Millions of people gathered across the globe to participate in peaceful yet passionate demonstrations against the U.S. President Donald Trump last month in response to the unprecedented past 8 months of Trump’s presidency.
At least 200,000 demonstrators flooded downtown Washington DC, where President Trump has had the National Guard deployed since August. Public figures like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill Nye and journalist Mehdi Hasan gave rallying speeches to the crowd.
In New York City, over 100,000 people filled Times Square, and there was even a small protest in Prague’s Jan Palach Square, led by American expats.
The protests centered around mass furloughs of federal employees amidst the ongoing U.S. government shutdown and lay-offs of federal employees enforced by the Department of Government Efficiency.
It’s estimated that at least 300,000 employees have lost their jobs, according to The New York Times. The most concerning impacts the shutdown will have for AAU students will be for employees stationed outside of the US, who are now stuck overseas with no income, causing visa issues for international students and flight delays worldwide.
The official No Kings website provides key reasons for the demonstrations: “[Trump’s] administration is…profiling, arresting, and detaining people without warrants…Threatening to overtake elections…Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education.” America Has No Kings isn’t a recently written slogan, but “the foundation our nation was built upon,” says the NK site.
President Trump posted an AI image of himself in February, wearing a crown on Truth Social including a caption that said “Long Live the King”, culminating in a nationwide United States ‘No Kings Day’ that coincided on Trump’s birthday, June 14th.
Demonstrators across the world are gaining further traction on the internet for the creative signs brought to events, addressing not only President Trump, but other conservative politicians like Pete Hegseth and powerful billionaires like Elon Musk. Protesters in Jan Palach Square even went as far as painting posters by hand, including one of the Statue of Liberty using a slingshot on President Trump.
President Trump said in an interview aired on October 19 with Fox News: “You know – they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.” However, the previous night he posted an AI deepfake video of himself wearing a crown, flying a ‘King Trump’ jet and dumping what appears to be feces over protesters.
