Horns blared and protesters chanted as hundreds took to the sidewalks in Mount Pleasant Saturday afternoon to protest at a No Kings rally.
“We are more than ecstatic at the number of people that have come,” said 73-year-old organizer Toni Smith-Holmes of Mount Pleasant. “We're on both sides of the street now, which is just pleasantly wonderful.”
The No Kings movement is a nationwide effort by multiple progressive political groups. It’s the second wave of No Kings protests, the first wave in June drew over five million people, according to organizers.
The event was held on Mission Street, off of US-27. It was organized by Indivisible Central Michigan, a progressive group that has held other protests in the city.
Protesters ranged in age from college students to the elderly. Some donned animal costumes in reference to protests in Portland. Other held signs saying, “No Kings” and “Save Democracy,” criticizing President Donald Trump.
“I believe most people that are here are not happy with the direction that this administration is taking," Smith-Holmes said when describing the reason for the protest. “I think there's concern about health insurance. I think that's huge for me since I'm a senior."
That sentiment was shared by others at the rally including 60-year-old Tammy Aldrich of the Riverdale area. “Well, for one, there's many people that are losing their insurance,” she said, referencing concerns over the one Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill's work requirements for Medicaid will leave millions uninsured.
The event stayed peaceful, despite a minor shoving match between a No Kings protester and a counter-protester that was quickly broken up.
“It is our legal right to demonstrate peacefully, and so, to portray us that we are some kind of militant group is just propaganda to try to make people hate us,” said Joyce McCarter of Harrison. “We have our right to protest. If you don't believe in what I believe in, by all means protest. You have that right.”
30-year-old Michael Willett of Mt. Pleasant cited free speech as being one of his greatest concerns about the Trump Administration.
“Freedom of speech is going across the globe,” he said. “Trump signed an executive order banning flag burning, which I don't like flag burning, but that's constitutionally protected expression in the First Amendment and also protected by the Supreme Court in 1980s.”
This protest was one of many No Kings protests across and the country and one of over 100 in Michigan. Other protests were held in the Saginaw Bay area, Alpena and in the Upper Peninsula in places like Sault Ste. Marie.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, criticized the protest and denied any connect between them and the ongoing government shutdown. "They're referring to me as a king, I'm not a king," he said to Maria Bartiromo.
