Your TL;DR for This Weekend’s No Kings Protests

An estimated 8 million Americans marched in cities across the country (and around the world) to protest—well, take your pick: War? Affordability? Constant attacks on reproductive rights? Trump’s crazy goddamn ballroom?

By Danielle Han  |  March 30, 2026 | 2:59pm
Photo: Getty Images Politics
Your TL;DR for This Weekend’s No Kings Protests

Over the weekend, an estimated 8 million Americans took to the streets—from New York to Mar-a-Lago to Juneau, Alaska—in more than 3,000 “No Kings” rallies because, well, take your pick from the administration’s fucked-up buffet of bad. War? Affordability? Constant attacks on our reproductive rights? Or… because from his stupid ballroom, to his constant shirking of the Constitution, he’s looking an awful lot like a crazy monarch?

This is the third No Kings protest. The first took place in June, drawing an estimated 5 million people, and the second, in October, was the largest protest in American history, with 7 million protesters. Organizers believe Saturday’s numbers may have broken that record.

Trump hasn’t commented on the protests yet—but in October, he posted an AI-generated video of himself flying a fighter jet and airdropping piles of shit onto participating cities. So until ol’ gramps logs onto Truth Social, here are eight stories from Saturday.

1. Riot cops arrested Lady Liberty

A woman cosplaying Lady Liberty was one of 75 people arrested by officers at the Los Angeles protest, which saw one of the biggest crackdowns of the day.

Authorities pushed for a dispersal order when the protest extended 30 minutes past its 5 p.m. end time. But when protesters stood their ground, officers started shooting tear gas and pepper balls into a crowd of about 150, leaving at least one teenager with a wounded eye and various other individuals with skin burns and other injuries.

“They brutalized us,” a medic told the Los Angeles Times. “We were just protesting, there was no aggression. They just started firing into the crowd.” 

Apparently, officers started forcibly removing reporters and journalists in advance, saying they were about to conduct “mass arrests.” They lined demonstrators up next to a building, and zip-tied their hands before loading them into vans. 

2. Even Trump-loyal regions showed up

No Kings protests in Barrow, Alaska- the most northerly town in the USA.

#nokings

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— Gillian Martin (@gillmartin.bsky.social) March 29, 2026 at 11:45 PM

While the largest protests took place in cities like New York and Minnesota, plenty of protesters gathered in deeply red towns in red states—such as Bolivar, Tennessee; St. Francois County, Missouri; and Driggs, Idaho—a state that Trump won 66% of the vote in 2024. Even in the rural Alaskan town of Utqiagvik—formerly known as Barrow—which, sitting above the Arctic Circle, is the country’s most northern town, a handful of protesters gathered. 

3. The White House threw a tantrum

The White House: “and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad.”

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— 50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 (@50501movement.bsky.social) March 27, 2026 at 3:24 PM

Even if he’s yet to throw his own tantrum, his administration did it for him on Saturday. Speaking to reporters ahead of the protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called the protests the product of “leftist funding networks” and said that “the only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.” 

Welp. Nothing like a national therapy session for billions of Americans.

4. Bruce Springsteen, Jane Fonda, and Jamie Lee Curtis showed up

Bruce Springsteen performs “Streets of Minneapolis”

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 3:57 PM

Similar to October, plenty of celebs took part. Many traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which had one of the largest turnouts due to the continued outrage over Operation Metro Surge—the brutal immigration crackdown that left two U.S. citizens dead, led to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s firing, prompted Democrats refusal to fund DHS, and drove a record number of Americans to support abolishing ICE.

“This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis,” Bruce Springsteen said after singing “Streets of Minneapolis.” “Well, they picked the wrong city.” 

Following Springsteen was Jane Fonda, who read a statement from Becca Good, the widow of Renee Good, one of the U.S. citizens killed by ICE agents in September. “The world now knows that my wife sparkled with sunshine and shone with kindness that is unmatched,” Fonda read. “We were robbed of an incredible human. It has made people pause, and take a breath, and have to choose sides.”

5. Protests went global

There are anti-Trump NO KINGS protests in the UK, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Sweden etc.

These are monarchies with actual kings. But even the kings have to follow the law that was written by the people.

Trump acts more like a tyrannical medieval king than actual kings in Europe.

Ironic, isn’t it?

— Bad Choices Make Good Stories (@badchoices.us) March 28, 2026 at 2:36 PM

More than a dozen countries also held protests, even in countries like Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands—literal monarchies. As such, these No Kings protests were internationally packaged as the “No Tyrants” or “No Dictators” protests—but the sentiment still stands. 

6. Protesters didn’t skimp on their messaging

Someone in Maine held up a sign of a Donald Trump caricature saying to an alligator, “See ya later, alligator,” with the gator responding, “At your trial, pedophile.” Someone in another city gave their dog a sign, “I’m neutered, but still have bigger balls than Mike Johnson.” (Welp, I’m sure he knows a thing or two about that…) 

And leading protests in Nashville, Tennessee, were women donning red cloaks from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. At one point, they started carrying around signs with names of the powerful men in the Epstein files, from Howard Lutnick to Elon Musk.

7. Some of Trump’s biggest MAGA cronies put up a proxy fight for him

A stone’s throw from where thousands protested near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, MAGA supporters staged a counterprotest of their own—drawing a mere two dozen people. While reporting for MS Now, Jacob Traylor described two MAGAts jumping the tape to the other side when things “got physical.”

Speaking with a man who called the cops on the two individuals, Traylor said, “For a moment, it got pretty tense. It got physical. What did you see and what did you do to take action?” 

The man replied, “These two gentlemen were screaming and yelling at a bunch of us. And a young woman started taking pictures of him with her camera and one of the guys walked over and—it looked like it was an open fist, actually. He took such a swing, knocked the camera out of her hand, and I believe it actually cracked. And then I just calmly said, ‘Now you’re going to jail.’” 

8. Trump hung out at his vacation home

Is Trump out playing golf while No Kings Day is taking place. Does he even know what is happening?

— America-The Republic of Suffering (@iampilgrim.bsky.social) March 28, 2026 at 10:56 PM

Just as he’s done 25 other times since returning to office, Trump spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, where (we assume) he played some golf—a habit that has reportedly cost the American taxpayers $100 million. Last weekend, he crashed a fundraiser at the resort, saying, “I didn’t know I was going to be here tonight. I’m supposed to be prosecuting the war.”

Just days before the protest, Trump’s Treasury Department also announced it’d be adding his signature to U.S. dollar later this year to honor the country’s 250th anniversary. For the same anniversary, the administration has also erased the olive branch—the symbol of peace—from the dime. 

9. Another great sign

Because we always need a good reminder that being gramps doesn’t mean being king.

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