WEST PALM BEACH — A thousand reasons drove more than 1,000 people to attend a “No Kings” rally 4 miles from President Donald Trump’s home on June 14 — his birthday, Flag Day and the day of a military parade in Washington, D.C.
Some came for democracy. Others came for immigrants. Many came for both.
The day began with a 10 a.m. march that stepped off from Phipps Park in West Palm Beach. Attendees moved in a slow, chanting procession toward the Southern Boulevard bridge, waving signs and flags as they advanced east toward Mar-a-Lago.
Police halted the crowd near the end of the bridge — as close as they’d be allowed to get — before marchers turned back to the Meyer Amphitheatre lawn for a rally under the sun.
For many, the march was more than symbolic.
Some said they came for their parents, others for their children. Several attendees described how immigration crackdowns had fractured their families: mothers too afraid to go to the supermarket, cousins deported while waiting for rides to work, relatives who chose to self-deport rather than risk detention.
What once felt like distant policy, they said, had become personal and urgent.
Alongside them were veterans’ children, first-time protesters, longtime activists and people moved to attend their first march by what they described as rising authoritarianism. Melisa Estrada carried a banner referencing her father’s Purple Heart from World War II that read in part, “My dad fought fascists, now I am too.”
“This is about democracy,” Estrada said. “This is about protecting the Constitution and about using our voice, because if we don’t use it now we might not be able to use it soon.”
Some concealed their faces, wary of being targeted by counterprotesters. Others posed for photographs and live-streamed the day’s events.
A 31-year-old therapist named Daniela Childers said she had long avoided demonstrations because of her anxiety, but could no longer watch from the sidelines. She described her presence as an act of dissent, a response to what she sees as the erosion of due process, the detention of people of color and the dismantling of federal agencies.
“You can’t be openly racist,” she said. “People have to know that’s not OK.”
Rally spirited at Meyer Amphitheatre despite heat
The atmosphere was spirited despite the talk of a doomed democracy. American flags and Pride flags outnumbered MAGA ones. Hand-painted signs quoted the Constitution, denounced ICE and mocked Trump without always naming him, opting instead for pejoratives: felon, rapist, liar, antichrist, traitor, Nazi. “No Kings Since 1776” became a unifying phrase.
Korinne Atchison convinced her sister Kailey to attend her first protest. Rosey Rodriguez and Zoe Tears, who are both 21, handed out water, orange juice and peanuts to those standing under the sun at the Meyer Amphitheatre.
Rodriguez, a regular at protests since Jan. 6, said this was the largest anti-Trump crowd she’d seen in South Florida this year, but still too few young people were taking part. “It sucks that older people are the ones fighting our fight,” Rodriguez said. “I want to fight my own fight and encourage other young people as well. This is our future.”
Maleia Mikesell and her friend Ruthie Kallai brought their Pride month celebration to the “No Kings” rally. Kallai wore a blue skirt with rainbow animal-print top and Mikessel twirled in a pink tutu. They say the colorful outfits help them connect with people and defuse arguments with those who disagree.
“Connection is how we are going to build bridges and inclusivity,” Mikessel said. “We have to stand together for everybody’s rights.”
Tears said she feared there would be confrontations with law enforcement, but West Palm Beach police reported no arrests at either the march or the rally. Counterprotests were few, and prominent supporters of Trump led none of them.
A father and son who gave their names only as Ron and Jacob stood on the Southern Boulevard bridge to “troll” marchers with a Trump 2028 flag. Both said they supported the right to protest but said they felt many on the political left had lost touch with reality.
Lev Parnas: Flag stands for freedom not to fear your government
By mid-afternoon, Lev Parnas, a former Trump associate turned whistleblower, took the stage to deliver a searing keynote speech. He invoked his own past, once deep inside Trump’s inner circle, and warned that the movement he helped build had evolved into something dangerous.
“MAGA is a cult,” he told the crowd. “A movement built not on principles, but on power, loyalty and fear to one man and one man only.”
Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman, was charged with campaign finance violations in 2019 for helping Rudy Giuliani pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. After his arrest, Parnas turned over documents to Congress during Trump’s impeachment inquiry and publicly broke with the president, saying he refused to “take the fall” for a scheme orchestrated from the top.
He told the crowd Saturday that the country was already sliding into authoritarianism. Not with a sudden coup, but “quietly, piece by piece, court by court, institution by institution.”
The temperature rose and the crowd began to thin. As they packed up banners and folding chairs, many said they came to be heard for the people who couldn’t march, for the families already torn apart, and for what they saw as a fragile democracy at risk of breaking.
“The entire administration has left me hopeless,” Tears said. “But now, I feel invigorated, I feel alive, and I feel like I am fighting for something.”
Valentina Palm and Hannah Phillips are journalists at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach them at vpalm@pbpost.com and hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘No Kings’ rally brings anti-Trump marchers to president’s backyard in Palm Beach
Reporting by Valentina Palm and Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
