On October 18th, 2025, cities around the United States gathered thousands of participants in large-scale “No Kings Day” protests. These displays of resistance were centered around notion that there is no single king or monarchical system that exists within the U.S., and we’d like to keep it that way. The protests highlighted President Trump’s behavior in office, emphasizing America’s trajectory towards having a singular all-powerful ruler.
Although these demonstrations focused on combatting and warning Americans of that grim future, people also used it as a grounds to bring attention to other dire topics. These protesters have been prioritizing issues like dismantling ICE (Immigrations & Customs Enforcement), releasing the Epstein Files, and turning false allegations of violence and rioting at “No Kings Day” demonstrations around.
As someone who attended the protest in Seattle, Washington, which amassed around 90,000 people (an all-time record in Seattle’s history), I would like to bring attention to that final topic: the supposed violence occurring at these protests. It’s a common argument among supporters of President Trump to call demonstrations criticizing him highly violent, claiming that they require police intervention; however, this accusation is mainly thrown around to try and discredit the cause.
Seeing these remarks, protesters in Portland, Oregon began to dress in inflatable frog costumes, holding up signs that said things along the lines of “frogs against Trump” or “amphibians against fascism”. Meeting unbacked claims with further ridiculousness, protesters aimed to refute any attempts at labeling their demonstrations as acts of violence.
The use of inflatable costumes became such a widespread movement that at the protest in Seattle, I saw a large number of people in inflatable costumes as well. Dinosaurs, unicorns, axolotls, and eagles were all relentlessly promoting their pro-constitution objectives in a completely peaceful protest.
This is important to note because it shows Americans’ dedication to getting their messages across. If anyone was refusing to listen to protesters because they were being “violent”, then let them call an inflatable unicorn violent. Who sounds disreputable now?
Saturday’s No Kings Day protests exhibited how anti-monarchy demonstrators are willing to face and dismantle any argument thrown their way. By reclaiming control of the narrative written about their actions at protests, demonstrators helped reinforce their constitutional rights to free speech, at a critical moment in America’s history where it’s being challenged.
