Thousands of protesters opposing broad swaths of President Trump’s agenda took to the streets across the United States on Monday, calling Mr. Trump a “king” on Presidents’ Day for his efforts to terminate thousands of federal workers and to fire prosecutors and independent watchdogs within the federal government.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump suggested on social media that he would not heed concerns that his sweeping actions could be breaking laws, posting a riff on a phrase often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte: “He who saves his country does not violate any law.”
“No king, no crown, we will not back down,” chanted those who gathered a few hundred feet from the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall in Washington.
Many protesters opposed to Mr. Trump’s agenda embraced symbols of patriotism, waving flags and wearing heart-shaped earrings and beanies adorned with the U.S. flag. The members of an a cappella group sang the national anthem by the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The audience burst into applause after the final line: “And the home of the brave.”
“It’s our anthem. It’s our flag. It belongs to us,” said Shawn Morris, the president of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C. “We wanted to take it back.” Mr. Morris said he was deeply troubled by Mr. Trump’s moves to push transgender people out of the military and to erase any mention of them from federal government websites. He expressed concerns that protections for same-sex marriages could be threatened next.
“There’s nothing more patriotic than fighting against tyranny,” said Kat Duesterhaus, who traveled from Miami to join the Washington protest. “We’re out here because we are patriots.”
The protests came as Democrats have struggled to counter Mr. Trump’s moves, with Republicans holding majorities in both the House and the Senate and Democratic leaders and operatives worried about alienating voters in reacting hastily without reflecting first on why they lost in 2024. Many activists, however, have voiced frustration at the lack of a more aggressive stance.
Kaitlin Robertson, a protest participant who does advocacy work for domestic violence survivors, carried an upside-down American flag and said the country was in “a constitutional crisis,” a term that some legal scholars have said fits the scope of the Trump administration’s assertions of executive authority in the face of legal challenges.
“It is a symbol of distress,” she said of the upside-down flag, which was also adopted by supporters of Mr. Trump in his effort to overturn the 2020 election he lost. “It is a good symbol for what’s happening.”
The major group organizing the protest identified itself as the 50501 movement, a grass-roots effort to push back against what it views as Mr. Trump’s second-term “overreach” in reshaping the government.
Sarah Parker, the executive director of 50501’s member organization Voices of Florida, said the nationwide protests were fueled by a post on Reddit. The conversation on Reddit gained traction as more people who were looking for ways to act on their frustrations about the Trump administration joined the conversation, she said.
Concerns on Mr. Trump’s agenda among protesters ran the gamut, including his foreign policies. Joseph Schiarizzi, a protester who was holding a NATO flag and described himself as leaning libertarian, said the Trump administration had been “trying to dismantle and sabotage” the military alliance by appeasing Russia on Ukraine.
“Appeasement doesn’t work,” he said.
Other protesters also blamed Congress for not doing enough to check the Trump administration. Nadya Downs, who led the chant “Where is Congress? Do your job,” said lawmakers needed to better challenge unilateral actions of the Trump administration.
“I’ve seen a lot of people mad about it in Congress,” she said. “But where’s the action?”
Similar rallies of varying sizes and names, some billed as “Not My Presidents’ Day” and others called “No Kings’ Day,” took place across the country, including at Union Square in New York; a post office in Nantucket, in Massachusetts; the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, Va.; and the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
The Sacramento Police Department estimated the crowd size at the Capitol at 1,200 to 1,500.
In New York, thousands of people marched from Union Square to Washington Square Park on Monday afternoon. Under the arch, they held up American flags and handwritten signs like “Stop the Coup” and “No Billionaire Kings,” alluding to the role of the tech billionaire Elon Musk in Mr. Trump’s efforts to shrink and remake the federal work force.
Dominic Santiago, 29, an artist from Flatbush, Brooklyn, said he came to show solidarity with other New Yorkers who opposed the Trump administration.
“I have faith because of these demonstrations,” he said. “I have faith that we can change things.”
Lillian Bacon, 25, a college student majoring in political science, said, “I’m here today to fight for democracy and fight for the liberty and dignity of all people.”
It was her first time participating in a public protest. She said she had become furious and disappointed with Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk and Republican leaders over what she saw as their violation of the constitutional separation of powers. “I’m hoping there will be solidarity among all American people even if they did vote for Trump,” she said.
Protesters also gathered on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol. Among them was Tanya Hollifield, an artist in Little Rock. “I took my sign that said ‘Fight Fascism Everywhere,’” she said.
“I think they’re tearing down the whole system of checks and balances, and the Elon Musk coup, or takeover, is one of the current things I’m really upset about,” she said.
In downtown Atlanta, a crowd gathered outside the State Capitol chanting: “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Elon Musk has got to go.” In Austin, outside the Texas Capitol, a video from a local CBS affiliate showed a woman, who identified herself as Kristin Jenn, taking the microphone while wearing a placard saying “Donald Trump stole my job.”
“The National Park Service was hit very hard on Friday,” she told the crowd. “A number of my co-workers lost their jobs. They cannot take away my job, force me to get a government handout and then call me a parasite.”
Ms. Jenn said she was middle-aged and earning less than $50,000 a year in her federal job. Organizers in Austin said their aim was to push back against Project 2025, a conservative think tank’s plan for a Republican presidency that has been mirrored in a series of Mr. Trump’s executive orders.
