“He’s following the footsteps of Hitler, and if he doesn’t stop or nobody stops him, I’m afraid we’re going to see a repeat.”
Crowds walk past the Lincoln Memorial during the protest.Credit: AP
Crowds gather for a No Kings protest in Washington. Credit: AP
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders addresses the crowd in Washington. Credit: AP
Another man, Scott, carried a sign that pinned the blame on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. Fearful of being put on a list of agitators, he declined to give his last name and kept his face behind a mask and sunglasses.
Rehac said the large crowds were heartening to see for opponents of Trump, who still struggled to accept that their fellow countrymen had voted for a person who attempted to overthrow the results of an election. “It’s absolutely antithetical to everything that the country stands for,” he said.
“It’s just incredible what’s going on in America, and I do blame – believe it or not – Fox News,” he said. “We’ve had 30 years of poisoning against the American mind, poisoning against the government, and it leads to these kinds of outcomes. Thanks, Rupert.”
Demonstrators wear costumes and carry signs on the march to the National Mall.Credit: AP
A protester dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume. Credit: AP
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.
The US government has been shut down for 18 days as Senate Democrats and Republicans remain dug in over extending health care subsidies, a roadblock to a spending bill that would reopen the government.
Loading
Long-serving Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who at 84 remains one of the leaders of the US’s progressive movement, said Republicans had falsely tried to paint the weekend’s protests as hateful and anti-American.
“Millions of Americans are coming out today not because they hate America – we’re here because we love America,” he told the Washington crowd.
“As I understand, today, October 18th 2025, there are more people out on the streets in more communities all over our country than we have ever seen in American history. This is not the end, this is just the beginning.”
Sanders said Trump was amassing more and more power in his own hands and those of his “fellow oligarchs”, particularly as his administration targeted protests in Portland or Chicago as “insurrections”, intimidated the media and indicted its political enemies.
Loading
Trump was not in Washington on the weekend but playing golf at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He told Fox News the protesters were mistaken about him.
“They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he said.
Earlier, House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson called the No Kings protests a “hate America rally” by Antifa, Marxists and pro-Hamas activists.
“It is an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes … all this has got to come to an end,” he said.
Loading
Elsewhere, demonstrators packed New York City’s Times Square, Boston Common, Chicago’s Grant Park and hundreds of smaller public spaces.
More than 1500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and openly citing the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the US Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.
“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic senator Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
