Demonstrators gathered across the United States on Sunday for the "No Kings" movement's fourth nationwide day of action, timed to President Donald Trump's 80th birthday and a UFC card he hosted on the White House South Lawn. Organizers framed the day as a defense of free-speech protections they say have come under pressure during Trump's second term.
The centerpiece was "Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment," a 90-minute show staged Sunday evening at The Town Hall in New York and livestreamed to hundreds of community watch parties around the country. The bill brought together performers and actors including Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, Bette Midler, Rufus Wainwright, Julia Roberts and Lily Gladstone.
The day was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, working with a coalition of progressive groups that included Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union and organizations affiliated with the 50501 Movement. Organizers cast the concert and the linked rallies as a celebration of the rights to speak, assemble and protest.
"No Kings" has become one of the largest recurring protest mobilizations of Trump's second term. Its first nationwide event, held last June on the day of a military parade in Washington, drew millions of participants across more than 2,000 locations by organizers' count, and subsequent days of action in the fall and spring also spanned thousands of sites.
Sunday's demonstrations unfolded against an unusually crowded backdrop. The protests fell on Flag Day and within the year-long run-up to the country's 250th anniversary, and coincided with Trump's birthday celebrations at the White House, where the president staged a mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn.
They also came as Trump announced that the United States and Iran had reached a deal to end their war — a conflict that anti-war messaging had made a recurring theme of recent "No Kings" gatherings. Organizers had pressed for an end to US military action in the Gulf, and the timing put the movement's signature protest and the president's biggest foreign-policy announcement on the same day.
The movement's organizers have consistently described the events as peaceful and family-oriented, leaning on music, flags and speeches rather than confrontation. Independent tallies of Sunday's turnout were not immediately available, and crowd-counting researchers have previously cautioned that reliable nationwide estimates take time to compile.