The recent “No Kings” protests, which erupted nationwide over the weekend, have unveiled a striking contradiction among those opposing former President Donald Trump. These demonstrations, primarily targeting Trump’s policies, were largely populated by upper-middle-class suburban white individuals—the very group that has benefited from the economic measures implemented during Trump’s tenure, such as a thriving stock market and stringent crime policies. In Atlanta, where the majority of residents are Black, the protest crowd on Saturday was predominantly white, despite them comprising only 38 percent of the city’s population.

Elsewhere across the U.S., similar protests took place in major cities like Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles. However, the diverse outreach that the progressive, “woke” Democrats often champion seemed lacking. The gatherings were mostly attended by white, affluent, and older suburbanites, brandishing placards that drew parallels between Trump and Adolf Hitler and likening ICE to the Gestapo. Hollywood luminaries such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Glenn Close, and Spike Lee lent their presence to these protests, further highlighting the demographic skew. The focal point of their dissent was Trump’s immigration policy, described by the protestors as inhumane, although it remains popular among a significant portion of the electorate for fulfilling a key campaign pledge.

According to a recent Daily Mail survey conducted by JL Partners, 48 percent of Americans support Trump’s border policies, which rank just behind his efforts for peace in Gaza in popularity. Economically, suburbanites with investments like 401ks and real estate have witnessed substantial gains since Trump assumed office in 2016, with the S&P 500 alone seeing a 6 percent rise in 2025. CNN commentator Batya Ungar-Sargon highlighted the evident disconnect between the protesters and the less privileged communities they purportedly advocate for, underscoring a poignant disparity in representation and benefit.

‘These protests were overwhelmingly white, they were overwhelmingly elderly people. White boomers have the right to have a mass therapy session about the fact that Donald Trump won — but to call it a No Kings protest, to act like he is a king, is so utterly preposterous,’ the journalist said. ‘This is a man who won the popular vote, he won every swing state, he is a person who is enacting the exact agenda he promised he was going to enact while he was campaigning, and so what they are actually protesting is the absolute perfection of American democracy.’ One commentator, Reggie Brun, told his followers on X: ‘No kings rally was all old white people’.

The No Kings protests began in June, coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday and a military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the US Army. Since then, the protests have continued, with organizers claiming that seven million people marched in Saturday’s event in all 50 states. Demonstrators coalesced around the idea that Trump is an authoritarian dictator, citing his crackdown on migrants, attacks on the media and prosecution of political opponents. ‘I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,’ 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman said as she marched down Broadway in New York.

‘We are in a crisis — the cruelty of this regime, the authoritarianism. I just feel like I cannot sit home and do nothing.’ Trump shrugged off the marches as he flew back to Washington DC on Sunday. ‘I’m not a king,’ the president said. ‘I work my [expletive] off to make our country great.’ The older, white crowd was noticed by commentators across the media landscape. Lindell TV anchor, Allison Steinberg, said: ‘ The funny thing is the protests didn’t seem too diverse, in fact, they appeared to be primarily comprised of old, white liberals. You know, the old hippie crowd who never grew up.’ The same theme was noticed at Fox News where contributor Katie Pavlich pointed out ‘this is the parade of the woke , white liberals’.

Pavlich said it was the same demographic who attended the Women’s March after Trump was first inaugurated in 2017, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, and outside federal agencies during the DOGE cuts earlier this year. ‘They just show up when they feel they have something to say, even if it’s counterintuitive to what they’ve been saying before,’ said Pavlich. Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez agreed but argued the group was split into two factions, the older liberal boomer crowd, and more radical left-wing agitators who seek to incite violence.

‘There were two different factions of protesters: one faction who had no idea why they were there, no idea why they were protesting, they were simply programmed by CNN or whatever liberal mainstream media they’ve been listening to,’ Hernandez said. ‘You had the other faction of protesters who were there to call for political violence against their opposition, so I read signs reading: “All Nazis go to hell,” and of course it was MAGA supporters and it was ICE that were depicted as said Nazis.’ It was not possible to independently verify the organizers’ attendance figures. In New York, authorities said more than 100,000 gathered at one of the largest protests, while in Washington, crowds were estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 people.

Trump’s response to Saturday’s events was typically aggressive, with the president posting a series of AI-generated videos to his Truth Social platform depicting him as a king. In one, he is shown wearing a crown and piloting a fighter jet that drops what appears to be sludge on anti-Trump protesters.