests and the deployment of National Guard troops to several Democratic-run cities around the country.

“The purpose here is to stand in solidarity, to organize, to defend our democracy and protect each other and our communities, and just say enough is enough,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that is one of the protest organizers.

“We’ve been watching the Trump administration’s abuses of power, and millions took to the streets in June,” she said.

Some Republicans have decried the protests as anti-American. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a “hate America rally.”

This summer, droves of demonstrators protested on the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with President Trump’s birthday. In celebration of the date, Trump insisted on a massive military parade that critics said was meant to honor Trump as much as the armed service.

Now, protesters say they are speaking out on what they say are injustices perpetrated against suspected undocumented immigrants, as well as a failing health care system, efforts to tilt elections, and other grievances.

The organizers said on the No Kings website: “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.”

White House responds: “Who cares?”

When asked about the planned protests and accusations that Trump was behaving like a monarch, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson replied, “Who cares?” She had no further comment.

In June, organizers estimated that 5 million people participated in a day of No Kings protests around the country in more than 2,000 events.

They are projecting an even bigger turnout this weekend.

Harvard sociologist and Assistant Professor of Public Policy Liz McKenna said that in the past, movements of this scale have succeeded in influencing social change, but that their efficacy has dropped significantly since the turn of the century.

“We are not even a year into the Trump administration, and so I think the strategy on the part of the organizers is to show that ‘we’re not backing down,'” McKenna said.

But, she added: “We’ve seen more people take to the streets, not just in the United States but around the world, by the millions, and in many, if not most of those cases, the protests have not achieved their stated aims and in some cases actually even backfired.”

McKenna cited recent large-scale protests like Black Lives Matter and the Women’s March of Trump’s first term, which were highly visible but did not necessarily result in lasting change.