Critics of President Donald Trump plan to protest the administration at more than a dozen locations across Long Island on Oct. 18 as a part of the latest nationwide No Kings demonstrations.
The rallies from Port Washington to East Hampton are a follow up to the No Kings protests on June 14 that coincided with Trump holding a $40 million military parade to celebrate his 79th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
“All No Kings events adhere to a shared commitment to nonviolent protest and community safety,” organizers — backed by a lengthy list of progressive advocacy groups — said in a statement. “Organizers are trained in de-escalation and are working closely with local partners to ensure peaceful and powerful actions nationwide.”
The latest No Kings event comes four months after thousands of protesters picketed at a dozen locations across Nassau and Suffolk counties — part of what organizers say were thousands of rallies nationwide that drew an estimated four to six million people. The name of the national day of action alludes to Trump’s efforts to expand the power of the executive branch, sparking the widely held belief that he is imposing a dictatorship akin to a monarchy.
Last time, protesters took to the streets to voice their objection to the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation of immigrants, federal funding cuts, mass firing of federal workers, his trade war’s economic fallout, and retaliation against media outlets covering the turmoil, among other issues. Larger turnout is anticipated this time as the administration has since escalated tensions when Trump deployed National Guard troops into U.S. cities to fight crime in alleged violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
The No Kings protests return as Trump’s Republican-majority Congressional allies preside over a two-week-long shutdown of the federal government in a stalemate with Democrats over the GOP’s bid to cut Affordable Care Act tax subsidies that would cause health care premiums and the number of uninsured Americans to skyrocket.
All the while, pressure and questions persist as to why Trump broke his campaign promise to release previously undisclosed documents from the federal criminal case against his longtime friend, convicted pedophile and accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The list of No Kings rallies on Long Island can be found here.
