WASHINGTON – Thousands of people gathered in the nation’s capital on Saturday, demonstrating and repeating a refrain: “No kings.”
They joined thousands of other gatherings across the country organized by Democratic groups and activists to protest President Donald Trump and his administration with a second round of “No Kings” rallies after an initial day of nationwide protest in June.
While many protesters spoke to NBC News about their dissatisfaction with Trump, a large number of liberal and left-wing protesters also made one more thing clear: They are also unhappy with their Democratic leaders.
“I don’t have a lot of faith in the Democrats right now,” Alex, a construction worker who traveled to Washington from northern Virginia on Saturday, told NBC News and declined to provide his last name. “They don’t… they don’t seem to have much guts or a single message. They’re just too disorganized to put up a good fight against these bulls…”
“It pains me to say it, but Trump’s thugs are fucking organized compared to the Democrats right now,” he added.
Clark Furey, 40, who lives in Washington, He called on elected Democrats to “elbow more.”
“We’re just taking it seriously and we’re not going to talk,” he told NBC News while attending the rally with his dog, Scooby. “You know, I think we need to nudge more. Unfortunately, the right way is not working.”
Jenny Wang, 35, who lives in Washington and attended the rally, used two words to describe how she feels about the Democratic Party right now: “disappointed” and “disappointed.”
Many of these grassroots Democrats are not alone.
Since Democrats lost the White House and Senate in 2024 and failed to flip the House, the party’s approval ratings have fallen to their lowest levels in decades.
Scott, 45, who lives in Washington and attended Saturday’s rally but did not want to share his last name, said he felt the Democrats were almost as bad as the Republicans.
“In general, the Democratic Party is also bought by corporate interests, and they fail to defend average working people,” he told NBC News.
He pointed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and their continued hesitancy to endorse Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Scott also noted Schumer’s decision to support Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, 77, for Senate over military veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner in the primary there.
“You can see it in their lack of interest in having the leadership support Mamdani in New York City. You can see it in their attempt to get an almost octogenarian candidate.” [in the] race in Maine to undermine progressives,” he said.
Amanda Nataro, 41, who lives in Washington and lost her government job earlier this year when the Trump administration made deep cuts to USAID, said she sensed that Democrats were too scared about losing their elections to take on Republicans.
Democrats rejected the Trump administration’s attempts to cut funding for USAID, which Congress appropriated last year, before the Supreme Court in September allowed the Trump administration to make $4 billion in cuts.
“I think they should all be at home in their states in these anti-Kings protests, to let people know that they support democracy. I think a lot of them are worried about keeping their seats in the purple states and having their seats flipped, and they’re missing an opportunity right here to show what democracy looks like, to speak out,” Nataro told NBC News at the rally. “I think they showed a little courage with the shutdown. But we could have done it in March. We let this go on too long before we took a stand.”
Many elected Democrats attended the No Kings protests on Saturday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., spoke to rally attendees in Boston. Schumer joined protesters in New York. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spoke to protesters in Chicago. Senator Andy Kim and Representative Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, addressed attendees at a protest against the Kings along with Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin in Montclair, New Jersey.
Despite their anger at Democrats, many protesters in Washington joined Nataro in acknowledging that elected leaders within their own party have taken recent steps to fight back.
Many praised Democrats in Congress for their opposition to a Republican-backed stopgap funding measure that would have kept the government open.
The federal government has been shut down for more than two weeks, and Democrats say they will vote with Republicans to fund it if GOP leaders agree to extend health care subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of this year.
“I’m happy they’re finally standing their ground,” Lydia, 44, who traveled to the rally from Springfield, Virginia, with her daughters, told NBC News.
“I know the shutdown sucks, especially since my brother’s not working right now. But I mean, it’s very effective,” added Lydia, who did not share her last name with NBC News. “It’s a very important thing. I know I can’t afford higher healthcare. [costs] and I don’t make a small amount of money.”
Laurel Beedon, 79, who lives in northern Virginia and attended the rally with a friend, acknowledged that Democrats in Congress can’t take much action while they are in the minority, but applauded their efforts to reduce health care costs.
“They are doing what they can against a thoughtless and enabling Republican majority,” he said. “I applaud you on health care.”
Many rally attendees also saw another ray of hope for Democrats in a new generation of leaders and activists.
In response to questions from NBC News about whose work are Satisfied with their party, protesters repeatedly dismissed the names of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Chris Murphy, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, Mamdani and Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow.
“Let’s get rid of much of the old guard and bring in new blood,” Wang said. “We have too many octogenarians and septuagenarians in Congress.”
