No Kings: Millions Across U.S. Protest Trump’s Power Grab, Overshadowing His Military Parade

No Kings: Millions Across U.S. Protest Trump’s Power Grab, Overshadowing His Military Parade

this is democracyow democracynow.org i’m Amy Goodman at least five million people join new king no kings day protest Saturday in the largest day of action against President Trump since his return to office protests were held more than 2100 cities and towns across the country in Los Angeles 200,000 people marched just days after Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to the city protesters in LA included former Marine Melvin Hill i’m out here because I was willing to die for the things we have in our constitution and right now I think our constitutional rights are being violated stepped on trampled on and disregarded by our president commanderin-chief which would be Donald Trump i mean everything looks unlawful to me at this point in America in Philadelphia over a 100,000 people took to the streets democratic Congress member Jamie Rascin of Maryland addressed the crowd yes Donald the declaration in the Constitution were written by people who wanted to stop criminal bosses like you from taking state power major No Kings Day protests were also held here in New York in San Diego Chicago Seattle and other communities large and small in Lions Colorado a town of just 2100 in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain National Park hundreds join the protest this is Larry Quinn an Army veteran and longtime Lions resident i’m Larry Quinn and I’m in Lions Colorado population 2100 and I’m here because my dad drove trains across France to defeat the Nazis and then I third honorably also in the army and I’m disgusted about the fascist regime we have the size of the No Kings Day protest dwarf the turnout for a military parade Saturday in Washington DC held on President Trump’s 79th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the US Army the parade reportedly cost as much as $100 million democracy Now spoke to some of the protesters in the nation’s capital my name is Brett Hines i live here in Washington DC and I’m here because I think that this is a waste of resources when we have hungry children and when we have people going to sleep without a roof over their heads and what does your sign say sign says they got money for wars but they can’t feed the poor it’s a good line from Tupac i’m Amy my sign says uh no kings um I think that’s the side yeah um the other side says the emperor has no clothes from the children’s um fairy tale or fable um I uh I I’m here because the president said that any protest would be met with hard force i wasn’t planning on coming but that’s unamerican anti-constitutional and so I had to come i was called to come i also think this is an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars as someone who got doed and lost my livelihood and my life’s work to have him turn around and spend $50 million on this I think that’s outrageous what type of work were you doing um bringing clean water to poor people and what’s happened to that program as far as you know it’s gone my name is Aubrey Low i was a captain in the army for eight years uh so I’m a veteran i deployed to Afghanistan once i’m from El Paso Texas originally um I was a little nervous coming out today because I heard that um peaceful protest might be met with a big force in somebody’s words and so um I let my folks know where I was going i let friends know and um I’m I’m glad that I’ve been able to be here without being heavily harassed so um that gave me some hope army Captain Aubrey Low among those protesting Trump’s parade in Washington speaking to Democracy Now’s Dennis Moahan for much of Saturday News Network showed split screens of Trump’s poorly attended military parade alongside footage of the massive No Kings protests um here in New York organizers say as many as 200,000 people gathered at Bryant Park before moving down Fifth Avenue to Madison Square Park democracy Now is there this is what democracy looks like this is what democracy looks like hi my name is Jan Sadler um he him and I am a father i’m a guidance counselor um I’m a community member and world citizen and I’m here now because uh I want to make sure that we preserve our democracy i want to make sure that all people in this country are safe regardless of if they’re an immigrant regardless of if they are straight or if they’re gay or whatever they are like everyone deserves to be free and safe um can you say what your sweatshirt says yes it says woke not the insult that you think it is and who are you and how old are you my name is Rue i’m 15 years old and I use any pronouns i’m here because I’ve seen firsthand how much destruction Trump’s impact has caused on especially queer and trans youth i’ve been in and out of a lot of places like that and I’ve seen like how hard people have taken it it’s really hard to be a child in a society where you feel like people don’t want you to exist so I’m out here for people who can’t be out here i’m very lucky to have a supportive father but I know not everyone does so I’m out here to give a voice to the people who don’t have one and to show that we’re still here we’re still out here we’re still going to be fighting and the fact that there are thousands and thousands of people out here today what difference does that make to you it honestly makes me so happy after the election I was really worried because I felt like the adults had kind of failed me since I couldn’t vote i was really like you guys had all of the power you guys could have stopped this but people didn’t and I was so worried i didn’t even leave my house for a couple of weeks but now it’s just great that there’s so many people here and that I’m not alone you know can you describe your flag to our radio audience in addition to our TV audience and hold it up so this is the um inclusive pride flag it has the regular rainbow stripes as well as black and brown for people of color in the queer community also has the trans colors and the interex flag to support those people as well it’s pride month what do you have to say to President Trump on his 79th birthday today we’re not scared of you and I hope you have an awful birthday i am Dr william D carter III i am the senior pastor at the Franklin St john’s United Methodist Church which is in Newark New Jersey and I came because I do not believe people’s rights should be taken away no matter their immigration status no matter their orientation people should have rights and there should not be a king we elected a president not a king so that’s why I’m here today for this cause what does the sign say that you’re holding it says prejudice cowardice accomplice and describe the flag to me yes um this is an American flag even even as a Christian I