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EDMONDS—An estimated 7 million Americans (according to organizers) flooded streets, parks, and town squares across all 50 states on Saturday, October 18, in the latest wave of “No Kings” protests in solidarity to what they perceive as President Donald J Trump’s assault on Democracy with monarchical and authoritarian tendencies. Some 2,500 events were organized by a coalition of progressive advocacy groups including Indivisible, 50501 movement, MoveOn, American Civil Liberties Union, SEIU, American Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Government Employees.

Rallygoers at the No Kings event in Edmonds, attended by approximately 2,500 people, told the Lynnwood Times that they are concern of an “erosion of checks and balances” and the consolidation of power by the Executive Branch of government through executive orders. They were also critical of the Heritage Foundation’s (a conservative think tank) 900-page Project 2025, claiming that the Trump administration is following it to “gut Civil Rights” and push a far-right MAGA agenda.

Governor Bob Ferguson calls the Project 2025 agenda the gutting of abortion, implementation of mass deportations, limited access to the ballot box, rolling back LGBTQ+ rights, ending environmental protections, warrantless surveillance, the undermining of collective bargaining and the rights of workers, and more. Conservatives on the other hand argue that Project 2025 are strategies needed to dismantle bureaucratic overreach, and restore both constitutional principles and traditional values.

Demonstrations around the country remained overwhelmingly peaceful with marchers wearing inflatable costumes chanting “No kings! No kings!”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- LA04), speaking on Fox News on Saturday, dismissed the rallies as “hate-America protests” orchestrated by “radical Democrats” intent on undermining national unity.

“These aren’t patriots—they’re sore losers peddling division while our president works to make America great again,” Johnson said.

President Trump, meanwhile, took a mocking tone on social media, posting a video of himself donning a golden crown atop a fighter jet emblazoned with “King Trump” dropping brown liquid on protestors.

Governor Ferguson, attending the No Kings protest in Everett vowed to not “bend a knee to this autocrat [Trump]. Ever.”

Having transitioned from Attorney General to Governor in January 2025, Ferguson has continued his aggressive legal and rhetorical pushback against the second Trump administration, building on his record of nearly 100 lawsuits during Trump’s first term—winning 55 of them.

Back in November 2024, before taking office, Ferguson announced a Transition Team subcommittee solely focus on protecting Washingtonians Project 2025. In February 2025, he publicly condemned President Trump’s executive actions to halt federal funding for states, such as Washington, resisting immigration crackdowns and DEI initiatives.

Ferguson defied a cease-and-desist letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in August 2025, that demand Washington state to end its sanctuary policies—Keep Washington Working Act. In a fiery speech, Ferguson rejected threats of funding cuts and criminal charges, declaring, “We will not bend the knee to a Trump Admin that drags us closer to authoritarianism,” and promised to protect law-abiding immigrants.

Later in August Ferguson criticized Trump’s executive order federalizing National Guard units for immigration enforcement calling it “fascism.” He has also publicly supported calls to limit Trump’s National Guard deployments to states such as California, Illinois, and Tennessee to combat crime and attacks against federal ICE agents.

During Sunday Mornings Futures with host Maria Bartiromo, President Trump said that he is considering invoking the Insurrection Act against San Francisco and other “woke” cities that he claims are unsafe due to “fake politicians” who resist “safety.”

During Saturday’s No Kings protest in Edmonds, businessman and prominent progressive mega-donor Rick Steves lambasted the “dictator thing snowballing” under Trump, whom he portrayed as “the ultimate con artist” orchestrating a “coup from within.”

“Our president has even got a name for us. We are the enemy from within. And the troops are primed and ready,” Steves warned adding “it’s actually getting scary to talk openly.”

Steves mocked Trump’s kingly aspirations—”What’s next, a dollar coin with his face on it? Buckle up, Mount Rushmore”—while urging the crowd to chant back: “No! Kings! Louder! No! Kings!”

Steves reserved sharp barbs for MAGA Republicans, whom he accused of hijacking the GOP and prioritizing “one supreme leader more than we need democracy.”

“There’s a big difference between principled Republicans and the MAGA Republicans that have taken over the Grand Old Party,” he said, longing for “the healthy debate between practical Republicans and idealistic Democrats.”

Steves, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $15 million according to Celebrity Net Worth, decried the Republican economic playbook as a facade: “MAGA Republicans are hell bent on defunding and shrinking our government, not to save money, but to empower the billionaire class… Trillions in tax cuts to the rich, claiming to cut the deficit. Either that’s an intentional lie or they’ve got to learn some arithmetic.”

