Thousands of protesters gathered at the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest President Donald Trump on Saturday. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

People across Wisconsin joined “No Kings” day protests held in cities across the U.S. Saturday, with thousands of protesters marching in the streets of Madison and Milwaukee. 

The protests took place on the same day as a military parade held in Washington D.C. on President Donald Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and in the wake of the Trump administration’s escalated response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Los Angeles. 

‘We will fight joyfully’: Thousands march through downtown Madison to protest Trump 

Thousands of people crowded into downtown Madison Saturday afternoon joining the nationwide “No Kings” protests against the administration of President Donald Trump. 

Protesters waved American flags right side up and upside down (a traditional signal of distress), as well as LGBTQ pride flags, Mexican flags and Ukrainian flags. Signs called for equality, criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and  compared Trump to dictators of the past. The crowd included trapeze artists, people in drag, Madison protest regulars the “Raging Grannies,” a 15-foot Statue of Liberty puppet and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia). 

The protest started on UW-Madison’s east Campus Mall, where the Women’s March hosted a “kick out the clowns” event. There, Madison resident Amanda G., who declined to give her last name, did hand stands on the grass next to a sign stating “hand stand against facism.” 

“When people engage in a struggle against facism, you need calm, focus and concentration,” she said, adding that those same qualities  are required for holding a hand stand as long as she could. 

A nearby group of protesters performed a skit featuring giant paper mache heads of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin debating how to start a dictatorship before they were surrounded by about 15 dancers dressed like the Statue of Liberty. 

When  the protesters began marching from the campus toward the Capitol,  hundreds of people were still flowing in the opposite direction  down State Street.  The combined crowd came together and headed  up the street towards the Capitol as onlookers cheered from the sidewalks. 

Madison police observed the marchers as they gathered at the Capitol from a rooftop across the street.

Cindy Reilly, a Sun Prairie resident who had joined the crowd on the mall, watched and chanted from the patio of a State Street bar. Reilly said the budget bill currently being moved through Congress by Republicans was her biggest reason for protesting on Saturday, saying Republicans are defunding programs that help people who are struggling while funding rich people.

“It’s important for people to tell Trump and Republicans we don’t like what they’re doing,” she said. 

When the crowd reached the Capitol square, Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, emceed a series of performances and speeches.

“We will fight joyfully, we will fight peacefully, in these streets for our democracy” Ramos said.

Georgia Sen. Rafael Warnock, who was in Wisconsin to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s annual convention in the Wisconsin Dells this weekend, spoke from the protest stage and  highlighted the assassination of a Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Saturday morning, the deployment of U.S. troops against protesters in Los Angeles and the detainment of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) at a Department of Homeland Security press conference this week. 

Warnock said that he often talks about the value of nonviolent protests, but it’s not protesters who are being violent. 

“I have said that to the activists,” Warnock said. “But somebody needs to say that to the Trump administration.” 

Throughout the first six months of the Trump administration, people have regularly called for more forceful opposition from elected Democrats. Warnock acknowledged those calls, while saying it will take work from people inside and outside the halls of power to fight Trump’s unpopular policies. 

“People like you are asking people in positions like mine to speak up,” Warnock said. “I’m going to do that, but we must work on the outside and the inside.” 

Protests wrap around multiple city blocks in Milwaukee 

More than  12,000 people  marched in the No Kings Day protest in Milwaukee, packing  Cathedral Square Saturday afternoon. Elderly people and military veterans, parents with young children and Milwaukee residents of all ages  turned out to denounce what some event speakers described as a fascist and authoritarian Trump administration. 

Most of the crowd gathered on  the grass at the center of the square in front of  a large stage while others stood off to the side in the shade. Law enforcement kept a low key profile during the protest, helping direct traffic and watching from rooftops. Several drones flew over the crowd throughout the protest, including some which legal observers believed were operated by law enforcement due to their size, complexity and because they seemed to land on the rooftops occupied by police.

