From noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the intersection of Losey Boulevard and State Road in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an estimated over 1,500 individuals came to protest in a second “No Kings” demonstration.
Across the nation, over 7 million Americans gathered to show their disapproval of President Donald Trump’s overall performance as a leader. These protests were the largest civil action in the country in 55 years, according to crowd estimates.
The official “No Kings” website reads, “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings – and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption and cruelty.”
Attendee Robert Ellisor said he came to the protest “to make a note that we absolutely oppose and object to the fascism that is taking hold in our country.”
Fascism is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a right-wing extremist “political system based on a very powerful leader, state control and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed.”
Antifa is a decentralized left-wing movement that opposes fascism and fascist groups and leaders. On Sept. 22, Trump signed an executive order that categorizes the movement as a domestic terrorist organization, deeming it a “terrorist threat” and instructing executive agencies to investigate illegal activity from Antifa and its supporters.
While the government can formally designate Foreign Terror Organizations (FTOs), there isn’t necessarily a legal process for designating a group as a domestic terror organization, and doing so opens the door to breaches of First Amendment rights. Since Antifa isn’t a well-defined group, but more of a general rejection of fascism, American citizens could be retaliated against for expressing their disapproval of the Trump administration.
Protest attendee Maggie Peters said, “I don’t think I ever thought that as a kid growing up – like we always heard how lucky we are to live in this country and I think I took that for granted a little bit because now I see that can be taken away. I mean, we’re seeing freedoms being taken away from people, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. It’s just very scary.”
Regarding the aforementioned freedoms of the press, back on May 1 of this year, Trump passed the executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.” This order cut off all federal funding for the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) with accusations of biased, partisan news coverage.
More recently, on Oct. 15, the United States Department of Defense required Pentagon reporters and news organizations to decide whether to sign a new policy that infringes on First Amendment rights, or lose access to the Pentagon entirely.
In the decades before this policy, journalists were given access to the building to talk with officials and receive press briefings on the Department of Defense. Now, reporters who signed the new policy will need direct permission from the Department of Defense before asking for or obtaining any information from the Pentagon.
In terms of the rights of protesters, Trump has threatened prison time and the revocation of citizenship for those who protest by burning the American flag, despite the Supreme Court’s previous ruling that protects flag burning under the First Amendment.
Trump said, “We took the freedom of speech away, because that’s been through the courts, and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn the flag, it agitates and irritates crowds.”
Another major issue for many attendees was the recent actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In primarily blue cities across the US, ICE agents have been “taking people off the street” in unmarked vehicles, wearing masks and civilian clothing, using violence and detaining individuals without any system documentation, which results in short-term disappearances.
Further, on Sept. 8, the Supreme Court ruled that ICE agents may use racial profiling to conduct immigration stops. Demonstrator Jamie Moon said she believes the response to immigration is the country’s biggest issue.
Moon said, “[ICE agents are] not in uniforms, they don’t have warrants. They’re just taking people without cause sometimes and I think they’re doing it really unfairly…I don’t think we should tell people that they can’t come here just based on the color of your skin, which is why America was founded in the first place.”
Overall, participants felt as though Trump and his administration have been overreaching and abusing their powers.
“What’s happening in our country – going authoritarian from the democratic process is really scary. Especially as an older person and I’ve watched and I worked for the government myself for many, many years. This is just crazy,” said protester Mary Faherty.
A demonstrator who preferred to remain anonymous said the biggest issue facing our country is “the overreach of authority that the president has been taking. All the programs that he’s been gutting and all the laws that he’s been breaking with no regard.”
While the protest drew a large turnout, Peters and Faherty noticed a lack of young people.
“I do wish there were more people your age here. I see a lot of older people. I see a lot of people here probably did this back in the 60’s and the 70’s…I wish there were more people that spoke up that were of your generation,” said Peters.
Faherty said, “Back in the ’60s, when we had the Vietnam War and women’s rights and I was part of all the demonstrations there, and I said to myself, the only way to get rid of this kind of stuff is to come out and tell your story, so that’s why I’m here.”
In response to the protests, Trump posted an AI-generated video to Truth Social that depicts him in a crown, flying over protestors and seemingly dumping excrement from a jet that says “King Trump.” He has denied claims that he is attempting to position himself as a monarch.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson has described the “No Kings” demonstrations as a “hate America rally,” accusing protesters of using violent rhetoric and arguing against claims of Trump acting like a king.
Johnson said, “If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise out on the [National] Mall.”
“We’re supposed to have a government that’s by the people, for the people, of the people and what’s going on right now, that’s not what it is. It’s for the people with the most money. It’s people helping out their buddies and their cronies and that’s not what this is supposed to be. The government’s supposed to be there for us. It’s ours; they work for us,” said Peters.
As of Oct. 20, a “No Kings” organizer said that a third nationwide protest is in the works.
