With 8.2 Million at No Kings Day, we are Getting Closer to Regime Change

Up to 8.2 million people protested across the country on the second No Kings Day on October 18, 2025, according to the organizers. This massive turnout brings America closer to the “3.5% rule,” which can trigger regime change.

‘No Kings’ was the largest protest in US history.

The US population is 342,678,092, according to the US Census Bureau, meaning that the non-violent No Kings Day protests brought out 2.4% of the population.

The “3.5% rule” was developed in a 2011 study co-authored by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, which analyzed hundreds of resistance campaigns between 1900 and 2006.

The research found that no government has withstood a challenge from a nonviolent movement with the active participation of at least 3.5% of the population. It has never failed to bring about regime change.

The study found that nonviolent resistance campaigns were twice as likely to succeed as violent ones. It is this nonviolent tactic, which attracts broader participation, that is crucial to the rule.

While the 3.5% figure is a small minority, it shows that many more people sympathize with the movement, which erodes the government’s power base and makes mass repression difficult.

GOP panic reveals fear of mass resistance

Before the event, Republicans organized lookalike warnings of chaos and violence. However massive No Kings demonstrations across the country unfolded with remarkable calm. There were no viral moments of unrest, no fires or smashed windows — just citizens exercising their right to dissent.

• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) denounced them as a “hate America rally,” predicting “Hamas supporters,” “antifa types,” and “Marxists” would dominate the crowds.
• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) piled on, saying “you’ll see the hate for America all over this thing.”
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went even further by claiming their “main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.”

“That kind of coordinated outrage says a lot. When authoritarians fear mass dissent, they attack it before it happens,” wrote Taegan Goddard, Editor of Political Wire.

Afterwards, Trump put out this disinformation: “The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective, and the people were whacked out. When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country.”

Four Ways Trump Acts Like a King

Goddard also wrote, “it took me only a minute to come up with examples that prove the point”:

• He’s raised taxes without approval from Congress.
• He’s canceled programs that were duly enacted into law.
• He’s directed prosecutors to charge his political opponents despite little or no evidence.
• He’s deployed National Guard troops over the objections of state governors.

“Each of these actions reflects the kind of unchecked, unilateral power that America’s founders rebelled against. In fact, the list reads like an updated version of the Declaration of Independence’s grievances against King George III,” he said.

Comments from across the nation

Jamie Contreras, the executive vice president of Service Employees International Union: “On October 18 and every day, we’ll show the world what democracy looks like. No thrones! No clowns with crowns! No kings, just working people united in power to defend our democracy.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Saturday, millions of people are going to come out on No Kings day. Speaker Johnson said this is a hate America rally because people are coming out expressing their concerns. It’s not a hate America rally, it’s a love America rally.”

Indivisible Co-founder Leah Greenberg: “Republicans are blaming and smearing millions of Americans who are peacefully protesting because they have run out of excuses for their own failures. Republicans understand that Americans are blaming them for the shutdown, Americans are blaming them for out-of-control healthcare prices, and a rising affordability crisis.”

Robert De Niro: “We are rising up again this time, non-violently raising our voices to declare no kings. We’re all in this together, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) “We cannot be silent with this increasing militarization of our cities, the abuse of the Justice Department and the dismantling of science. People need to speak out, and it’s wonderful millions around the country are speaking out today.”

Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) “We are here to tell our lawmakers that what’s going on in our government is wrong. They must stop the abuses of this petulant president and his circle of sycophants. No thrones, no crowns, no kings.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) “In this moment, in which we are seeing a president and an administration arrogating to himself power that doesn’t belong to him, our message is very clear. This is not about the people in power, it’s about the power in the people.”

Joel Lesko (Ashland, Oregon) The day was about “joyfully celebrating our love for America, for free speech, for the importance of community and using our voices for diversity and inclusion and democracy.”