For nearly an hour, the crowd listened to a procession of speakers including  local activists, community organizers and a retired U.S. attorney. Speakers expressed the grievances of the chanting, cheering crowd about the military parade being held in Washington, D.C.,  the deployment of active duty U.S.troops on American soil, immigration raids  and attacks on the judicial system including the arrest of Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, as well as threatened cuts to reproductive and gender affirming health care, attacks on workers rights, and the ongoing mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The crowd observed a moment of silence for Minnesota Democratic legislative leader Melissa Hortman who was the victim of a targeted assassination Saturday in what appeared to be a politically motivated attack.  

The protest march proceeded  east towards Lake Michigan and  past Museum Center Park, winding back into the downtown area to pass the federal courthouse, and restaurant-lined streets before returning to Cathedral Square. 

The march stretched for several city blocks. There was no evidence of property destruction or clashes with police , and counter protesters were nowhere in sight. 

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Thousands march through Portland, Oregon, after speeches from local officials and organizers as part of No Kings Day demonstrations nationwide on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt / Oregon Capital Chronicle)

With the nation’s capital hosting multimillion-dollar celebrations and a parade marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s birthday Saturday, huge No Kings demonstrations blanketed the country from coast to coast to protest the president’s actions that have left thousands without jobs and diminished government services.

Mac Farish, who was visiting Topeka, Kansas, from Portland, Oregon, said she felt joy to see hundreds of people attend a No Kings rally in a red state.

“A lot of people here might be lifelong Republicans, but we’re standing here together because there is a line where tyranny shows up,” Farish said.

Protesters rallied at more than 1,500 sites across the country as of mid-afternoon, according to No Kings national organizers, with 600 more events scheduled.

In Arizona, Phoenix resident Cindy Mendoza, 31, came to the Tempe rally with the colors of the Mexican flag painted on her face. She said that her family’s legal status in the country is mixed.

“We’re here to speak for those who can’t speak,” she said. “We love America. We love your people.”

Mendoza said that the recent immigration raids have created fear in her community.

“Some friends in construction … they went to the gas station and they got picked up,” Mendoza said. “They were up early heading to work, they stopped by the gas station to get gas and water, and they were taken.”

Repeated bursts of drenching rain Saturday didn’t deter thousands of Hoosiers amassing at the Indiana Statehouse.

“Our immigrants are not getting their due process and people are being snatched out of their schools and workplaces. We’re worried that equality is not (getting) attention too,” said Rhonda Clair. “We just want people to be treated with dignity and respect and we’re not seeing that.”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen issued a state of emergency and activated the National Guard ahead of No Kings events, citing the reaction to recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

Still, around 2,000 people turned out in Lincoln, Nebraska, for a peaceful protest, and at least 11 other cities were part of the demonstrations statewide.

Trenton Morales, 17, said he came out to protest against the workplace immigration raid in Omaha this week and other similar raids nationally.

“My grandpa recently got deported,” Morales said. “That’s one reason why I’m out here.”

E.J. Martinez Elementary teacher Jennifer Lopez carried a sign in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that read, “I’m here for my students who are living in fear.”

“It’s not only about immigration,” she said. “It’s also trans students; students who have gay parents. It’s all women. We’ve had families who are worried about bringing their kids to school when this all started. We’ll see what it’s like when the school year starts again. I’ve had kids who have had a lot of anxiety about the rights for trans kids being taken away.”

What does she tell them?

“We just have to have hope and to fight,” she said.

In Colorado, Emily Baxter, a 23-year-old Boulder resident, said she also joined the Denver protest to object to the Trump administration’s extreme immigration enforcement actions.

“I am very, very mad about all of the people being taken off of the street and those who are going to work and not coming home and the children who are losing their parents and losing their livelihood,” Baxter said.

The protest comes after multiple demonstrations in Denver against deportation efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including a march to an ICE detention center in Aurora on Monday and a large gathering at the Capitol on Tuesday evening. Law enforcement deployed smoke and pepper balls against a group of protesters that marched near the interchange of Broadway and Interstate 25 on Tuesday and made 18 arrests related to the demonstration.

Thousands rallied peacefully in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, along with at least 18 communities across the state. Community advocates gave speeches calling to protect democracy, equal rights and due process, followed by a march a few blocks to the Park Strip where a Juneteenth celebration was kicking off.

