There is a truly mass movement in the streets growing in response to Trump’s fascist agenda. Millions took part in the “No Kings” demonstrations in June. The Oct. 18 No Kings demonstrations, estimated to be 2,500 separate actions in all 50 states and in other countries, are expected to draw even bigger crowds. Numbers like these are necessary to push back against a multitude of attacks, from cutting health care and laying off thousands of federal workers to sending federal troops into major U.S. cities — mostly cities with Black and Brown majorities.
Anti-imperialist contingent in No Kings demonstration, Portland, Oregon, June 14, 2025. (WW Photo: Lyn Neeley)
Yet this movement has serious flaws and limitations. Its theme, “America has no Kings,” is narrowly focused on preventing Trump from appointing himself dictator and ruling indefinitely after his four-year term as president. To its credit, No Kings has denounced the attacks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on migrants and the invasion of cities by National Guard troops. But its website has made no mention of the genocide in Palestine!
This omission is not accidental. It reflects this movement’s ties to the Democratic Party, which has partnered with the Republican Party in maintaining arms shipments to Israel. Both parties have ignored polls showing overwhelming public support in the U.S. for the Palestinian people.
Organizers of the anti-Trump protests — No Kings, Hands Off, 50501, etc. — welcome homemade signs with reactionary slogans such as “Hands off NATO” and “Hands off Ukraine,” along with signs attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin. In other words, they are complaining that Trump is not supporting the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia enough. This war’s aim is to expand NATO’s pro-imperialist reach into other sovereign countries.
The crowds at many of these mass protests tend to be mostly white, older and suburban. Until recently, there was low participation by labor unions.
When activists, independent of the No Kings organizers, have brought Palestinian flags and pro-Palestine signs, they have been cheered and applauded.
To attract a more youthful, multinational, multigender and working-class element to this movement, the demonstrations will need to take on a more anti-war and anti-imperialist character. In fact, to really push back the Trump agenda, all sectors of the working class will have to be in the leadership of a united front against fascism and imperialism.
Ultimately, there must be a revolutionary movement, not just against Trump but against the whole capitalist system of exploitation.