How do progressive activists plan to maintain momentum after the “No Kings” protests?
‘No Kings’ protests: Local USA TODAY Network
From Tallahassee to Akron, USA TODAY Network participated in “No Kings” protests across the country.
In Cave Creek, Arizona, progressive activists held a happy hour and food drive days after the “No Kings” rally. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, activists sponsored a Halloween-themed protest near a local lawmaker’s office. in Lexington, Kentucky, Residents hosted an “Introduction to Grassroots Organization” course.
On October 18, millions of Americans poured into the streets to protest President Donald Trump’s policies, holding more than 2,700 “No King” rallies. But even if the turnout turned out to be a record, organizers agreed that a one-day event would not be enough to bring about dramatic political change.
What is needed, they say, is quiet groundwork, a steady pulse of activity in between protests in places like Arizona, Tennessee and Kentucky, and consistently high levels of public participation across the country.
“Rather than being trite, what we need to save our democracy is a level of activation and understanding that goes far beyond what we’ve seen in the past,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-director of the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. “This civic moment is unique, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
Critics derided the mid-October rally as pointless, downplayed the number of participants and said participants hated America.
“Who cares?” said the White House press secretary when USA TODAY asked for comment on the protests.
Activists say their job now is to keep people caring and involved.
A third wave of the “No Kings” protests is already underway, Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, which helped organize the rally, told CBS News on October 21. But more important than the crowds making headlines in major cities is building a network of activists engaged in community and civic life, Levin told USA TODAY.
“We need people to think of themselves as active participants in democracy,” he says. “My belief is that if people remain simply atomized individuals under the threat of this regime, we will lose. And the only hope we have is that people will find community and start organizing with each other.”
Protests sparked millions across the country
Public engagement expert Jeremy Pressman, a professor at the University of Connecticut, said it was surprising that millions of people have participated in three separate large-scale protests in multiple cities since the beginning of President Trump’s second term.
“It’s been pretty intense in terms of large-scale protests,” he said.
Mr. Pressman said that in recent years, public activities have played a major role in national politics. In 2010, two years into President Barack Obama’s first term, the Tea Party movement gave conservative Republicans control of the House of Representatives. Millions of people participated in the Women’s March, which took place the weekend before President Trump’s first inauguration in 2017. That same year, months of protests at congressmen’s district offices led to the Republican congressman’s incredible retirement and loss of re-election. And Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020 influenced that fall’s presidential election.
His research shows that the baseline for consistent activity in 2025 is higher than in 2017.
“This suggests that those bases of the anti-Trump movement are a little bit stronger and a little bit deeper than they were[when]they started eight years ago,” Pressman said. “It looks like the ball is rolling and there’s a little bit more momentum. That baseline is there and this big day is really bringing it out and taking it to new heights.”
Organizers’ early estimates, which are expected to change in the coming weeks, found that about 7 million people took part in 2,700 October 18 protests in large and small cities across the country. If this prediction is correct, this day of action will be one of the largest demonstrations in recent U.S. history.
The Crowd Counting Consortium, of which Pressman is a member, is expected to release independent crowd estimates in the coming weeks. The consortium estimates that the first “No Kings” protests in June drew around 5 million participants.
Small protests were intentional
This year’s protests are different from those during the Trump administration’s first term. Rather than holding large-scale protests in a few large cities, organizers aim to create many smaller protests in as many communities as possible.
Organizers hope to draw a wide range of people who are willing and able to mobilize, Gilbert said.
“Part of the goal here is to arm people with what they need to continue fighting back in the face of challenges to all of our rights,” she said. “It’s going to take large parts of the population, different pillars of society, people from different types of constituencies. We’re going to need everyone from teachers and veterans to retired judges and lawyers and small business owners to stand up together and say the same thing.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean people need to take up positions on street corners every week, waving signs, she says. Instead, she hopes people who have never thought of themselves as activists will start contacting their members of Congress or posting on social media about their concerns.