Steves dismissed the $174 billion in revenue collected from tariffs according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement for September 2025 and the One Big Beautiful Bill as MAGA “lies,” calling them “not beautiful… a hidden tax. They are regressive. They’re based not on wealth but on consumption. That is a billionaire’s favorite tax.” Preliminary estimates suggest October 2025 collections could exceed $30 billion potentially pushing the total tariff revenue for 2025 well above $200 billion by December.

Steves was highly critical of the Trump administration dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program for its America First agenda. He argued that the defunding of USAID not only dooms lives abroad but erodes America’s “soft power” and global brand, silencing the Voice of America in favor of authoritarian echoes.

“It’s been destroyed to save $40 billion,” Steves said. “That’s a pittance on our national budget. At what cost? In the poorest corners of our world, there’s mass starvation, child mortality is spiking… An estimated 500,000 people have died in the last couple of months because we’ve zeroed out USAID and millions more are on the way.”

The state of the country, in Steves’ view, teeters on fragility: “History is not speaking to us right now. It is screaming at us… Democracies can be fragile and many, many times they slowly slide into authoritarianism.”

He expounded on what he called a dictator’s “playlist”—loyalty oaths, scapegoating, emergency power grabs, and paramilitary intimidation—likening President Trump’s threats to medieval kings displaying “bloody heads… on pikes at the city gate” or Mussolini’s thugs terrorizing voters.

The 70-year-old travel writer, TV host, and tourism personality, is known far beyond the Seattle area for his enthusiastic and informative travel programming, specifically the popular Emmy-winning PBS series Rick Steves’ Europe show. During his address to rally goers, he warned that institutions, including the IRS and PBS, branded the “deep state,” are “the very institutions that make America great.”

He warned of the rise of Christian nationalism in Trump’s second administration, decrying it as “a distortion of the Christian faith.”

“It focuses on power,” said Steves. “It turns God into a mascot for the state… For a Christian nationalist, love thy neighbor has been trumped by racism, greed, and the pursuit of power. This is not the way of Jesus.”

He plugged a upcoming local forum on the topic of Christian Nationalism at Edmonds Methodist Church, featuring Methodist Bishop Cedric Bridgeforth and Lutheran Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee—Steves’ partner—before cautioning: “Beware when a dictator hugs a flag next to your altar. He’s stealing your faith and using it against your freedom.”

“I’m just hoping and praying that these rallies embolden Republican legislators to be brave and grow a little red, white, and blue spine,” Steves concluded. “We need to show them that the real risk to their beloved power is not to be primaried from the Right and be more Trumpy, but to be outvoted from the center, from conservative citizens who are also pro-democracy.”

Other speakers at Edmonds City Park were Washington State Senators Marko Liias (D-Edmonds) and Jesse Salomon (D-Shoreline), Edmonds City Councilwoman Chris Eck, Lynnwood City Council Vice President Joshus Binda, and Mountlake Terrace City Council candidate Sam Doyle.

Washington State emerged as a vibrant hub of resistance hosting dozens of other No Kings events that drew well over a hundred thousand throughout the state.

The No Kings rally and march in Seattle drew an estimated nearly 90,000 participants, according to preliminary counts from organizers with Seattle Indivisible. The march from Seattle Center stretched more than a mile through downtown, according to SPD.

The Seattle Center event was organized by a coalition including Seattle Indivisible, North Seattle Progressives, Wallingford Indivisible, Evergreen Resistance, and West Seattle Indivisible, and featured progressive figures like U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA07) and state Rep. Jessyn Farrell and environmental advocate Heather Weiner.

“We’re here to remind Trump that the Pacific Northwest doesn’t bow to bullies,” Farrell declared.

Jayapal branded President Trump a “wannabe king,” citing his administration’s moves to consolidate authority, stifle opposition, and overhaul key federal agencies. She called on residents to push back via “nonviolent noncooperation”

For months she as been hosting resistance events of her own which she is calling “Resistance Labs,” held virtually every Sunday. These Resistance Labs were developed by experts who have researched and studied democratic backsliding across the world as well as in the United States, Rep. Jayapal says, with an emphasis on non-violent movements that have emerged to challenge authoritarian leaders.

The training sessions draw from many toolkits for effective tactics and frameworks, as well as from Rep. Jayapal’s own background leading organizing movements for economic and social justice over the last two decades.  

Author: Mario Lotmore