Tessa Gonzalez, a pediatrician, attended the demonstration of thousands at the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. Her 8-year-old daughter and potential cuts to Medicaid moved her family to join the rally. The child has a rare genetic mutation and requires a specialized wheelchair.

“My daughter, 100% depends on Medicaid to provide the medicine, equipment — everything that she needs to lead a happy, healthy life,” Gonzalez said. “So it’s essential.”

Protesters in Georgia evoked the name of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. during a rally near the Gold Dome in Atlanta with signs that read, “Our only king is MLK Jr.!!!” 

Anna Yousaf, an infectious disease doctor who works with vaccines at the CDC, told the Georgia Recorder she came out to oppose Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who she said is undermining public trust in vaccines to deadly effect.

“Disinformation used to be coming from non-governmental sources,” she said. “Now, RFK Jr. is hijacking political organizations like the CDC, like the FDA, and using our name brand, if you will, to spread disinformation. And so people who would ordinarily go to a CDC resource for trusted information, now they’re going to get disinformation from the health secretary of the United States.”

“If he succeeds in his crusade to undermine vaccine confidence and restrict access, we will see thousands of people die, mostly children,” she added.

Massive crowds crossed the Broadway Street bridge in Little Rock, Arkansas, where 15 demonstrations were expected across the state.

“June 14, Flag Day, is when President Donald Trump is holding a military parade in the nation’s capital, wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars as a birthday gift to himself while his administration defies checks on his power, undermines our civil rights and tries to strip away essential benefits from veterans, seniors, hungry children and others,” Indivisible NWA, the organizers of the No Kings protest in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said in a press release.

The No Kings protests top off a week of mostly nonviolent demonstrations building around the country in response to ICE raids and in solidarity with Los Angeles, where Trump sent troops in defiance of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, was forcibly removed and handcuffed by federal authorities Thursday during Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles. Thousands gathered across the city for demonstrations opposing ICE and Trump policies anyway.

In Maine, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree attended a rally in York, handing out red roses to marchers. “People are angry. They want to know what to do, want to do something. They want to fight back,” she said.

Craig Carscallen from Lyman, Maine, said, “I hope it influences our elected officials, if they want to get reelected.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted one message on social media Saturday, not mentioning the crowd outside his office but rather Army anniversary. “As Americans, we carry the sacred duty to remember, to reflect, and to protect the freedoms that generations of our countrymen have fought to secure.”

Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, appeared in Tallahassee and posted video comments on social media. “I’m standing on the Old Capitol steps as hundreds and hundreds of Americans are here showing up today to tell Donald Trump, ‘No Kings in America.’ We’re going to fight for our Constitution, fight for our democracy,” she said.

Saturday’s protests coincided with the 250th anniversary of the Army. A military parade marked the occasion in D.C., where critics have blasted the parade’s cost and optics as Congress weighs the budget reconciliation package that proposes massive cuts to safety net programs.

Earlier this week, Trump said that protests at the Army parade “will be met with very heavy force.”

The U.S. Capitol Police told States Newsroom that protesters were arrested outside the Capitol late Friday after they pushed down bike rack barriers around the building and began running for the Rotunda steps. Veterans for Peace, a group that organized the demonstration, posted photos of the arrests on social media and of several demonstrators wearing “Veterans Against Fascists” t-shirts. Among those arrested was an elderly Vietnam veteran using a walker, Capitol Police confirmed.

Niki Kelly and Whitney Downard of Indiana Capital Chronicle, Ainsley Platt of Arkansas Advocate, Sara Wilson of Colorado Newsline, Corrine Smith of Alaska Beacon, Julia Goldberg of Source New Mexico, Sherman Smith of Kansas Reflector, Ross Williams of Georgia Recorder, Cassandra Stephenson of Tennessee Lookout, Juan Salinas of Nebraska Examiner, Michael Moline of Florida Phoenix, Jessica Holdman of South Carolina Daily Gazette, Jerod MacDonald-Avoy, Gloria Rebecca Gomez and Emily Holshouser of Arizona Mirror, and Jane Norman of States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau contributed to this report.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump stand together at the end of the U.S Army parade on June 14, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

This report has been updated.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated his 79th birthday reviewing a parade of tanks, armament and marching soldiers gathered in the nation’s capital for the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration, amid heightened political tensions across the country and anti-Trump “No Kings” protests.

