The latest round of "No Kings" protests this weekend brought more questions than answers on messaging, crowd size and general purpose.

“It’s a younger group of people, and they seem very, very angry. The younger group that I’m seeing out there or hearing out there are just very angry, but they don’t know what they’re angry at. They don’t have a united message,” Jeremy Louwerse of the California Post told Just The News.

"They’re mad at Donald Trump, but give me some specifics. You know, it’s always, ‘Hey, I’m mad at him. I don’t like this guy. I think he’s terrible. I don’t understand him.’ But they never really offer solutions or offer any kind of alternative, or can express a specific policy that is getting under their skin.”

Facts on anti-Trump sentiment are blurry, except for the hate

During the nationwide protests, participants voiced a patchwork of grievances that often appeared only loosely connected. Some marchers focused on immigration enforcement, waving signs against ICE raids, mass deportations, and incidents like the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, while chanting "ICE out now."

Others highlighted affordability concerns, pointing to rising costs for housing, groceries, healthcare, and gas—exacerbated, they argued, by tariffs and the ongoing conflict with Iran. Yet others carried Palestinian flags or demanded an end to U.S. involvement abroad, criticizing tax dollars spent on foreign conflicts amid domestic struggles.

LGBTQ+ rights also made random appearances along with voting access, and broader anti-authoritarian themes also appeared on signs and in speeches.

The sole unifier among the crowds was, unsurprisingly, a shared anger directed at President Donald Trump and his administration, framed as the root of nearly every ill, maybe ever.

While this was the latest in a string of “No Kings” protests, with mixed and sometimes competing messages, the events still appear to be an unfocused venting session rather than a coherent platform.

"Decentralized" and "people-powered" rhetoric

To many, they've appeared to be less spontaneous grassroots outrage and more orchestrated operations by a well-heeled network of progressive nonprofits. Organizers include groups like Indivisible, the 50501 movement, MoveOn, the ACLU, labor unions, and socialist outfits such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Despite the "decentralized" and "people-powered" rhetoric, investigations have highlighted funding ties to a constellation of activist organizations with roughly $3 billion in combined annual revenues, including grants from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (which provided millions to Indivisible over the years, such as a $3 million grant in 2023 for "social welfare activities") and support channeled through tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham’s network to radical socialist and communist-linked groups that have pushed revolutionary messaging at the events.

None of the organizers or protesters — claiming to be defending democracy — seem to acknowledge that Trump won both the popular vote and electoral college in 2024, also beating Democratic rival Kamala Harris in all seven closely watched swing states.

Cast of characters supporting "No Kings": The usual suspects

George Soros, the billionaire investor and founder of Open Society Foundations (OSF), uses that entity to fund the network through his vast fortune amassed in financial markets, particularly currency trading. His most famous trade was short-selling the British pound in 1992, which earned him more than $1 billion in profit in a single day — a feat that earned him the nickname "the man who broke the Bank of England." Over the years, he transferred billions (including an $18 billion infusion in 2017) into the foundations, which his son Alex now oversees, to back a wide array of left-leaning causes worldwide. 

His son, Alex, has taken over most operations of OSF, and is currently married to Huma Abedin, who was chief of staff to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her prior marriage was to disgraced New York politician Andrew Weiner.

Neville Roy Singham, a U.S.-born former tech executive who sold his Thoughtworks company for millions, and is now based in Shanghai, bankrolls his ecosystem of nonprofits, media outlets, and activist fronts largely from his own wealth—funneled through donor-advised funds, shell companies, and pass-through entities—amid congressional scrutiny over alleged ties to Chinese Communist Party-aligned propaganda and influence operations. 

The attendance numbers have also been roundly questioned

The backers claim millions of people have turned out across thousands of U.S. cities and towns (with flagship events in places like Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and St. Paul, Minnesota), boasting escalating attendance figures that some independent analysts question as inflated.

Organizers claim more than 8 million participants (with pre-event hype up to 9 million) across over 3,300 events in all 50 states, calling it the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history—building on their prior estimates of roughly 5 million in June 2025 and 7 million in October 2025. 

Skeptics, however, question these self-reported figures as inflated through optimistic local math and unverified RSVPs, pointing to discrepancies such as organizers' claim of more than 200,000 for the flagship St. Paul rally as opposed to the Minnesota State Patrol's estimate of around 100,000. 

Amanda Head is the White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.