A sign near Burlington, Vermont, asks passersby to “fight like a mother” and invokes the “No Kings” protests.

Though Oct. 18's "No Kings" protests share a name with its predecessor, organizers are expecting an unmatched flood of people for what they believe will be the largest single day of protest in modern American history.

"The anger level is way higher" than it was in June for the last protests of the same name, said Public Citizen copresident Lisa Gilbert, one of the organizers. "It's not just policies we don't like … but it's also actual chipping away at democracy, at foundational rights and prerogatives that we all expect. … People are saying 'I've never been moved to action before, but now I feel like I have to.'”

Things have changed in the past four months, organizers and activists told USA TODAY. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, sent troops into several Democratic-controlled cities, made massive changes to American health care and eroded First Amendment rights, they say.

“If you're not scared, you're not paying attention. These folks are serious. They are actively trying to take away your constitutional right to peaceful protest, and that is how authoritarian regimes work," said Indivisible cofounder Ezra Levin, another of the organizers. "They fear more than anything one thing, which is the mass, peaceful, organized population pushing back against their unpopular designs on the system."

In addition to Indivisble and Public Citizen, hosting organizations include long-standing activism groups like MoveOn, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and Working Families Power, along with multiple unions and grassroots groups like 50501 that have formed since Election Day 2024. The name "No Kings" comes from the organizers' belief that President Donald Trump is acting like a monarch rather than the leader of a democracy.

Altogether, 2,500 events are scheduled in big cities, suburbs and tiny towns across the nation, dwarfing the 1,800 scheduled before the June 14 protests of the same name. Anchor events are planned outside the Capitol in Washington, DC, and in Boston, New York, Atlanta, Kansas City, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans and Bozeman, Montana.

When asked to comment on the protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: “Who cares?”

'Very real and crucial'

Organizers with Worth Fighting For ‒ Routt County have planned a “mile long line for democracy,” with people waving signs along a major street in the Colorado mountain town of Steamboat Springs, said organizer Jacqueline Denny, 57.

Denny said about 1,500 people turned out in June and she expects more people Oct. 18 in response to ICE actions in the area.

“They are taking our people and terrifying our people, and that feels so much more personal,” she said.

She expects some people to protest over fears that public lands could be sold or destroyed. Others are likely to come out over Trump’s threats to crack down on protests, she said.

The need to demonstrate “feels very real and crucial right now,” Denny said.

What the GOP is saying

Two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, along with some congressional Republicans, have accused Democrats of prolonging the 2-week-old government shutdown for the sake of the "No Kings" mass protests. They say Democrats want to show party activists they are pushing back against the Trump administration.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News on Oct. 13 that he expected millions of attendees will be "part of antifa, paid protesters." (Antifa, short for "antifascist," is a loosely organized, leaderless group of activists whom Republicans often blame for public displays of violence.)

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said on Fox News Oct. 10 that Republicans were hearing Democrats wouldn’t reopen the government until after the rallies because “they can’t face their rabid base.” Activists have been upset with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York for voting with Republicans in March to avoid a government shutdown then.

"The theory we have right now ‒ they have a 'hate America' rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall," Johnson said. "It's all the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people; they are all coming out."

'The calvary is coming'

The rallies' organizers laughed off Republicans' claims that Democrats were keeping the government closed for them.

Still, Levin acknowledged the backdrop of the government shutdown and said activists were watching whether elected Democrats stand with them in opposition to Trump.

“I'm telling every elected Democrat now who I talk to that the cavalry is coming in on October 18th. We're going to have millions of people out, and if you are fighting back against this regime, if you're standing strong, they're going to be celebrating it,'" he said. "And on the flip side, if you surrender again, primary season is around the corner, and people are going to be looking for new leadership.”

The Washington protest is planned at the base of the Capitol. So far, only one member of Congress, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, is scheduled to speak.

Security concerns amid peaceful rallies

With National Guardsmen deployed in multiple large cities, organizers said some people may fear coming to the protests, but it is important to show up in large numbers.

Trump "wants to stifle speech. The best way to prevent your speech from being stifled is having so many people exercising their First Amendment rights together that he can't possibly arrest all of them,” Hunter Dunn, a national spokesperson for the protest group 50501, told USA TODAY. “And that's how you weaken him.”

Earlier protests held by this coalition have been overwhelmingly peaceful. Local organizers are required to undergo security and de-escalation training as part of setting up protests, they say.

"We're making really clear that what we want to achieve here is peaceful. We are taking to the streets to exercise our First Amendment rights and speak out. We are not planning anything in any way that could be misconstrued as violence. And we are working hard to protect people, providing lots of training and preparation and creating systems and mechanisms to make sure that people who turn out are safe," Public Citizen's Gilbert said.

Organizers are pushing back on Republicans' claims that the protests will be dangerous.

"What you'll see on No Kings II in October is a boisterous, joyful crowd expressing their political opinions in a peaceful, joyous way," Levin said. "People with dogs, people with kids, people with funny signs, music, dancing, laughing, community building, and a sense of collective effervescence that comes when you gather with a lot of people with a shared purpose.”

The "No Kings" protests aren't a place to cause trouble, said Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, which is mobilizing faith groups nationwide to participate.

“If you’re out there like really wanting to get arrested, there’s a place for that. No Kings is not that,” he said. “No Kings is joyfully showing up.”

Seema Kanani, a health care worker and naturalized citizen who attended the first "No Kings" protest as well as other protests since 2020, told USA TODAY she isn't afraid to attend.

"I deeply believe in nonviolence, protesting and organizing, especially being a person of East Indian heritage and being an immigrant myself,” she said. Instead, it's her teenage children who are worried she could be arrested, or worse.

"I always have to actually calm their anxiety more so than my own. But no, I am not at all worried because all of these protests, the one thing in common is they're peaceful."

Sarah D. Wire, a senior national political correspondent for USA TODAY, can be reached at swire@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘No Kings’ protests could draw historic turnout in pushback against Trump, organizers say

Reporting by Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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