The nearly 90-minute parade cycled through the Army’s history, beginning with soldiers marching in Revolutionary War uniforms and ending with symbols of the Army’s future, including small robots carrying the U.S. Army flag and new West Point cadets about to be sworn in.

Massive tactical vehicles rolled down Constitution Avenue one after another. Sherman tanks used by the military in World War II were followed by early 2000s-era howitzers and HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, that can launch newly developed precision missiles that reach up to 310 miles away, according to the Army.

HIMARS were among the weaponry the U.S. provided to Ukraine’s forces under President Joe Biden.

“The Army keeps us free,” Trump said in brief remarks at the conclusion of the parade, after Vice President J.D. Vance introduced him. “Every other country celebrates their victories, it’s about time America did too. That’s what we’re doing tonight.”

But tragedy and deep conflict marked the hours and days leading to the event. Early Saturday, a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband were assassinated in their home in an “act of political violence,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, while another legislator and his wife were shot and gravely wounded.

Late Friday, dozens of veterans breached barricades around the U.S. Capitol in protest of the Army parade. On Thursday, a Democratic U.S. senator from California was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a press conference with the head of Homeland Security.

Last weekend, multi-day protests erupted in Los Angeles after immigration raids swept across several Home Depots, typically where undocumented day laborers search for work, as Trump’s mass deportations continue to be carried out.

And the president is in a legal standoff with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, after Trump ordered more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to be sent to LA without Newsom’s consent and Newsom sued. The Guard troops remained in LA Saturday after a federal appeals court froze a lower court’s order directing Trump to return command to Newsom.

The city saw a large protest Saturday afternoon, according to local media reports. A curfew of 8 p.m. Pacific time remained in effect, Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a morning press release.

And on Saturday night, the Salt Lake City Police Department said it was investigating a shooting that occurred during a “No Kings” protest and officials urged people to disperse the demonstration.

‘Yeah, I wanna be there’

In Washington, spectators from across the country began lining barriers along the Army parade route hours before the event’s start.

Scott Aiken, 59, of Athens, Georgia, drove 10 hours for the parade. Aiken, who told States Newsroom he voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections, said he wanted to support the anniversary of the Army.

“My father was in the Army, and my wife’s father was in the Army, and we’re a supportive military family. And when I heard the parade was going to happen, I thought, ‘Yeah, I wanna be there.’ So we drove up from Athens on Thursday, and did the Capitol tour yesterday, and here we are.”

When asked about the timing of Trump’s birthday, Aiken said “whether it’s on his birthday or not, I don’t care. That’s not the purpose of this.”

Members of Trump’s Cabinet and other allies on social media posted well wishes and greetings. “Wishing a very happy birthday to our incredible President Donald J. Trump!” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X. Trump said on his social media site, Truth Social, “President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and a recent attack by Israel on Iran’s military leaders.

Not everyone at the parade was wishing Trump well. Angelica Zetino, 24, and Shoshauna Brooks, 27, from Rockville and Gaithersburg, Maryland, stood out among the crowd as they carried signs protesting Trump’s administration, particularly recent immigration raids.

The pair began their morning at a “No Kings” protest in Rockville before heading to D.C.

“They (the administration) just want to put on a show, which is OK, but we’re here to support the people that can’t have a voice for themselves,” Brooks said.

Tom Moore, 57, of the District of Columbia,, took issue with Trump’s words this week that any parade protesters would be met with force. 

“That’s not acceptable. He didn’t say violent protesters. I wasn’t planning on coming down here before that,” said Moore.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 10 that any protests at the military parade “will be met with very heavy force.”

Rallies opposing Trump

Throughout Saturday, protests unfolded across the U.S. bearing the theme “No Kings” to decry Trump’s military display on his own birthday and the mass immigration arrests.

