As Trump Throws Himself a Parade, Watch Protesters Across America Say, “No Kings”

From coast to coast, Americans marched with one message.

Broken crown on an orange background

Mother Jones illustration; Unsplash

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10:35 p.m. ET: As the day’s No Kings events come to a close, crowd tallies are rolling in. At least half a million people—by some estimates, more than 4 million—were out in the streets.

We have self-reports or news accounts from 320 of the 2,000 No Kings Day events across the US today. Up to an unofficial tally of about 575,000 people now. Extrpaolating from that, total would be around 4.5m people, or about 1.3% of the pop. Some error I'm sure. Thanks to everyone crowdsourcing!

G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) 2025-06-14T20:31:08.601Z

10:22 p.m. ET: In New York, Reveal’s Cynthia Rodriguez spoke to Mirella Camacho, the daughter of immigrant parents, who spoke about how important it was to come out on their behalf:

9:47 p.m. ET: Reporting from Washington, DC, MoJo‘s Stephanie Mencimer meets Vietnam veteran John Cunningham: “We should not have to protect America from its president.”

9:01 p.m. ET: Rallies are winding down on the West Coast, where San Francisco’s rally alone may have brought in a bigger crowd—at least in the high tens of thousands—than Trump’s Washington parade.

1/ Finally back after SF No Kings protest. Upshot: At least 50k, maybe as much as 100K, in attendance. crowd was diverse in all ways, lots of young people. Music, dancing, good vibes.

Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) 2025-06-15T00:54:44.623Z

8:34 p.m. ET: Meanwhile in Washington, DC, Mother Jones‘ Dan Friedman continues to watch Trump’s military parade trundle by. Scared yet, Greenland?

This desultory parade is making children sad and surely giving Greenland confidence they can beat us.

Dan Friedman (@dfriedman.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T23:15:51.792Z

8:11 p.m. ET: Center for Investigative Reporting CEO Monika Bauerlein is in San Leandro, California—just outside Oakland, where we also covered large protests earlier today—speaking to veterans, families, young people, and other locals.

Retired Army officer Gerard came to the San Leandro protest with an Army flag, for his service, and a US flag, for his rule as an officer of the court. "I swore two oath to defend the Constitution, and I take that seriously."

Monika Bauerlein (@monikab.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T23:25:31.601Z

Lilly Johnson, 20, had a lot to say at her first ever protest. (The back of her sign read "Jesus Saves." Her parents used to worry that it might not be safe for her to protest, but the San Leandro, CA march felt "super energizing" and peaceful.

Monika Bauerlein (@monikab.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T23:57:52.817Z

7:42 p.m. ET: Speaking to MoJo‘s James West, New Yorkers take on our relentless, fascist creep. Hear from protesters like 23-year-old Alexis Lazo in Manhattan:

7:31 p.m. ET: Crowds in the Bay Area agricultural center of Watsonville, California, where ICE agents have been trying to round up farmworkers—and where marchers against Trump are dancing in the streets.

Watsonville, CA, showing up for #NoKings! Watsonville is one of California’s central communities of farm workers and immigrants, and has recently experienced ICE agents out in the streets and fields.These young women are dancing while holding pictures of their immigrant loved ones.

sam (@samveep.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T23:28:52.394Z

7:26 p.m. ET: Turnout in Boston’s rallies—which converged with huge Pride marches—may have surpassed 1 million people, according to local station WCVB.

1m people allegedly in boston today. the scale of this is just crazy. i think record-breaking www.wcvb.com/article/more…

G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) 2025-06-14T22:19:59.159Z

7:00 p.m. ET: Looming thunderstorms—zero symbolism there—have dampened what could have been a turnout on par with Trump’s first inauguration. Sad!

There’s a real consistent lack of imagination with this parade. If you’re gonna drag a howitzer, fire it at the French Embassy or something. Maybe a near miss to mess with them.

Dan Friedman (@dfriedman.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T22:55:41.255Z

6:53 p.m. ET: Donald Trump’s military birthday parade is getting underway in Washington, DC. Mother Jones senior reporter Dan Friedman is on the scene.

6:49 p.m. ET: More from James West in New York City, as protesters keep marching through Manhattan’s streets amid rainy weather:

Some final NYC #NoKings photos for you from the protest today. Including one very beleaguered wet dog.

James West (@jamespwest.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T22:35:44.281Z

6:45 p.m. ET: MoJo editorial director Ian Gordon is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where—as troops line the streets of Washington for Donald Trump’s military parade—an Air Force veteran is standing in opposition.

Danielle, an Air Force veteran, has been at protests in Portsmouth, N.H., all day—and is currently downtown with this sign to protest Trump’s parade. “I don’t think the military should be used for that,” she told me.

Ian Gordon (@idgordon.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T22:42:42.641Z

6:23 p.m. ET: Read Mother Jones executive editor James West’s dispatch from New York City, where thousands of protesters have jammed the streets around Manhattan’s Bryant Park in a massive march spilling down Fifth Avenue.

