No Kings, No Trump, No War Protesters Resist a Fascist America

Phil Pasquini

29 March 2026: Across the US in over 3,000 protests and in countries around the world, the “No Kings III” protests on March 28 brought activists, citizens, and those concerned about the erosion of our democracy, along with anti-war protesters into the streets calling for “No Kings, No ICE, No War.” The collective message was that “When our families are under attack and costs are pushing people to the brink, silence is not an option. We will defend ourselves and our communities against this administration’s unjust and cruel acts of violence. America does not belong to strongmen, greedy billionaires, or those who rule through fear. It belongs to us, the people.”

Expected to be the largest protest in American history, organizers were not disappointed by the massive turnout that saw millions of people display their disapproval for the Trump regime’s handling of the US government since his inauguration last year. Trump’s poll numbers today were reported as the lowest of his second term in office. The administration in response stated that “The only people who care about these ‘Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions’ are the reporters who are paid to cover them.” One protest sign debunking the administrations narrative of protesters being paid to attend, said simply: “We hate Trump for free.”

Working class Americans and others are fed up with Trump’s erratic behavior, forever wars, attacks on immigrants and civil rights, ICE, high gasoline, utilities and food prices, stock market value erosion, along with the lack of affordable housing and healthcare and more under the social re-engineering plan inspired by Project 2025 and implemented by the regime. Protest signs covered all these and many other matters along with the looming threat of interference in mid-term elections while overwhelming calling for No Kings! One protest sign said it all, noting that we have “governed ourselves as a nation without a king for 91,211 days.”

The illegal Netanyahu/Trump war for oil that will result in the deaths of many more innocent people in the growing conflict zone along with the attendant global economic blowback was not lost on protesters both here at home and around the world in Rome, Paris, and other cities.

In Nairobi, Kenya, protest organizers encouraged participants to “Join us as we stand in solidarity with the No Kings movement in the US — opposing authoritarianism and white supremacy under the Trump administration and recognizing the global impact of these forces beyond US borders.” Included, along with the protest there, was a “Teach-in session on the impact of the Trump Administration in Africa, Whys and Hows of voting” and on contacting your elected officials from abroad to inform them of your concerns.

At this week’s cabinet meeting, Trump, who is now seeking a $200 billion appropriation from Congress for his war, was busy touting his ‘Art of the Deal’ bargaining skills during a five-minute discourse regarding a conversation he supposedly had with the Sharpie pen company president in negotiating a discount from the manufacturer for bulk purchases of the pens he uses to sign official documents and executive orders. His skills landed the “bargain” price of $5 for each $1 to $2 pen that included, compliments of the company he claimed, an image of the White House and his signature in gold. The only problem, however, was after being contacted by the Washington Post, they reported the pen company had no record of any such conversation having ever taken place.

As the world slips ever more rapidly into social, political and economic chaos, the “leader of the free world” busies himself by negotiating the cost of Sharpie pens, to keep government costs down while being unconcerned by the ongoing global turmoil he has created, not unlike Roman Emperor Nero who has been attributed with fiddling as Rome burned, an apt analogy in showing a profound lack of leadership and empathy through trivial self-aggrandizement.

Perhaps Trump could utilize his “amazing negotiating skills” and “diplomatic prowess” to lower the price of gas and in ending his illegal war, an undertaking that will elude him as he is in over his head to end the conflict, because Iran will not be intimidated by his rhetoric, demands, or threats no matter how he “feels in his bones” when the war is over.

[Phil Pasquini is an experienced photojournalist with a demonstrated history of working in international affairs and journalism across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. Courtesy: Countercurrents.org, an India-based news, views and analysis website, that describes itself as non-partisan and taking “the Side of the People!” It is edited by Binu Mathew.]

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Another article by Stephen Millies, How Do We Get from ‘No Kings Day’ to No Billionaires?, published in Struggle-La Lucha adds (extract):

April 1, 2026: Eight million people demonstrated across the United States on March 28, against Trump in the third “No Kings Day.” There were protests in 3,300 communities in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Some were huge, like in New York City, where more than 300,000 marched or Minneapolis, where as many as 200,000 protested. Tens of thousands also turned out in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Philadelphia’s march stretched a mile.

These millions represent the vast majority of the working class that hates Trump and opposes Big Oil’s war against Iran. Many sympathize with the Palestinians.

Outrage against the ICE kidnappers helped fill the streets. That was certainly the case in Minneapolis, where Renée Good and Alex Pretti were assassinated by the anti-immigrant gestapo.

Socialist organizations joined many of these protests. So did community groups. They raised anti-war and anti-racist slogans that were welcomed by participants.

Their signs and banners pointed the way forward. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets defending Palestinians and immigrants were distributed.

In New York City and elsewhere, union contingents participated. Among them were SEIU 1199 Hospital Workers and National Nurses United.

It was the Black Lives Matter movement that paved the way for the No Kings Day protests. Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian communities built a movement from the ground up that swept the United States in 2020.

The crowd in Manhattan’s big march was largely older, although there were plenty of younger folk as well. It was also predominantly white, although many thousands of Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous people marched, particularly in the union contingents.

Reactionary commentators on Fox News and elsewhere have emphasized this, as if Trump’s Nuremberg-style rallies are diverse. It’s a good thing that millions of white people are marching against racism and war.

[Courtesy: Struggle-La Lucha, a US based socialist publication.]