Thousands protest Donald Trump at New Jersey No Kings rallies

Protestors gather in Princeton for a No Kings rally on Oct. 18, 2025. (Photo by Mary Iuvone for New Jersey Monitor)

Thousands of New Jersey residents took their rage — and ridicule — to the streets Saturday during the latest national No Kings protests, with some wearing silly costumes to push back on critics’ claims that protesters are violent, anti-American extremists.

Critics of President Donald Trump mobbed more than two dozen towns in the Garden State, from Newton down to Cape May Court House, to accuse his administration of “authoritarianism.”

Critics, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have derided the mass day of action as a “Hate America rally” bound to draw “Antifa types.” The No Kings protesters were happy to nix that notion.

Daniel Buchanan of Union County showed up to a rally outside the Statehouse in Trenton in an inflatable traffic cone costume, while Amy Bruno of Ewing wore an inflatable unicorn outfit and called herself “Aunt Tifa.” In Princeton, a bean bag frog balanced on Susan Steen’s baseball cap carried its own tiny sign declaring: “I AM AMPHIFA.” Nearby, Sarah Schwimmer wore colorful fringe from head to toe in her piñata costume. “Because I our Democracy (even more than I love candy!),” her sign said.

“We’re just trying to exercise our First Amendment rights and protest, and yet we’re being painted as terrorists and as violent. We’ve been trying different ways to show that that’s silly, and we mean no harm, and we’re not violent, and the whole point is to get a message out,” Buchanan said.

His message: “Those in power only care about themselves and their own agenda. We’re not going to just sit and be quiet and be OK with it. There’s a lot more people than they think that are against this.”

The protests came amid a government shutdown now in its third week, federal deployments of National Guard troops to police several U.S. cities, and immigration agents carrying out Trump’s mass deportation mission. Protesters denounced such actions as an unacceptable, escalating assault on the American people.

“How many sins have they committed against us? How many wounds have they inflicted on us? Too many!” Andrei Camurungan, an organizer with 50501, shouted at the crowd in Trenton.

Laura Hunt of Burlington Township said she was protesting because she feels the U.S. is “in a crisis situation.” She listed several concerns, ranging from Trump’s immigration crackdowns to “his words towards women.”

“He was talking about the leader of Italy, talking about how beautiful she is. What planet is he from? What century is he in?” Hunt said. “He is a horrible, horrible excuse for a human being. I’m disgusted.”

Millions were expected to attend about 2,600 rallies around the nation, making Saturday the largest mass day of action since the start of Trump’s first term, when the largest single-day mobilization included about 750 rallies, national organizers said.

“This is a genuinely nationwide phenomenon. It is occurring in rural places. It is occurring in urban areas. It is occurring in red places and blue places. The public backlash to Donald Trump and his regime of cronies and corruption and attacks on our rights is incredibly widespread,” said Leah Greenberg, a co-founder and co-executive director of the Indivisible Project.

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In Princeton, hundreds of people packed the sprawling block-long park in front of the municipal building.

Sandy Landman of East Brunswick was there with a posterboard listing just some of her concerns about Trump — and they filled both sides.

“Terrible things are going on in this country. Your free speech is being limited. He’s taking money from taxpayers, enriching himself. He’s giving it to Argentina, of all places. He’s taking that tunnel project out of New York because he’s punishing Democratic states and cities — it’s ridiculous. ICE, to me, mirrors the Gestapo. He just freed George Santos, who was an admitted criminal. Health care — it should be a right, not something that you have to fight for constantly,” she said. “We have a lot of things that we need to protest this administration about, because they’re not taking care of the people.”

The protests also became a place to politick, with Dale Caldwell, a Democrat who’s running to become New Jersey’s next lieutenant governor on a slate with gubernatorial hopeful Mikie Sherrill, stopping by the Trenton rally. He urged protesters to vote in the Nov. 4 election, saying Trump — who endorsed Sherrill’s Republican rival, Jack Ciattarelli — wants them to stay home from the polls.

“Trump has a Supreme Court abdicating their responsibility, has a Republican Congress abdicating responsibility. If Jack Ciattarelli is governor, New Jersey is going to abdicate our responsibility, ICE is going to be roaming the streets, the National Guard is going to be roaming the streets,” Caldwell said.

He added: “All of you here know how important it is to vote, but you’ve got to tell your family, you’ve got to tell your friends, we’re fighting against apathy. We’re fighting against people staying home, not voting. Trump is discouraging people, and he’s winning when he does that.”

Sherrill appeared at the No Kings protest in Montclair after headlining a campaign rally in Paramus with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). State Sen. Holly Schepisi, a Bergen County Republican, told reporters outside the Paramus rally that she finds Sherrill’s appearance at a No Kings rally “ironic” because Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and Whitmer issued myriad directives in 2020 without legislative approval that ordered business closures, lockdowns, and other actions related to the COVID-19 spread.

“To be doing No Kings protests in New Jersey, when her party, her governor, the governor she invited, were directly responsible for taking away all of the civil liberties, doing everything pursuant to executive order, and causing the deaths of our most vulnerable in the state, I find it to be unconscionable,” she said.