A crowd of 700 packed Cougar Plaza last Saturday to protest the Trump Administration.

This event, being a part of the No Kings Movement, followed what happened across all 50 states Saturday. 

The No Kings Movement focuses on protesting the Trump Administration, and is one of the biggest organizations in the United States, with over seven million Americans involving themselves with the protests.

One of the organizers for Pullman’s rally, Deb McNeil, said the No Kings Day protests are about bringing back democracy and fairness to the United States. To McNeil, this includes maintaining the separate branches that make up the government and what they do. 

“It’s the people’s power that makes changes,” McNeil said. “Let’s keep the three separate branches working in the way they’re supposed to work.” 

For her, organizing and attending the protest is something deeply personal. McNeil, who is on Medicare, said the administration’s healthcare policies have impacted and changed her life. 

“Everything has slowed down in the government because of the lack of workers, so it impacts everyone,” McNeil said. “It’s time for everyone to stand up for everybody.”

Cheryl Blankenship, an attendee, said she was rallying to “save the United States from cruelty and fascism.”

As a lifelong Democrat, hailing from generations of Democrats, Blankenship said she has been enmeshed in the beliefs she came to protest for. 

“I don’t understand how we’re so divided, how we can’t see each other’s point of view,” Blankenship said. “Democracy needs to stand, and if people don’t have a voice and people don’t have equal access to live well in our country, it’s not right.”

JD Rick Ard, someone who has been attempting to get onto disability for three years, said losing his Medicaid would be a death sentence.

“I have heart issues and [medications] that I have to be on. If that stuff goes out the window, it’s just a ticking time bomb,” Rick Ard said. “I’m only 46 years old. Now I’ve got to turn around and wonder, ‘am I going to even live to see 70?’”

Anita Valdez, a chemical engineering student at WSU, wanted the world to know Pullman cares about what is happening within the Trump Administration.

“We want [people] to know that we care about them; we care about what happens to them,” Valdez said. “We’re here to protest the false truths that are being shared, the acceptance of being openly racist and treating people as if they aren’t people.”

The rally was organized through 50501, which works through Mobilize US, a technology platform that allows volunteers to organize rallies. 50501 is a political organization founded to protest the policies of the second Trump Administration.

The rally was met with support by passing cars, which continually honked their horns while passing.