It was the largest single-day demonstration in US history. However, just two days after seven million people in all 50 states and at more than 2,600 different events protested against the imperial presidency, Donald Trump ordered the demolition of the east wing of the White House to build a golden ballroom with a capacity for 999 guests.
It was no coincidence.
On October 18, the “No Kings” demonstrations mobilized people in all 435 Congressional districts with multi-issue demands against mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, the floundering economy, the constant violations of due process, and the defiance of key sections of the U.S. constitution.
Prior to the massive mobilizations, the Republicans and their media allies had characterized the protests as being led by the extreme left, who hate America and side with its enemies. However, the outpouring nationwide was largely populated by respectable silver-haired protesters carrying American flags, dressed in playful costumes and toting signs proclaiming a commitment to democracy.
No Kings Protests
To those who have asked “Where is the outcry against Trump’s policies?” these public protests show the ongoing and growing strength of the resistance and the slow decline of Trump’s support nationwide. Just look at the numbers. Three million people turned out in the “Hands Off” protests on April 5, organized by a broad coalition of progressive organizations. Five million showed up in 2,300 “No Kings” events on June 14, the day that Trump organized a military parade in Washington, D.C. to celebrate his 79th birthday. On October 18, an additional two million people from rural towns to major urban centers voiced their opposition to the would-be monarch.
The details of one event among many, reported to me by my sister, Marycarolyn G. France, age 80, capture the spirit and composition of the protests. A retired public-school employee, who wrote and supervised federal grants for educational programs targeting low-income students, she was tired of bemoaning Trump’s actions every night while watching the evening news. Having never participated in a demonstration, she was excited about being able to publicly express her outrage at the ways Trump’s policies are destroying the nation.
So, with the help of her younger brother, she searched the web for a local No Kings rally near her residency in Virginia and showed up with two home-made signs. One read: “I love America. That’s Why I Oppose Trump.” The other stated: “Thoughtful Dissent is Patriotism at its Best.”
It was a festive occasion, unlike the violent confrontations predicted by the Trump administration. People were dressed in colorful costumes such as the Statue of Liberty, former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rainbow unicorns, bananas, and red-cloaked figures from the Handmaid’s Tale. After listening to speeches, a guitar-accompanied song about the Constitution, and the traditional folk tune, “This Land is Your Land,” composed by leftwing songster Woody Gutherie, the crowd of several hundred joined in chants: “No kings, no crowns” and “This is what democracy looks like.”
The positive energy of day inspired her to do something more. She now plans to seek out a local congressional campaign committee to help ensure a Democratic majority in the House of Representative next year. She is not alone. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country are now promising the same determination to defeat Trump in the polls.
The day after the October 18 events, right-wing media outlets decried the protests as composed largely of elderly white hippies from the “Baby Boom” generation, implying that the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history was an unpatriotic movement of retired 1960 radicals and paid protesters. The same day, thousands across the nation joined a telephone conference call to map out an on-going strategy that focuses on local organizing to sustain the movement.
A divided nation is in combat mode, as both sides look to the November 2026 congressional elections as a turning point in the country’s history.
The following day, Trump, a master at deception and deflection, tried to shift the content of the Monday news cycle with the White House demolition. This past summer, the president had promised to build his gaudy golden dance hall without touching the White House structure at the low cost of $200 million, all from private donations. No federal dollars involved means no congressional oversight of the project, as far as the president was concerned.
Not surprisingly, he lied about his promise to keep the presidential residency untouched. Moreover, the estimated cost of building this behemoth now ranges from $300 to $350. And the final construction bill could be much greater. Major corporations have chipped in to cover the costs in yet another way of buying favors from the most corrupt administration in U.S. history.
Both Trump’s new real estate project and the nationwide protests are taking place in the context of a month-long government shutdown because of the U.S. Congress’s inability to approve allocations to fund federal government operations. Republicans who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, need 60 votes to pass a budget. Democrats, however, are holding back, insisting that the fiscal legislation must include a provision to retain government health care subsidies for 14 million Americans. Without additional federal funds, experts predict that heath care premiums will increase significantly across the board for everyone with medical insurance.
Rather than insisting that congressional representatives stay in Washington to negotiate a compromise agreement, House speaker Mike Johnson declared a congressional recess effective July 22 sending Republicans home, while refusing to discuss a possible legislative bipartisan compromise. As a result, millions of federal employees have been furloughed from their jobs without pay, and government services have shut down. The White House has placed the blame on Democrats hoping to dampen their support nationwide. So far, this strategy has failed.
According to a recent Quinnipiac survey, 45% of the 1,300 registered voters polled blame Republicans for the shutdown while 39% consider the Democrats to be at fault. Among independent, non-partisan voters, 48% point to the Republicans while 32% place responsibility on Democrats.
Recent Trump policies have also eroded his support among traditional loyalist from states that rely on agricultural and beef exports. The president’s decision to allocate $20 billion in federal funds to bail out the Argentine economy and help Javier Millei in the October 26 congressional elections has outraged voters at a moment when the U.S. government has ceased to function and federal employees are not receiving a paycheck. Moreover, the decision to drop tariffs on the import of Argentine beef to help lower meat prices in the United States has infuriated U.S. cattle ranchers, who consider that the “Made America Great Again” movement is now favoring a foreign country over U.S. producers. Soybean farmers have also seen exports to China drop to near zero-levels as alternative suppliers, such as Brazil, turn to Chinese markets due to high U.S. tariffs.
The president’s support has also dropped among Latino voters who had shifted their loyalty to Trump in the 2024 elections. According to a poll conducted by Somos Votantes, Trump’s popularity has dropped 20%. “What began earlier this year with independents and women has really intensified and spread to basically every demographic subset of the Latino electorate, including groups that once leaned toward him like Latin men,” commented Melissa Morales, Somos Votantes’s president. Concern about the economy and the massive and arbitrary detention of Latinos, have moved large numbers away from the president.
With Trump’s approval rating hovering at 43% and disapproval at 53%, “No Kings” organizers are optimistic about the favorable dynamic of popular opposition to the administration. They cite Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth’s studies of protest movement against authoritarian regimes worldwide. She found that when non-violent public dissent reaches 3.5% of the population, these governments collapse. That would require 12 million people out in the streets throughout the United States to see Trump tumble.
Despite Trump’s attempts to influence the outcome of the 2026 congressional elections by convincing his political devotees to redesign voting districts to favor Republicans in several key states, many analysts insist that it will not affect the ultimate outcome. Democrats mimicking the same strategy will tend to cancel out Republican gains in the upcoming elections.
If past elections are any indication of the outcome, Trump may face a stunning defeat in a year from now. Unless the economy improves dramatically and Trump backs down from implementing many of his unpopular policies, he is destined to lose control of the House of Representatives in November 2026, and his iron grip on one of the three branches of the U.S. government. It might not bring his downfall, but it would likely blunt his assault of democracy and the rule of law.
PayPal 