Kaylyn Gibilterra, a 35-year-old tech worker, used the protest to showcase her insights and fears of Silicon Valley monopolies in the form of four 3D-printed handheld cut-out heads of tech bosses—Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and, inevitably, Elon Musk. “It feels very much like we’ve gone back to like a feudalist state regime,” she told me. “My goal is to hold them more accountable.”

6:11 p.m. ET: Back with MoJo‘s Madison Pauly, interviewing marchers gathered in Oakland:

Here’s David Gifford, 75,Air Force veteran. He’s here “primarily for the threat to the Constitution,” he tells me. “I took an oath to protect it and I never undid that oath.” Of Trump, he scoffs: “He’s a draft dodger.”

Madison Pauly (@msjpauly.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T22:07:00.536Z

5:45 p.m. ET: Executive editor James West reports from New York City, where a massive group of marchers has gathered despite the rain.

Alexis Lazo, 23-year-old musical theater student was taking in his first protest. He used to be a self-described “centrist,” but as a child of immigrants, he felt like he could no longer stand on the sidelines. “I can’t just stand by anymore and just kind of like be ignorant."

James West (@jamespwest.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T21:37:40.096Z

Kaylyn Gibilterra, a 35-year-old made 3D-printed handheld cut-out heads of tech bosses—Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, and Gates. “It feels very much like we’ve gone back to like a Feudalist state regime,” she told me. “My goal is to hold them more accountable.”

James West (@jamespwest.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T21:37:40.097Z

5:39 p.m. ET: Mother Jones reporter Madison Pauly is reporting from Oakland, California, where protests are continuing downtown.

“Our values of justice and love are being assaulted,” says Rev. Kevin Alan Mann, of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Queer and trans folks have been coming into the congregation lately, seeking comfort. “People are needing to know there’s still a safe space in this world.”

Madison Pauly (@msjpauly.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T21:25:29.200Z

5:18 p.m. ET: More from Center for Investigative Reporting CEO Monika Bauerlein, on the ground in Alameda, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Ralph Gonzales (with his wife Pat), an Army and Air Force vet, is concerned about what's happening to vets, and about the Marine deployment in LA. "That's not the mission. It really hurts." But he and his wife Pat were glad to see "all the support for basic rights out here."

Monika Bauerlein (@monikab.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T21:11:45.164Z

Emmeline, of Alameda, came out with the Philippine and US flags to stand up for her husband, who is undocumented. "He's been here since he was 6 months old, but now he has to live in fear."

Monika Bauerlein (@monikab.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T21:02:40.798Z

5:12 p.m. ET: Large crowds have gathered in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, mainly outside the Capitol, despite the killing earlier today—in what appeared to be a targeted political assassination—of Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and an attempt on the life of Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife by a shooter who remains at large.

Despite warnings from the law enforcement not to attend today’s No Kings rally after this mornings shooting of Minnesota lawmakers with the killer on the lose, the No Kings Rally is happening at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.

daviss (@chaddavis.photography) 2025-06-14T18:23:49.976Z

The No Kings protest was attended by 1000s of Minnesotans who gathered to pay their respects to MNCongresswoman Melissa Hortman and to push back against Tronald Dump.

Jerry Kosak (@jerrykosak.com) 2025-06-14T21:02:42.916Z

5:02 p.m. ET: Massive crowds are still on the streets in Chicago—where ICE symbolically kicked off its deportation campaign shortly after Trump’s inauguration—and other cities in the area.

Tens of thousands of people march through the Loop Saturday as part of the nationwide No Kings protest. Half a dozen other marches are taking place in Chicago suburbs.

Erika Slife (@eslife.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T19:41:08.201Z

Chicagoans chant, “Trump you’re a fucking clown! Immigrants will take you down!”

Puff the Magic Hater (@mskellymhayes.bsky.social) 2025-06-12T22:46:01.875Z

4:19 p.m. ET: MoJo’s Ari Berman, in the Hudson Valley, is reporting live from a 5,000-strong protest in Kingston, New York—a city of some 24,000 people.

Massive #NoKings protest in Kingston, NY, home of swing 18th congressional district. Sheriff said 5,000 attended! City has 24k people totalVideo by @thomasbrodin.bsky.social

Ari Berman (@ariberman.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T20:12:33.750Z

Perfectly sums up Trump’s second term

Ari Berman (@ariberman.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T19:18:46.618Z

4:15 p.m. ET: In California, Mother Jones leadership is reporting on the protests. Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery reports a huge turnout in San Francisco.

At City Hall now, another mile worth of protestors piling in. I’d say easily 40k out, might be double

Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T20:39:44.117Z

While Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein is reporting from Alameda, California.

Big turnout in little Alameda, CA including guy with TACO hat.