Gilbert and other leaders said these efforts don’t garner national media attention, but they do build a web of community-engaged people concerned about what the Trump administration is doing.
“No Kings is not the end of the protests. In fact, the opposite is true,” said Hunter Dunn, a spokesperson for the political and social anti-Trump group 50501. “It’s about education. It’s about recruitment. It’s about bringing people together, bringing communities together, and allowing those connections to last into the next day, weeks, months, and years.”
Billie Murray, an expert on civic engagement and protest rhetoric and an associate professor at Villanova University, said that while days with large crowds on the streets can bring people in local communities together, the steady drumbeat of local activism is just as important.
“(Having) a stable kind of message that says, ‘There’s resistance, there’s solidarity, there’s backlash,’ is certainly important,” she says. “These people are showing that they are not indifferent, that they are not defeated and that they care about the people in their community.”
Continuing national efforts
Nearly 40,000 people participated virtually at the Oct. 21 “No Kings” follow-up meeting, and organizers said they had created an infrastructure to more easily engage people through regular calls to action.
This week, a group newly named the No Kings Alliance is urging Americans to call their senators to restore health care cuts from President Trump’s summer budget proposal. Congressional Democrats are refusing to allow the federal government, currently closed for three weeks, to reopen until cuts are restored.
The alliance also wants people to share their health care stories and personal experiences with the “No Kings” rallies on social media and at local events.
Political consultant Ziggy Geronimo said on a conference call that the movement needs to grow to succeed. Geronimo, who runs a progressive consulting firm, urged activists to spread the word about how people are pushing back against Trump by sharing articles, photos and videos.
“If we want people to join our movement, they need to see other people taking action,” she says. “They need to feel like everyone is doing this. Their social feeds need to be filled with content that showcases the resistance. Then they’ll look at their feeds and say, ‘Hold on, there’s this massive movement against fascism happening, I better be a part of it. Everyone I know is doing it.'”
Criticism from the right
Elected Republicans have largely denied the rally’s influence.
“I think it’s a joke. I looked at the people, and they don’t represent this country,” Trump told reporters over the weekend.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, on his Real America’s Voice show “War Room,” called progressive activists “desperate” aligned with the MAGA movement and mocked the elderly nature of many of the protesters.
“It was a release from a nursing home. It was like a walker. These guys don’t pack any punches. So who cares if they’re on the street?” Bannon said. “Let’s go to town next weekend. Wake up every weekend, get some exercise, put on your walking shoes, do all the drugs on MSNBC…it’s all crap. Who cares?”
But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned Republicans not to ignore the power of public opposition.
“There’s no question that we should take the political danger seriously,” Cruz told Bloomberg TV on Oct. 20, adding, “There’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of anger on the left. And when either side is mobilized and angry, elections can be dangerous.”
He said that while some voters who are happy with President Trump and what’s going on may skip the 2026 election, “voters who are angry and have a lot of energy will come to the polls.”
3.5% is not a “magic number” but it is still a goal for activists
Through all the protests, street corner flag waving, voter registration drives and postcard parties, organizers say they are trying to reach out to a special number of civically active Americans.
One theory of nonviolent civil resistance states that if 3.5% of a country’s population actively participates in peaceful protests against a government, that government is more likely to be removed from power.
“It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it’s a very strong trend,” Pressman said.
In addition to actively participating in boycotts and strikes to influence political and business behavior, Pressman said activation can also mean campaigning and dialogue with local and national officials.
Levin warned that even if protests reached 3.5% in a single day, it would not be the end.
“It’s not like a magic number. You hit it and you’re like, ‘Okay, we won the game. Everybody go home. We declared victory,'” he said.
Instead, people should be prepared to commit for the long term, Levin said.
“The era of no kings has arrived, and that era is defined by widespread popular rebellion,” he said.
USA TODAY national correspondent Sarah D. Wire can be reached at swire@usatoday.com.
