Organizers of the “No Kings” coalition announced a nationwide mobilization for October 18 that they say will be even larger than June’s historic day of action, when millions of people demonstrated across thousands of cities against President Donald Trump’s escalating authoritarian tactics. With over 2,110 protests planned across all 50 states, organizers predict the October actions will be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history.
“Sustained, broad-based, peaceful, pro-democracy grassroots movements win. Trump wanted a coronation on his birthday, and what he got instead was millions of people standing up to say NO KINGS,” Indivisible co-founder and co-executive director Ezra Levin said in a Tuesday statement. “No Kings Day on June 14 was an historic demonstration of people power, and it’s grown into a broad, diverse movement.”
Levin added that “while Trump escalates his attack with occupations of American cities and secret police forces terrorizing American communities, normal everyday people across this country are showing up every single day with courage and defiance. On October 18, we’re going to show up in the largest peaceful protest in modern American history. Millions will come together in more cities than ever to say collectively: No kings ever in America.”
The October mobilization comes as Trump expands deployments of militarized forces into American cities. The National Guard is already stationed in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and this week the administration is moving to do the same in Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are carrying out the deadly “Operation Midway Blitz,” part of Trump’s broader mass deportation push. The administration has also been specifically targeting pro-Palestinian foreign students, which a federal judge on Tuesday rebuked with what one reporter called “the most scathing legal rebuke of the Trump era.”
Hunter Dunn, national press coordinator for the advocacy group 50501, framed the October protests as a rejection of authoritarianism. “We the People of the United States of America reject the Trump regime’s repeated assaults on our freedoms,” Dunn said. “This administration has invaded our cities, dismantled our social services, and tossed hard-working Americans into concentration camps. He has sacrificed our Constitution on the altar of fascism. On October 18th, the American people will gather together to practice two time-honored American traditions: nonviolent protest and anti-fascism.”
The “No Kings” coalition includes a wide array of organizations, among them the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, Common Defense, Human Rights Campaign, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, National Nurses United, Public Citizen, Service Employees International Union, and United We Dream. Collectively, the groups have built infrastructure to sustain a mass national protest movement, including technical support, online platforms, marketing materials, and security investments.
In its call to action, Indivisible emphasized the scope of planning behind the mobilization. “Just picking a day on the calendar won’t be enough to generate the kind of response we need in this moment,” the group said. “A national day of protest takes time and immense resources to prepare—tech and online infrastructure, marketing materials, security investments, staging/sounds, and so much more.”
The group cited Trump’s rhetoric as another driving force. In recent weeks, the president has declared that America is “under invasion from within” and told military generals they should use American cities as “training grounds.” During the same gathering, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged to overhaul the inspector general process, promising: “No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo, no more sidetracking careers, no more walking on eggshells!”
Jacob Thomas, a military veteran and communications director for Common Defense, said veterans were horrified by the administration’s trajectory. “As veterans and patriots who swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and the freedoms that it enshrines, we are appalled at the lengths President Trump and his billionaire buddies have gone to to strip our neighbors and communities of the rights, dignity, and freedoms owed to everyone residing in this country,” Thomas said.
“We must all do our part to fight back against his authoritarianism and military occupation of cities,” he continued. “We cannot allow a wannabe dictator to destroy our democracy, gut veteran healthcare, keep people from accessing the ballot box, and tank our economy. We must all join together in solidarity to fight back and secure our freedoms. Two hundred and fifty years ago, Americans stood up to a tyrant king, generations later our great-grandparents defeated fascism abroad. Now it is up to us to defeat fascism at home.”
Organizers say that June’s demonstrations drew more than 5 million people across the country. With Trump “doubling down on his authoritarian tactics,” Indivisible said, the October mobilization is designed as “a direct, non-violent rebuke” to his claims of dictatorship. The group declared, Trump “is disappearing immigrants to sprawling concentration camps, sending troops into our cities, threatening to interfere in elections, rigging maps to steal power from the voters, and orchestrating a massive giveaway to his billionaire allies as families struggle. Trump is ramping up his attacks on our rights and democracy, but we’re not backing down. On October 18, we’re taking to the streets in more cities and in larger numbers to remind Trump, his cronies, and those on the sidelines looking for hope: America has no kings.”
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