Monika Bauerlein (@monikab.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T19:56:31.031Z

4:05 p.m. ET: Organizers of Saturday’s “No Kings” protests had designated Philadelphia as the base for organizing the national day of demonstrations, and reportedly tens of thousands of people showed up.

2:44 p.m. ET: The latest from our reporters Julia Métraux and Artis Curiskis on the rally in New York’s Nassau County, where locals are defying not just Trump but county officials’ sweeping ban on masks. “If ICE is going to wear a mask in their uniform,” one protester said, “then I can.”

In this county, even wearing a mask can mean standing up against local government: in August, Nassau County lawmakers passed a bill banning the public wearing masks, making it the first individual county in the country—North Carolina previously passed a statewide mask ban—to do so after the start of the Covid pandemic.

Read the full story here.

2:15 p.m. ET: People in Lincoln, Nebraska, a state that Trump decisively won in 2024, came out to protest today.

1:43 p.m. ET: We’re back with Artis Curiskis in Nassau County, Long Island, interviewing social worker Kathy Brammer on the county’s mask ban—“a cornerstone to the care and well-being of so many people…coming under attack.”

Kathy Brammer, a social worker, speaks about the importance of her wearing a mask at #NoKings in a county, NY's Nassau County, with a mask ban.Video and interview by @artiscuriskis.bsky.social for @motherjones.com

Julia Métraux (@juliametraux.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T17:52:55.281Z

1:34 p.m. ET: From Tokyo to Barcelona, Dublin to Berlin, protesters in cities across the world are joining in:

Hello from Munich at the Embassy, where State Sec. of Arizona, Adrian Fontes, held a beautiful speech about red flags and why it's so important to defend what was achieved.

Viola (@wanze.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T17:23:14.161Z

1:12 p.m. ET: Meanwhile, in California, our colleague Sam Van Pykeren is checking in with an important perspective.

Don’t forget the small towns too! Boulder Creek, CA showing up for #NoKings today.These mountain folk don’t want any dictators or kings!

sam (@samveep.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T16:53:56.299Z

12:31 p.m. ET: Back to Stephanie in Utah, where residents of a Salt Lake City assisted living center are hitting the streets: “Good trouble is ageless,” as one of their signs reads.

Seniors in Salt Lake City heading out for a #nokingsprotest in front of their assisted living facility.

Stephanie Mencimer (@smencimer.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T16:31:12.861Z

12:15 p.m. ET: Our reporter Artis Curiskis braved the rain and headed out to Long Island.

No Kings crowd gathering in front of Nassau County Court House in Mineola, NY.

Artis Curiskis (@artiscuriskis.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T15:20:42.202Z

12:12 p.m. ET: A big crowd gathered in Atlanta.

And from deep red Utah, our reporter Stephanie Mencimer shares this.

11:15 a.m. ET: Meanwhile, early morning in Los Angeles, where the Trump administration has deployed the Marines.

10:56 a.m. ET: The protests aren’t just in the United States. Some scenes from abroad—here’s what is happening in Guam:

In Germany:

June 14, 10:11 a.m. ET: Some advice for protesters.

June 13, 1:30 p.m. ET: Dozens of current and former national politicians have taken to X (whose boss still can’t get back in Trump’s graces) to promote Saturday’s nationwide protests.

Others include former Labor Secretary Robert Reich:

June 13, 7:30 a.m. ET: Asked whether Trump would allow protests around his planned military parade to go forward, White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt—calling the inquiry “stupid”—said:

“He supports the First Amendment. He supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard. He does not support violence of any kind. He does not support assaulting law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their job.”

Trump, a notable instigator and excuser of assaults on law enforcement officers who were just trying to do their job, pardoned masses of January 6 insurrectionists just after his return to office—a slap in the face of multiple Capitol Police officers “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor,” in the words of former Washington, DC, officer Michael Fanone.

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the United States Army. In 1916 on that same date, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the day Flag Day, which Congress made an official holiday in 1949. On June 14, 1946, Fred and Mary Anne Trump welcomed the birth of their second son Donald at Jamaica Medical Center in New York. And, on June 14, 2025, President Donald Trump has planned an extravagant and hugely expensive military parade down Constitution Ave. in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Army, and coincidentally, his 79th.

But also, on June 14, 2025, approximately 2,000 demonstrations in all 50 states—and some other countries—organized under the theme of “No Kings,” have been organized to protest Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The protests were planned for months, but have gained further urgency over the last week, as the administration deployed the military to Los Angeles to quash generally peaceful protests against aggressive ICE immigration raids.

We will spend the day covering these protests as well as the parade this evening. As our Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery noted:

The "No Kings" organizers say that there are more than 1,800 protests planed for tomorrow.: www.nokings.orgWe'll have journalists at several of them, but you can tag @motherjones.com with your clips and tips.

Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) 2025-06-13T15:42:02.438Z

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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