Yesterday, two very different visions of America were on full display.
Dear MoveOn member,
Yesterday, two very different visions of America were on full display.
In Washington, D.C., Donald Trump staged a grossly expensive and "profoundly low energy" military parade—a spectacle featuring tanks, troops, and weapons rolling through our nation's capital on his 79th birthday.1 It was a sparsely attended and, ultimately, empty attempt to show force by a historically weak president who governs through fear because he cannot lead through trust.2,3
But across America, the real show of strength was happening.
In cities outside of D.C., small towns, and rural areas all across the country, an estimated 5 million people flooded the streets peacefully protesting at 2,100 "No Kings" events in all 50 states, red and blue—a massive display of the power we hold when we stand together for democracy, dignity, and hope. There were even No Kings events in other countries standing in solidarity!4
Our movement isn’t just growing—it’s surging. Look at our trajectory since 2017:5
Two months ago, in April: 3 million of us protested at 1,300 Hands Off! events.
Yesterday: 5 million of us protested at 2,100 No Kings events.
Each week, hundreds of thousands more people are joining the movement. But this is just the beginning, and we can't afford to slow down now.
Historians who study social movements worldwide have coined the "3.5% rule"—that throughout history, few authoritarian governments have withstood 3.5% of their population peacefully mobilized against them in a sustained way.6 The rule helps us understand just how big our movement needs to get to stop Trump's tyranny—on the order of more than 11 million people showing up again and again.
We still have a long way to go, but we have the momentum, John. That's why Trump and his allies tried to tighten his grip on power so dramatically last week, militarizing our cities, manhandling and handcuffing a Democratic senator, and terrorizing families.
MoveOn will continue dedicating our work, day in and day out, 24/7, to building this mass mobilization movement alongside a web of other allied organizations. But given Trump's chilling escalation last week, time is not on our side. And, quite frankly, we need your help to have the financial resources to turbocharge our organizing, community by community all across the country.
Our country is in crisis, as we saw so tragically yesterday in Minnesota, when a Trump supporter assassinated Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.7 We mourn the horrific loss of life and grieve the continued escalation of political violence in America.
And while protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, demonstrating our collective commitment to nonviolence as the antidote to intimidation and force, there were also a handful of isolated acts of violence directed at peaceful protesters.
But even in the face of such tragedy in Minnesota, we can choose hope over fear, community over division, nonviolence over brutality, democracy over authoritarianism. And we must choose it together, right now, while we still can.
Yesterday proved that when we come together, we are unstoppable. Trump's empty parade showed his weakness. Our overflowing streets showed our strength.
The future is in our hands. We got this, together.
Thanks for all you do.
–Britt, David, Nakia, Emily, and the rest of the team
1. Post on Blue Sky by Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times, June 14, 2025
https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net/post/3lrmbuceoz22o
2. "Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years: POLL," ABC News, April 27, 2025
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lowest-100-day-approval-rating-80-years/story?id=121165473
3. "Trump military parade met with empty seats amid nationwide protests," The Sunday Times, June 15, 2025
https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/trump-military-parade-crowd-size-protests-s3pkrphr8
4. "Millions turn out nationwide for ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump administration," PBS, June 14, 2025
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/millions-turn-out-nationwide-for-no-kings-protests-against-trump-administration
5. Post on X by G. Elliott Morris, June 14, 2025
https://x.com/gelliottmorris/status/1934206799239889369
6. "Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule," Harvard Kennedy School, April 2020
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/publications/questions-answers-and-some-cautionary-updates-regarding-35-rule
7. "The attacks on Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota: what we know," The Guardian, June 14, 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/14/minnesota-lawmakers-shooting-explainer
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
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