From the Washington, DC No Kings rally this weekend

On Saturday I joined thousands of people in Washington, DC protesting the Trump administration. The No Kings event seems to have a massive turnout. A mass email from Bernie Sanders estimated 200,000 people in that city’s event.  At a larger level, according to a No Kings/MoveOn email: “7 million people gathered at 2,700 No Kings events in all 50 states and abroad, making it the single largest day of protest in modern U.S. history.”

Here’s what I saw.  I’ll share photos and videos that I took.  This post is pretty media heavy and might end up more like a slideshow in the end.

Saturday morning was a bit chilly under only slightly cloudy skies. I prepared myself against the possibility of problems, putting on slacks and button-down shirt to present a decent-looking, neutral appearance to law enforcement or any right wing activists.  I added my passport to my driver’s license, in case I needed to prove my citizenship.  I checked in with my family on a group chat, including a lawyer in case I needed legal help.  I took my smartphone (Galaxy Fold), regretting I hadn’t gotten a burner.

I took the DC Metro train (Orange line) in from Virginia. Some passengers carried protest signs and some wore themed clothes.  I chatted with a few, who were friendly and upbeat.  When we reached the Smithsonian stop there were plenty of people detraining and walking towards the surface, many in protest mode.

I reached the National Mall around 11:30 am. The event was scheduled for noon, so I strolled around, meeting people, then joined the mass who were gradually walking towards the Capitol.

Some sported or were engulfed by cute, whimsical, and just creative costumes, mostly of animals, and usually carrying explanatory signs:

Good Latin use.

For a while there wasn’t a clear plan or direction to the event. I saw many individuals milling in various directions, then some large groups in motion, sometimes from a distance.  You could see themes appearing and repeated: Trump as dictator, ICE as kidnapper, Americans are anti-monarchy, Epstein.

I eventually found one group near me and joined in as it flowed along a major street.

The mood was often ebullient, energetic, bright.  People weren’t bitter, although they were sometimes quite mad at the administration. They seemed happy to be with others who felt anywhere near as they did.  Costumes and clever signs entertained us. Many people were recording the scene on phones and other devices.  A few people performed on drums and loudspeakers. The skies cleared and the temperature rose, keeping our spirits up.

Costumes were very creative, playing with animals, gender, politics, myth:

Naturally there were folks in giant frog costumes, which seems to be the season’s anti-Trump figure:

Some costumes scaled up into larger forms of street theater:

Noon came and apparently there were speakers addressing the crowd, but they were invisible and impossible to hear.  It didn’t seem like anyone had set up audio amplifiers or Jumbotrons, so I and others worked our way forward, trying to get to the head of the line. I asked others about the situation and they expressed frustration. Some seemed happy just to be there. After this went on for a while parts of the crowd started chanting classic formulations (“this is what democracy looks like!” “the people, united, can never be defeated!”), creating their own soundtrack.

My favorite photo of the day.

Gradually I heard speakers.  One was a male voice, perhaps Medhi Hassan. Another was a woman’s. A moderator was a bit better. It was hard to make out more than a few words at a time, but yard by yard I could hear more: in favor of Gaza, against Trump’s tyranny, against ICE.

Finally I could glimpse the edges of a stage setup and the MC announced Bill Nye. The crowd went wild, chanting “Bill! Bill! Bill!”  Maybe he projected better, maybe they switched gear, or I was just close enough, but I could hear him very well.  He spoke to memories of growing up in DC, attending various protests and historical moments back to the 1960s.  He slammed Trump for attacking science and research.

You can just make out Nye there in the middle.

There was a sense of unity and shared purpose, a pleasant insurgency against a commonly held opponent.  I saw no tempers flare and certainly zero violence.  There was very little police presence, to my pleasant surprise, other than a few smiling Metro police in a subway station.  (At one point I could glimpse a few nondescript people with dark caps on top of one building overlooking the march. They just seemed to be peering down at us, but some in the crowd pointed at them and a couple of guys booed.)

I notice some people were moving back through the crowd.  A couple apologized, saying they were too crowded, too hot, or tired, which made a lot of sense.  Around 1:20 pm I joined them, not for those reasons, but because an afternoon meeting expected me.  I worked back through the press, criss crossing for some time until the swarm thinned out.  There were still plenty of people, some resting on low barrier walls or sprawled out on the ground.  One person had a nicely Andor-themed sign:

As I retreated more people passed me, moving to the front.  Later on a local friend told me he was part of a second wave of participants, and that sounds right.

Kangeroo court

Purely by chance I met another local friend and we walked back to the Smithsonian Metro stop, chatting about the event.  I took the train to my town at the meeting.

What to make of this?

In a sense there were no surprises. The arguments and points raised are well known now, circulating widely through journalism, political statements, and social media.  The event fulfilled its plan of getting a lot of people together and to have some speakers.

At the same time I was pleasantly surprised that there were no bold actions from ICE, law enforcement, or troops.  There were also no confrontational counterprotestors that I saw or heard.  Perhaps the authorities and conservative activists decided to just let No Kings October 2025 play out, retaining the ability to swoop in if needed for the former, and providing plenty of fodder to mock and criticize afterwards for the latter.

I was delighted by the atmosphere and the creativity shown. A festival atmosphere arose. Demotic political art is, I think, underappreciated.  For many there surely was a sense of connection and mutual support.  People who felt isolated, marginalized, threatened may well have enjoyed a moral boost.  Folks who thought the Democratic party wasn’t listening to them got to get a message out loud and clear.

At the broader level, I’m not sure what impact this might have.  There wasn’t a call for action. There were no connections to Democratic party actions or programs. I didn’t see any Democratic figure; independent senator Bernie Sanders was apparently there earlier, but we couldn’t hear him. The discourse was about resisting Trump, but that was attitudinal, not programmatic. No actions appeared for us to take, no bills or candidates to fight for.

Yet the rally might be something to build upon.  If millions participated then the Democratic party could connect with that.  Organizations who helped make the rallies happen could reach out to participants. And perhaps the event energized some people to contribute in their own ways: financially, as organizers, as media creators, as candidates for office.

One last thought: I was surprised by how little climate change appeared as a topic.

Did any of you participate in a No Kings event?  What’s your take on the protests?