#no-kings
3 entries with this tag
Trump's Multi-Front Assault on How Americans Vote — a Mail-Ballot Executive Order, a Bid for a National Voter Database, Citizenship-Document Demands, and a Rushed USPS System That Could Reject Ballots in Bulk — Has Run Into a Wall of Public Rejection: Mail Voting Is Popular Across Both Parties, Voters Tell Pollsters His Fraud Claims Are "BS," and His Broader Power Grab Drew One of the Largest Protest Days in American History
Trump has spent 2026 waging a coordinated campaign against how Americans vote — an executive order directing the Postal Service to restrict mail ballots, an effort to compile a national database of voters' private data, demands that registrants produce documents like birth certificates and passports, and, as a whistleblower recently revealed, a rushed USPS system that could reject entire batches of ballots. The stated rationale is "election integrity" and the specter of noncitizen voting. The problem for Trump is that Americans are not buying it, and the backlash has been broad and measurable. Mail and early voting are popular across party lines — Pew found 60% of Americans, including 37% of Republicans, believe people should be able to vote early or absentee without an excuse. CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, summarized the polling bluntly: voters feel Trump is "full of it. Full of BS" on mail voting, the attacks "aren't sticking," and he'd be better off moving on. The rejection extends beyond surveys: the "No Kings" mobilization against Trump's imperial turn filled all 50 states with more than 3,300 events, among the largest single-day protests in U.S. history, and roughly 43% of registered voters say they support it, while a Navigator poll found 52% of Americans describe the federal government as "authoritarian." The through-line is that Trump is attacking a voting method his own voters like, on a fraud premise the evidence does not support, and the public — in polls and in the streets — is pushing back.
No Kings Turns One: While Trump Holds a Cage Fight on His Birthday, America Responds with Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, and 500 Watch Parties
On June 14 — Trump's 80th birthday, the one-year anniversary of the first No Kings protest, and the day of his UFC cage fight on the White House lawn — the No Kings Coalition responded with "Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment." Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, Bette Midler, Rufus Wainwright, Joy Reid, and drag queen Peppermint performed at The Town Hall in New York City, livestreamed to nearly 500 watch parties in living rooms, churches, breweries, and community centers across the country. The Committee for the First Amendment — originally formed in 1947 during McCarthy, relaunched by Fonda in 2025 — co-hosted with Indivisible and the No Kings Coalition. The movement that began with 5 million a year ago, grew to 9 million in March 2026, now pivoted from mass marches to hyper-local infrastructure. While Trump watched cage fights behind bulletproof glass, America sang.
"No Kings" III: Largest Single-Day Protest in U.S. History — 8-9 Million Across 3,300+ Cities
The third "No Kings" protest is believed to be the largest single-day protest in U.S. history: 8-9 million people across 3,300+ events in all 50 states. Springsteen headlined. Nearly half the events were in GOP strongholds. The White House dismissed it as "leftist funding."