believe in the right of all people no matter their religious perspective or even if they don’t have a religious perspective they ought to have rights and that is the United States of America united we are united as one your thoughts on your mayor the mayor of Newark Raj Baraka being arrested as he attempted to what he said was do his duty uh to uh enforce oversight of an ICE jail with three Congress members yeah um I love Mayor Ross Baraka i think that he is doing a a exceptional job and I think him being arrested um demonstrates his passion for the cause and and just making sure that all people have rights my name is George i’m 15 years old and I’m out here because I’m scared of the future tell me about the flags you’re carrying um I mean I’m carrying the American flag and the trans flag um because I think those two represent me um and because I think it’s important to carry the flags that um that I feel proud of it’s raining you think it’s worth it to be out here 100% i would be out here in a storm i would be out here if it was pouring um I’m just happy it’s raining on Trump’s parade my name’s Lucy i’m 16 and I’m out here because I want a future i um I am carrying a sign that says no kings because I believe that in America we are a democracy we do not have kings this is not right and it needs to stop my name’s Bonjouro i’m carrying an American flag um um I’m here because I am in complete disgust by the injustice of Trump especially towards immigrants and towards people’s like rights and I think that we should protest that every single day that he is still in office how old are you i’m 15 how old are you what’s your name and tell me about your sign i’m also 15 my name is Astred Lemons and my sign says “Defend the Constitution not the crown.” Because I believe what we should be doing is fighting for democracy and fighting for the future of us the students the young people who are going to live in our future and we want this future to be a place where everybody can say what they want and nobody’s attacked for that my name is Georgia Revly i am 15 years old um I’m here to protest um Trump the Trump uh administration’s treatment of um not only immigrants but also women and students and um basically almost everyone in the country and um I think it’s really important that we have so many people here and all over the country and all over the world um to show the Trump administration that we’re not going to let this slide and that we as people can protest and that um we can do it in a way where we can get our point heard and I think it’s important that young people are out here too um we’re with um We the Students New York uh which gathers a bunch of students from all over New York City and does protest we’ve done one before um a walk out in Washington Square Park um yeah and can you describe your double necklace to me um I’m Jewish so uh yeah I just like it’s a Jewish star so I think it’s important to you know people of all religions and all ethnicities should all be out here um protesting the treatment of immigrants here protesting the treatment of Palestinians in um Gaza um I just think it’s really important that we all be out here getting our word across my name is Caroline Gilman i’m 15 years old and I’m holding a sign that says abort the democ abort the presidency in the second term and I’m I’m here to fight for my future and all my friends futures and the future generations of all the kids that are younger than us and every generation that came before us and fought for what we’re fighting for now trouble fight immigrant rights are workers right my name is Kimberly i’m 27 i’m here because it’s important to show up for these kind of things show up for community community is so important and anything I can do like you guys we should all just do you know and tell me about your flag oh this is Ecuador Ecuadorian flag my parents are both Ecuadorian i’m very proud to be Ecuadorian um if you know so I I’m here for the Latino community for everybody who’s like going through some right now cuz it’s the country is in a crazy state right now my name is Glen Kav and I’m the founder of Spirit uh we are uh in working in support of the end super PACs campaign as we know the billionaires fund the elections right like what this image is implicitly saying is that if you have $200 million you could just buy it you and I maximum contributions we can give is $5,400 it’s insane that corporations can give whatever they want and so there was a ballot initiative in Maine last November that made super PACs illegal 73% of mayors voted for it and so their goal is to get it to the Supreme Court what we do is we use augmented reality art and education to help people envision a world without the billionaires at the center right so like we’re in New York everyone knows that public housing or housing in general is way too expensive so what we’re doing is number one we’re showing a dystopic image as far as where things are going we have a protopic image of like let’s say Rebney and the and the real estate lobbies out the way this could be the future of public housing right here community gardens vertical farms solar panels up top and what about this picture in the middle so this is this is Elon i honestly don’t think they’re beefing um because they didn’t I don’t think that Elon and Trump broke up because they still have those the SpaceX contracts like show me the money um but basically yeah the man has $200 million uh made $200 billion over the election highest ROI ever um and he’s pretty much running the show with a crown on his head yeah pretty much so our goal is to do public teachings and demonstrations with this art help people imagine a world without a billionaire without the billionaires have people sign our petition and then once we get the process templatized we want to give other people materials to go to their neighborhoods and do the same some of the protesters here in New York City were an estimated 200,000 people marched as part of the more than 2100 nationwide No Kings Day protests that took place over the weekend estimates of upwards of 5 million people protested across the country the single largest day of protest of President Trump’s second term special thanks to La Bastios thanks for

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More than 5 million people joined No Kings Day protests Saturday in the largest day of action against President Trump since his return to office. Protests were held in over 2,100 cities and towns across the country. The protests coincided with a poorly attended, multimillion-dollar military parade on President Trump’s birthday, June 14. Democracy Now! spoke with anti-Trump protesters at the Washington, D.C., military parade and at New York City’s No Kings protest.

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