In November of 2024, President Donald Trump took office as the United States’ 47th President. As a result, the No Kings movement was started. Protests all across the country began, including Claremont and dozens across Los Angeles (LA). Some were responded to with no violence, such as Claremont’s, but in LA, there were and still are civilians being persecuted.
Claremont will have its second No Kings protest on October 18th. The first was held on June 14, 2025, on Indian Hill and Foothill Boulevard, and about 5,000 Claremont residents came to support. When Trump took office, Democrats were worried about his beliefs, such as his opposition to gay marriage, abortion rights, and gun regulations. This apprehension boiled over when Trump declared that he would host a 90 million dollar military parade to celebrate the 205th anniversary of the US military on June 14th, 2025, which happened to be the date of his 79th birthday. This intentional coincidence outraged many Democrats, Generation Z youth, LGBTQ+ community members, and Trump objectors, especially since the money could have gone toward healthcare and housing homeless Americans.
Thus, Democrats began the No Kings protests. Civil activist groups across the country, such as the 50501 Movement, named June 14th “No Kings Day” to declare that America will not let a dictator or king run the country. Although the protest cooled down in late June, outrage was reignited when the military launched an air strike on Iran in late June. Though this war only lasted for a week, Democrats were not happy. More happened when the Epstein files revealed a document of people, mostly celebrities, who had gone to the famous Epstein Island. Trump had been pushing the release of the files back, which led many to suspect he was a bigger part of it, and many believed he was part of the group that had assaulted the girls on the island. This made citizens want to retaliate and host a second No Kings Day.
Moxie Moore, a Claremont High School student who attended the first No Kings Day protest, explained the impact of protesting.
“A lot of people think that protesting doesn’t do anything, and I disagree,” Moore said. “Even though it’s not like you yourself as a person are not going and impeaching Donald Trump, or going and changing the legislator, but a whole bunch of individual people have put in the amount of effort that they can, it all becomes a collective […] it makes an impact.”
After the first No Kings Day, the media began censoring activity surrounding the No Kings protests. Activists used codewords to trick the algorithm from shadowbanning their videos. They dubbed the protests as “Los Angeles Music Festivals 2025,” with ICE agents as “concert staff,” and protesters as “concert goers.” But the videos failed to reach as many people as before.
These protests have been met with violent responses from California Authorities. LA police have been deployed to multiple protests. CHS’s English, Yearbook, and Ethnic Studies teacher, Alice Kennedy, explains the misconception surrounding the protests in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been in LA multiple times protesting the presence of the National Guard and ICE,” Kennedy said. “The media did, in the beginning, cover the protests, and I think there was a lot of negative coverage of it; they were portrayed as riots […].”
Based on her experience in LA, she has a different perspective.
“When I went there, there were families out, people with babies, who were there because they truly believed in this cause […] it’s easier to say that this is happening on the streets of LA and show it as a war zone, almost, but that’s not the experience I had,” Kennedy said. “Did I see a large police presence? Yes. Were protesters being pushed back from areas they have the legal right to protest at? Yes. There were rubber bullets. There was a level of tension in the crowd, not from one another but from the authorities.”
Kennedy believes it is important for young people to speak up against injustice. There are still protests happening in LA that last until midnight, with violent responses. But no major media outlets are covering it. As protests continue, updates are only shared by protesters and bystanders. But, with the upcoming No Kings Day on October 18th, this story might take a complete turn.
