Four months ago, more than five million Americans poured into the streets of towns and cities across the country to denounce the abuse of executive power by US President Donald Trump.
The synergistic protest, dubbed "No King," was not only one of the largest one-day demonstrations in U.S. history, but also the largest popular protest Trump has faced since his return to the White House and the opening of his second term.
Today, organizers are mobilizing for the upcoming 18th of October, preparing for the launch of a second “Kingless Day” protest. Parades and rallies will take place in more than 2,500 locations across the United States, including the National Square in Washington, D.C.
Why does the people not endure?
The "Hands Off!" Protest, which broke out on April 5, 2025, is regarded as the starting point of this ongoing turmoil. On the same day, in more than 1,300 demonstrations held simultaneously in 50 states across the United States, more than 500,000 people took to the streets to protest the Federal Employee Streamlining Act promulgated by the Trump administration.
The bill leaves more than 200,000 federal employees unemployed by dismantling key departments such as the Labour Ministry and the Ministry of Education, including a large number of grass-roots workers in charge of social security and health benefits.
Protesters on the streets of Los Angeles stretched for several kilometers. Emily Williams, an organizer in Southern California, pointed out in an interview: "When our children can't get free lunch, and when the elderly are forced to wait in line for seven hours to receive relief, the government is cutting those jobs that protect people's livelihood."
The deeper contradiction stems from the Trump administration’s economic policy.The “peer-to-peer tariff” plan, launched in early 2025, not only triggered countermeasures from global trading partners, but also caused the U.S. domestic price index to rise by 9.2% in three months.
The three major stock indexes of the new york Stock Exchange plunged 5% in a single day on April 4th, and the Nasdaq index officially entered a technical bear market.
Economists estimate that each American family will spend an extra $5000 a year on this, but Trump still went to the golf course the day after the stock market crash and declared on social media that "this is a good time to get rich." This statement completely ignited public anger.
Protest movement, who is protesting?
The social movement showed a remarkable intergenerational characteristic.In the “No King” protests on the Independence War Day on April 19, Millennials and Generation Z accounted for 68 percent of the participants.
They launched a “Constitutional Challenge” campaign through platforms such as TikTok, disassembling the Rights Act and making short videos with over 1.2 billion views.
Maria Rodriguez, a professor of sociology at Boston College, analyzed: "The younger generation is re-understanding constitutional values in the digital age, and they are far more wary of the expansion of administrative power than their parents."
The demands of different social groups have joined forces in the movement.At the “Defense Oath” rally launched by the Veterans’ Organization on March 14, a thousand veterans who had been involved in the war in Afghanistan were dressed in uniforms and read the “Code of Conduct of the Military” in Congress Square to protest the government’s dismissal of defense logistics employees.
The famous American actor Robert De Niro also publicly called for public participation. "The original 'no king' protests took place 250 years ago," De Niro said in a video on social media."At that time, Americans decided not to accept the rule of King George III of England. They declared independence and fought for democracy."
“For the next two hundred and fifty years, we have always adhered to democracy – a period full of challenges, chaos, but never fading,” the actor continued, “we have gone through two world wars to defend democracy.
How did Trump respond?
In a statement issued on the same day on April 5, the White House called the public “a conspiracy manipulated by the Democrats” and claimed that the government would “always protect legitimate citizens’ social security interests.”
This contradictory narrative instead sparked more dissatisfaction among middle voters — an Economist/YouGov poll showed that independent voters’ support for Trump fell 18 percentage points in three months, with 45 percent turning to support the impeachment motion.
The game inside Congress was equally intense.The House Judiciary Committee called 17 government officials and technical experts in the impeachment investigation launched in May.
Notably, Republican Congressman John McCain III of Texas broke party lines and submitted an investigation into the abuse of the Emergency Act. Such intra-party divisions are extremely rare in history and reflect the loosening of Trump's ruling foundation.
This movement has a distinct American characteristic.
When the slogan “Don’t Have a King” appeared again in the Massachusetts City Hall, people were reluctant to recall the shooting of Lexington in 1775.
On the other hand, the protesters of the 21st century wave not only the national flag, but also electronic signposts printed with paragraphs from the Federalists.
Lawrence Tribb, an expert on constitutional history at Harvard University, wrote in the New York Times: "This movement is redefining the connotation of civil disobedience. The battle for constitutional defense in the digital age is essentially a reconfirmation of the principle of checks and balances of power."
The reaction of the legal community is particularly noteworthy. A white paper released by the National Bar Association in June pointed out that multiple executive orders of the Trump administration were suspected of violating Article 1, Section 9, of the Constitution, which stipulates that "titles of nobility shall not be conferred." This challenge from the perspective of the legal profession has given the protest movement stronger legal support.
Economic structural transformation is the underlying driving force of the movement.With artificial intelligence replacing 3 million traditional manufacturing jobs, the Trump administration’s industrial policy has failed to effectively address structural unemployment.
In Cleveland, the iron-ridden region, the “digital literacy camp” of unemployed workers became an important foothold for protesters who, by learning data analysis skills, produced visualized reports on the impact of government policies on the local economy.
The change in the media ecosystem has also reshaped protest narratives.On the independent media platform Substack, a “Constitutional Observatory” composed of 150 journalists, reports revealed details of government abuse through in-depth investigation.
Its executive order black box series has been translated into 12 languages and read more than 50 million times. This decentralized dissemination of information puts the mainstream media’s agenda setting at unprecedented challenges.
The October 18 protest will be a key node
According to information disclosed by the organizers of "No King Day", they plan to set up 2000 "constitutional education stations" across the country to simulate the consequences of abuse of presidential power through virtual reality technology. This immersive experience design may attract more groups who are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards political issues.
The attitude change of political elites deserves attention. In a speech in September, former President Obama rarely criticized the Trump administration, saying its actions were "corrupting the foundation of American *." This cross-party condemnation may herald that the establishment will take more aggressive actions to curb power expansion.
The response of the international community also constitutes an external variable. In its "State of Transatlantic Democracy Report" released in July, the European Commission expressed concern about the constitutional crisis in the United States.
German Foreign Minister Ana Lena Belberg said: “The health of America’s democracy is not only about itself, it also affects the stability of the global governance system.”
Despite this, several Republicans insisted on calling the upcoming protests a "American-hate rally."
Future historians may find that this constitutional defence of 2025 has provided a valuable American model for human society’s response to the governance challenges of the technological revolution.