'No f-ing kings': Thousands gather in Long Beach to protest Trump admin
Protesters denounced immigration raids, the cutting of services by the Trump administration, gerrymandering and attacks on free speech, among other things.
For the second time this year, thousands of people gathered at Bixby Park near Downtown Long Beach to protest what they call the Trump administration’s “authoritarian power grab” — from ICE raids to attacks on free speech to gutting services.
“What does it mean to be a revolutionary? To be a revolutionary means that you wake up in the morning and you realize that something needs to change,” Anthony Bryson of SoCal Uprising said during the demonstration. “You realize that the Trump regime is a representation of the rise of fascism in America.”
Bryson and other protesters denounced immigration raids, capitalism, genocides around the world, including Palestine, Congo and Sudan, and moves by President Donald Trump and his administration to consolidate power through stacking courts, gerrymandering and skirting the checks and balances established by the U.S. Constitution.
“What does it mean to say no kings? It means no fucking kings,” Bryson said. “When the administration comes up and they stack everything against us, remember that we have the strength, we have the power. We outnumber the fascists, we outnumber the Nazis, we outnumber the white supremacists, we outnumber the oppressors. United through our struggle we can bring real change”
Organizers estimate that more than 7 million people gathered to protest at more than 2,700 demonstrations in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., which would make it the third largest protest in American history behind the George Floyd protests of 2020 and Earth Day 1970.
Saturday’s nationwide turnout surpassed June’s No Kings event by about 2 million people, according to estimates.
Trump on Sunday called the nationwide protest a “joke,” “small and ineffective.” He also alleged that the protest was paid for by "[George] Soros and other radical-left lunatics."
“I’m not a king,” Trump told reporters. "I work my ass off to make our country great, that’s all it is. I’m not a king at all.”
Chris Kluwe, a former NFL punter and activist who found himself tossed into the political spotlight after being arrested earlier this year for protesting a MAGA plaque during a Huntington Beach City Council meeting, addressed the crowd.
“I know we feel fear. I know we feel disappointment at how our elected officials have not stood up for us. And I know for me personally, and I think for a lot of you as well, you feel anger,” Kluwe said. “It's not a violent anger. It's not what the right wing says. We're not violent terrorists. We're not paid protesters. We are here because we are angry at what is going on with our country, and it is okay for us to acknowledge that anger.”
Kluwe then invited the crowd to scream with him as a therapeutic and nonviolent way to alleviate stress and anger over Trump administration actions. But he asked protesters to hold onto that spark of anger as they continue to push back.
Kluwe, who was fired from his coaching job at Edison High School after his arrest, is now running for a seat in the California State Assembly for District 72.
Gray Wolf, 80, a member of the Yoeme tribe and an elder with the American Indian Movement, said he has been protesting since he was 15 years old, including Standing Rock and Oak Flat.
“I can see where we're heading. In 20 years or less, this will no longer be a white majority. It will be a white minority,” Gray Wolf told the Watchdog. “The white majority right now is trying to hang on to power as long as they can. It's obvious that Trumpo the Clown wants an all white nation, and it's not going to happen. People like us are just not going to let it happen.”
Wayne Theis, 64, a Marine Corps veteran and Long Beach resident, said it’s important for people to “stand up to the tyranny of Donald Trump.”
“Vets should know better than anybody. When we took that oath before we went to boot camp, that oath said that we were here to defend the Constitution, not to one man or any party,” Theis told the Watchdog Saturday. “I remember that every day, but it's not being followed. And the people that are in Congress are as responsible as [Trump] is because they're allowing him to do this with no pushback whatsoever.”
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