Hundreds of thousands of people protest in the United States against Trump's authoritarianism.

WashingtonBanners with the slogans "Kings Out" and "Free DC" crowded Pennsylvania Avenue, just a few meters from the Capitol, in Washington at noon this Saturday. Some 100,000 people demonstrated in the streets of the capital in the second edition of protests with the slogan.No kings"[We don't want kings], convened in more than 2,600 locations across all 50 US states, to protest against Donald Trump's authoritarian drift and the militarization of the country. "I feel like all that frustration and anguish I've been building up these past few months is at least turning into useful anger here," explains one of the protesters, who remains anonymous. queer and Muslim, I feel like I could be the next target of his hatred," she adds, referring to Trump.

The protest once again calls out Trump's abuses, and especially the militarization of the country. It also coincides with the government shutdown, which is now in its second week as it takes advantage of the greater power to accumulate more power by freezing some programs. In total, more than 2,600 rallies have been called from coast to coast across the country, attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

"It's the first time I've attended a demonstration, and I'm afraid they'll identify me," explains John (not his real name). For days, Republicans have been attacking and delegitimizing the protest, calling it a "hate movement" ("hate rally"). House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said Friday that it was a "pro-Hamas" gathering with only "antifa," "Marxists," and "everyone who hates America" attending. It seems surreal; it's clearly a way to persecute all dissent. Since when is fighting fascism a bad thing?"

John, like so many others, wears a surgical mask and sunglasses. "Just in case." Many protesters have also come to the protest dressed as frogs, unicorns, or sharks, a nod to the tactics they've adopted in Portland, where, to debunk Trump's incendiary rhetoric—declaring the city a "war zone"—many people protest peacefully. "I don't know how they think it's a hate speech when people are dressed as frogs. Let alone how they think it's violent or that we want to turn the city into a war zone. Who goes to war dressed as a frog?" reflects Jennifer, who is wearing an inflatable suit.

The precedent

The first protest organized with the slogan "No kings" in June, which mobilized thousands of people across the country, ignored Washington. The date coincided with the military parade the US president held for his birthday. Furthermore, there were fears that he would use the protest as a pretext to deploy the National Guard. He had noted this in the days prior, saying that any dissent would be a threat." Then, Trump brought up another problem: the alleged insecurity in the city. This Saturday in Washington, demonstrators were also protesting against the military that has been deployed in their streets.

No kingsFrom then until this Saturday, only four months have passed, but Trump has already normalized the use of troops to solve internal problems and has raised the number of cities under siege to five. All of them Democratic. The threat of reservists invading Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois, remains hanging over the heads of the Democratic governors.

In both cases, federal judges temporarily blocked the entry of troops, finding that there was no situation of violence that justified it, contrary to Trump's claims, which he called these cities a "war zone." In Chicago, where troops remain at the city's gates, the administration continues to punish the population with Operation Midway Blitz.: Immigration agents are acting brutally. On Friday afternoon, Trump asked the Supreme Court to rule on the deployment of the National Guard. If the court rules in his favor, it would be a very dangerous precedent for giving him a free pass.