The “No Kings” national organizers said in a press release that as of 2 p.m. Eastern, protesters had rallied at more than 1,500 sites across the country, with 600 more events scheduled through the rest of the day. “No Kings” was organized by liberal groups and labor unions including Indivisible, the American Federation of Teachers, American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, MoveOn, 50501, Interfaith Alliance, Stand Up America, Common Defense, Human Rights Campaign and League of Conservation Voters.

Approximately 60 protesters were arrested outside the U.S. Capitol Friday evening, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. Veterans for Peace, a group that organized the demonstration, posted photos of the arrests and of several demonstrators wearing “Veterans Against Fascists” t-shirts.

Police said 75 people peacefully demonstrated outside of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“A short time later, approximately 60 people from the group left the Supreme Court so as a precaution, our officers began establishing a perimeter,” a police spokesperson told States Newsroom in an email. “A few people pushed the bike rack down and illegally crossed the police line while running towards the Rotunda Steps. Our officers immediately blocked the group and began making arrests.”

Among those arrested was an elderly Vietnam veteran using a walker, Capitol Police confirmed.

Two mules and a dog

A trickle of red “Make America Great Again” hats and apparel displaying support for the Army intermingled as supporters shuffled into the parade grounds Saturday afternoon.

The parade featured soldiers from every division, 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, 34 horses, two mules and one dog, at a price tag in the tens of millions of dollars, according to the Army.

Among the vehicles and equipment that rolled down Constitution Avenue between 15th and 23rd streets were Abrams tanks, first used in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm; and 9,500-pound titanium M777 lightweight Howitzers that fire 105-pound shells up to 24 miles and are currently in use on Ukraine’s battlefields.

Military aircraft that could be seen above Washington in ceremonial flyovers, from AH-64 Apaches, UH-60 Blackhawks and CH-47 Chinooks. Army Golden Knights parachuted down to the White House South Lawn, red smoke in their wake, to present Trump with a folded flag. The president has never served in the military.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed concern in the weeks leading up to the parade about the heavy tactical vehicles causing damage to the city’s streets. The Army Corps of Engineers had installed large steel plates ahead of the event to reinforce the roads.

The parade coincided with the Army’s 250th birthday celebration festival, which has been in the works for a year.

The parade appears to have been a late addition to the festivities. According to documentation obtained by local D.C. news outlet WTOP, America250 applied on March 31 for a permit for the parade. A May 21 press release about the parade from America250, which describes itself as a “nonprofit supporting organization to the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission,” celebrated Trump’s role in the event.

Trump wanted a military parade during his first term, but the idea was dismissed because of cost, NBC reported at the time.

The last time the U.S. staged a celebratory military parade was in 1991 under former President George H.W. Bush to recognize the victory in the first Gulf War.

Immigration enforcement and military 

The big Army celebration early in Trump’s second term came as the president has intertwined the U.S. military with his immigration policy, as shown in LA and elsewhere.

In his first days in office, Trump signed five executive orders that laid out the use of military forces within the U.S. borders and extended other executive powers to speed up the president’s immigration crackdown.

He’s directed the Department of Defense to use a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to detain migrants. Military planes have been used in deportations – rather than standard commercial airplanes.

In April, he signed a proclamation creating a military buffer zone that stretches across Arizona, California and New Mexico just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It means any migrant crossing into the United States would be trespassing on a military base, therefore allowing active-duty troops to hold them until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrive.

National and military experts have raised concerns that giving control over the Roosevelt Reservation to the military could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that generally prohibits the military from being used in domestic law enforcement. A statutory exception in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, is the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Trump has considered invoking the Insurrection Act, but has stopped short. The Insurrection Act is an existing presidential authority that would grant the president access to use all federal military forces, more than 1 million members.

The Insurrection Act has only been invoked 30 times, and is typically focused on an area of great civil unrest that has overwhelmed law enforcement.

The last time a president used it was 1992, during the Los Angeles riots, after four white police officers were acquitted in the brutal beating of Black motorist Rodney King.

In calling in the National Guard in LA last week, Trump cited a rarely used statute known as the protective power –  10 U.S.C. 12406 – to use National Guard troops to protect federal personnel and property, but not for broad law enforcement functions.