We just pulled off one the largest protests in American history. Here's what's next.
We did it.
We set out to puncture Trump’s aura of inevitability. He wanted his military birthday parade to be a projection of overpowering strength,
straight from the authoritarian playbook. He wanted to cow the opposition into submission. He wanted everyone from regular people to businesses, law firms, universities, media institutions, and other political leaders to see his might and bow down.
As our good friend Reverend Barber says: A king only becomes a king when we bow. And we didn’t bow.
Almost nobody came to Trump’s pathetic party. And ours was one of the biggest in American history -- literally.
You’ve seen more images of the 2,169 No Kings Day protests than you can count. We’ve got a montage of events in all 50 states you can watch if you’d like to lift your spirits a bit more this Monday.
In small towns and large cities. In Republican strongholds and Blue meccas. From rural America to the suburbs to the city centers. In 27 countries all across the globe. Free people stood up and said No Kings! (Except for a few exceptions like the constitutional monarchies of Canada and Britain, where they said “No Tyrants!”)
Meanwhile, Trump spent the week leading up to the march issuing threats against peaceful protestors and escalated his rapacious and vicious attacks on LA immigrants and native-born alike. Trump’s parade, while a fiasco and boondoggle, was a troubling display of the weakness of our democratic institutions -- a reminder to the world we are led by an incompetent jackass with self-delusional visions of grandeur.
Personally, I found the day fun, joyful, moving, inspiring, and overwhelming in the best way. Leah and I joined together in Philly with members of Dr. King’s family -- MLK III and Arndrea King -- Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, Lorella Praeli of Community Change, and our friend Reverend Barber -- along with about 100,000 fellow Americans showing up for democracy. You can see the full livestream (with Leah and my speech closing out the rally) here. What a day!
All told, this is shaping up to be one of the largest protests in American history. It’s at least 50% larger than the then-record-breaking April Hands Off! protest. And in addition to being notably larger, the crowds were notably diverse in age and race. It was a real demonstration of what pluralistic democracy looks like in this country.
While recognizing the significance, impact and power of the protest, I want to also recognize that the day began and ended with tragedy. As we got up to prepare to march, we saw the news of the right-wing political assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and another attempted assassination of a state senator. In the evening, we got news of a tragic shooting at an event in Salt Lake City.
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo (who went by “Afa”) was a 39-year-old man with two young children showing up for democracy at a peaceful protest on Saturday. As we wait for additional information, we strongly encourage the Indivisible community to show up for his family by contributing to their GoFundMe.
As we move forward, the only effective response to this chaos and hatred is broad-based, ideologically diverse, geographically dispersed, peaceful protest. No Kings Day was historic. No Kings Day was not the end. There is more to come this week -- I hope you will join the No Kings coalition tonight for the “What’s Next Call” tonight and join me and Leah for a special Wednesday edition of What’s The Plan.
As Arndrea King, MLK III, and I wrote in an op-ed over the weekend, “Authoritarian moments can feel permanent. But they never are... Trump is counting on our fear. We’re betting on our courage. Trump wants a crown, but we won’t bow. We will rise.”
We rose this weekend, and we’re not bowing anytime soon.
In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director
Indivisible
Your weekly to-dos
Register for the No Kings “What’s Next?” call tonight, June 16, at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to celebrate and stay in the fight! On Saturday, millions of us came together to tell Donald Trump and his regime: No Kings! Now, join tonight’s mass call to talk about what we accomplished and how we leverage this moment to build a stronger, more unified resistance movement for the long-haul.
Blue State Indivisibles: Call on your AG to fight hard against ICE overreach in your state. Over the weekend, Donald Trump doubled down on his calls for ICE to get even more aggressive and unlawful -- targeting blue states and big cities, in particular. State Attorneys General have real power to fight back, and we need to put the pressure on them to use every tool at their disposal to hold ICE in check.
Call folks in target states to connect them with GOP senators and disrupt the Republican Tax Scam. As the Senate rewrites the reconciliation bill, we’re making sure key senators hear from their angry constituents -- by calling folks to connect them directly to senators' offices! Phonebanks take place weekly, and anyone can join with just a phone and a computer.
Join a special Wednesday edition of “What’s the Plan” to see Leah and Ezra answer your questions about following up No Kings, ICE, and more. This Wednesday at 3pm ET (12pm PT), our co-founders will jump online to break down what we saw at No Kings Day and answer your questions directly! Come be part of a free-flowing, interactive chat about what’s next in our fight for democracy.
This week's update on the Republican Tax Scam
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the No Contempt Clause, House Republicans’ attempt to hide a rule deep inside their reconciliation bill that would immunize Trump officials from obeying court orders. On Friday, we learned that the Senate plans to strip that language from the bill, but what they’d replace it with is just as bad -- possibly even worse.
There’s some good and a lot of bad in the Senate’s proposed replacement language:
The Good News: Unlike the House’s No Contempt Clause, the Senate version does not target past rulings, so recent orders against the Trump administration -- and hundreds of key rulings that have nothing to do with Trump -- would still be enforceable. Only future rulings would be impacted.
The Really Scary News: The Senate version stops judges from issuing any restraining orders or temporary injunctions against the federal government if there isn’t a bond in place, and it closes a loophole that would allow courts to set affordable bonds as low as $1. In other words, it ties judges’ hands and makes speedy court relief from Trump's abuses of power too expensive for nearly anyone other than states, corporations, and the ultra-rich.
Bottom Line: Senate Republicans want to let Trump keep pursuing his flagrantly unconstitutional agenda without checks and balances from the courts. Because most plaintiffs can’t afford to drop millions of dollars on bond, many of Trump’s authoritarian actions could remain in place until after a final ruling from a court, which in many cases would take years (i.e. until Trump's no longer president).
This clause clearly violates Senate rules and is likely unlawful, so it could still be stripped out entirely before senators vote. But we can’t count on Republican leadership or MAGA judges to follow precedent or laws. We need to put overwhelming pressure on rank-and-file senators to ensure this attack on the courts never makes it to Trump’s desk.
NEW Speaker Series: Solidarity in Action
As authoritarianism rises in America and across the globe, marginalized communities are being targeted at an alarming rate and pushed onto the front lines of the fight. This moment calls for solidarity.
That’s why Indivisible is launching a NEW speaker series to build sustainable, effective strategies for community support and advocacy. If you want to be a more effective ally to the communities authoritarianism harms most, our upcoming Solidarity in Action speaker series for you!
It all starts next Tuesday, June 24, when NYT bestselling author Heather McGhee and Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg team up for the series kick-off session: Training for Systemic Change and Allyship.
Follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program, where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.
So proud to have been a part of this overwhelmingly amazing movement. There is too much on the line and it will slip away in no time if we do not stand up together, now.
Thank you for starting this. Let’s unite America behind one banner again - with liberty and justice for ALL
Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers! We did it! Millions of us said NO KINGS IN AMERICA!