‘No Kings’ protest organizers project a large turnout Saturday : NPR

Organizers of the No Kings protests predict that millions of Americans will demonstrate against the Trump administration's policies on Saturday amid continued ICE arrests and deployment of security forces. National Guard troops to several Democratic-controlled cities across the country.

“The goal here is to show solidarity, to organize, to protect our democracy and to protect each other and our communities, and just to say that enough is enough,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that is one of the organizers of the protest.

“We watched the Trump administration abuse power and millions of people took to the streets in June,” she said.

Some Republicans condemned the protests as un-American. This was stated by Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson. “Hate America Rally.”

This summer, crowds of demonstrators protested against the army's actions. 250th anniversarywhich coincided with President Trump's birthday. To mark the date, Trump insisted on holding a large military parade, which critics said was intended to honor Trump as much as the military.

Now protesters say they are speaking out about what they say are injustices being perpetrated against suspected undocumented immigrantsand also ineffective health systemattempts to tilt elections, and other grievances.

Organizers said on the No Kings website: “The President believes his rule is absolute. But in America we have no kings, and we will not back down from chaos, corruption and cruelty.”

The White House responds: “Who cares?”

Asked about the planned protests and accusations that Trump is acting like a monarch, White House press secretary Abigail Jackson responded: “Who cares?” She had no further comments.

In June, organizers estimated that 5 million people took part in a day of No Kings protests across the country in more than 2,000 events.

They are predicting an even larger turnout this weekend.

Harvard sociologist and assistant professor of public policy Liz McKenna said movements of this size had been successful in influencing social change in the past, but their effectiveness had declined significantly since the turn of the century.

“We're not even a year into the Trump administration, and so I think the organizers' strategy is to show that 'we're not backing down,'” McKenna said.

But she added: “We have seen millions of people take to the streets not only in the United States but around the world, and in many, if not most, cases the protests have failed to achieve their stated goals and in some cases even backfired.”

McKenna cited recent large-scale protests such as Black Lives Matter and Women's March Trump's first term, which were highly visible but did not necessarily lead to lasting change.