Dear MoveOn member,
Something extraordinary happened across America last Saturday!
7 million people gathered at 2,700 No Kings events in all 50 states and abroad, making it the single largest day of protest in modern U.S. history. WE DID IT!
Young and old. Urban and rural. First-time protesters standing alongside movement veterans. People waving American flags, wearing frog and unicorn costumes, carrying handmade signs saying, "Democracy Doesn't Fear Protest. Dictators Do," "We Dumped Tea for Less," and "Melt ICE." All of us united by one simple truth: America is a democracy, not a dictatorship. This country does not belong to kings.
Donald Trump and Republicans tried to silence us, dismiss us, and convince America we don't exist. They failed.
Trump said last week, "They have their day coming up. I hear very few people are gonna be there, by the way. But they have their day coming up and they want to have their day in the sun."1
MAGA House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a "hate-America rally" that would draw "the pro-Hamas wing" of the Democratic Party and "the antifa people."2
They wanted us to stay home. They wanted us isolated, afraid, and silent.
Instead, 7 million of us filled the streets. We were loud. We were joyful. And we were everywhere.
But here's what matters even more than the numbers: This movement is building the strength and momentum we need to stop authoritarianism in America.
As Maria Stephan, co-author of "Why Civil Resistance Works," explains, "The research on nonviolent resistance movements really focuses on the importance of momentum. It's not just a lot of people showing up for mass demonstrations; it's about sustained engagement."3
And that's precisely what's next. We need to keep bringing people into our movement and building that sustained engagement.
MoveOn worked alongside many organizations to help provide the infrastructure for the No Kings protests—the coordination, intense focus and preparation to ensure the protests were peaceful, training of thousands of volunteers who hosted protests in their communities, training of hundreds of thousands of attendees, designing and printing materials, providing technology platforms, and much more. And MoveOn will keep dedicating our work, day in and day out, 24/7, to building the movement. But, as a grassroots organization, we need your help.
Will you start a $5 monthly gift to MoveOn today to help us keep building this movement with the sustained engagement we need to stop Trump's tyranny?
Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. (If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
The No Kings protests come as health care costs are about to skyrocket, ICE raids continue to terrorize whole cities and disappear people, the government shutdown enters week 3, and the MAGA Supreme Court appears poised to kill the Voting Rights Act.4
Trump wants us to accept all of this as inevitable. He wants us exhausted and isolated.
But when you look at our trajectory, you see something very different:
April: 3 million people at 1,300 Hands Off! events.
June: 5 million people at 2,100 No Kings events.
October: 7 million people at 2,700 No Kings events.
Our movement isn't just growing, it's surging.
The "3.5% rule" from historical research tells us that few authoritarian governments have survived when 3.5% of the population mobilizes peacefully in a sustained way.5 For the U.S., that's roughly 11 million people showing up again and again.
We're building toward that number, and these latest protests were a huge step. But sustained organizing—the community meetings, the training sessions, the local leadership development, the infrastructure to bring new people in day after day, month after month—requires resources.
Can you chip in $5 a month to help MoveOn sustain and grow this movement?
Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. (If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Trump's strategy depends on making us feel small, alone, and powerless. Last Saturday, we reminded each other—and showed the country—that none of those things are true.
We showed the world what this movement is: peaceful, diverse, determined, and growing.
THANK YOU for all you do.
–Emma, Emily, Evelyn, Isbah, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Nationwide Anti-Trump 'No Kings' Protests Set for Saturday: What to Know," Newsweek, October 16, 2025
https://www.newsweek.com/nationwide-anti-trump-no-kings-protests-saturday-what-to-know-10885816
2. "The GOP's coordinated attack on the 'No Kings' rally is ridiculous," MSNBC, October 16, 2025
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/no-kings-protests-trump-republican-warnings-rcna237845
3. "Nonviolent Resistance Works. Here's Why." Kettering Foundation, October 7, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXPWzbDmeY0
4. "Democrats Have One Brutal Path to Survival if the Supreme Court Kills the Voting Rights Act," Slate, October 16, 2025
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/10/democrats-congress-election-odd-scotus-supreme-court.html
5. "The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world," Harvard Kennedy School Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, May 13, 2019
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/publications/35-rule-how-small-minority-can-change-world
Want to support MoveOn's work? Donald Trump's authoritarian takeover intensifies every day. But we must remember that authoritarian governments worldwide have not withstood a challenge by 3.5% or more of its people. MoveOn can reach, train, organize, and support at a scale unparalleled in the progressive movement—which we need now more than ever. Will you make a monthly donation today to power this urgent and critical organizing?
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