No Kings Day, The Largest Protest in American History
By Hugh Cochrane, Staff Writer
On the morning of Oct. 18, 2025, people across the country gathered around roads, parks and government buildings to protest against President Donald Trump and his various policies, specifically on immigration issues and ICE raids across the nation. Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson shared responses in press releases and on social media where Johnson called them “hate America rallies,”. Trump responded to the protest with various AI videos on social media.
Among the AI videos that Trump posted, there was one that stood out; it depicted Trump, wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet that had “King Trump” painted on the side. In the video he takes off and drops massive amounts of feces on protesters in Democratic cities. This video sparked outrage across the nation, and even got a response from Johnson, who claimed the video was “satire.” The video is to “Danger Zone” by Kerry Loggins, who released a statement on Oct. 20. He said that “nobody asked for my permission” and that if he was asked he “would have denied” the right to use the song. This is just one of many times the president has used an artist’s song without permission.
In total there were well over seven million people protesting across the country, surpassing the previous No Kings Day back in June, which had about five million people protesting.
The larger response was provoked by Trump’s federalization of the National Guard. He has been using the Guard to support ICE and local police forces to quell protests and to peacekeep, which has led to escalation of the situation, bringing more people to the protests as well as leading to the deaths of several protesters.
Here in Santa Rosa the No Kings Protest was centered in Doyle Park with over 10,000 people gathering in the park and on Sonoma Avenue. The park and the area around the French American Charter was filled with thousands of people talking, singing, dancing, and overall having a good time. This is the second No Kings protest in Santa Rosa, with the last one being in June in Montgomery Village.
One of the biggest standouts were the dozens of people in costumes, and the many large puppets, worn on the shoulders of people were seen. The most common costumes were blow-up tree frogs. These frog costumes are a callback to the protests in Portland where many people have worn these costumes; this includes,most famously, when one person got pepper sprayed by law enforcement into the costume's vent. The protester came out unharmed and said that he had eaten “spicer tamales before.”
One of the people in the frog costumes, a man named Josh, who requested that his last name is not used, came to the protest wanting to “bring the laughter” a common sentiment among the people who show up in these costumes. Josh also said that he wanted to “make a mockery of an absurd situation,” referring to Portland.
Another symbol that was seen at this protest was a group of women depicting handmaids from the book The Handmaid's Tale. They donned these outfits to protest some of “the policies that the Trump administration is promoting,” policies that they said are “going to have us end up just how we are.” They were referencing these women from the book, who are forced to bear children for higher members of society. And she claimed that “they are taking it as an instruction manual.” The book The Handmaid’s Tale has recently become a major political symbol after the overturning of Roe v. Wade back in 2022, which sparked major conversations about women’s rights in America.
There were also several political organizations there. Of all of these groups, one that stood out was the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. The DSA is a political activist group whose main goal is to push for socialist policies in the US. The DSA’s main focus is, as the Sonoma County representative said, to “fight for the working class. The DSA’s most famous current member is Zohran Mamdani, a politician who is the mayor-elect for New York City. The Sonoma County chapter of DSA was at No Kings Day “to help the broader community” as the DSA is very active in organizing protests.
No Kings Day is just one example of the many protests that have happened across the history of our nation. Protesting is a right that is engrained in our nation’s very Constitution and is a right that the people will continue to use for many years to come.