With signs such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” in many places the events looked more like a street party.
There were marching bands, a huge banner with the US Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters in frog costumes, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.
This is the third mass mobilisation since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organisers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.
Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate ($A1.5 million) MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.
Protests were expected nearby.
Nationwide demonstrations
In San Francisco hundreds of people spelled out “No King!” and other phrases with their bodies on Ocean Beach. Hayley Wingard, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she too had never been to a protest before.
Only recently she began to view Trump as a “dictator.”
“I was actually OK with everything until I found that the military invasion in Los Angeles and Chicago and Portland – Portland bothered me the most, because I’m from Portland, and I don’t want the military in my cities. That’s scary,” Wingard said.
Salt Lake City demonstrators gathered outside the Utah State Capitol to share messages of hope and healing after a protester was fatally shot during the city’s first “No Kings” march in June.
And more than 1500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.
“It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognise,” said Jessica Yother, a mother of four.
She and other protesters said they felt camaraderie by gathering in a state where Trump won nearly 65 per cent of the vote last November.
“It was so encouraging,” Yother said. “I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.'”
Organisers hope to build opposition movement
“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
While protests earlier this year – against Elon Musk’s cuts and Trump’s military parade – drew crowds, organisers say this one is uniting the opposition.
Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders are joining what organisers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“We’re here because we love America,” Sanders said, addressing the crowd from a stage in Washington.
He said the American experiment is “in danger” but insisted “We the people will rule.”
The national march against Trump and Musk had 1300 registered locations, while the first “No Kings” day in June registered 2100 locations.
Republicans denounce ‘Hate America’ rallies
Republicans have sought to portray the protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.”
They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch – we call it the Hate America rally – that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”
Many demonstrators, in response, said they were meeting such hyperbole with humour, noting that Trump often leans heavily on theatrics such as claiming that cities he sends troops to are war zones.
“So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.
New York police reported no arrests during the protests.
Democrats try to regain their footing
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care.
Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the US system as a co-equal branch of government.
The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent.
Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organising group.
“The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”
