Is ‘No Kings’ … recreation?

‘I’m old. I could just sit home and doomscroll, but this lifts me up,’ one protester said

Published: March 28, 2026, 8:11 p.m. MDTUpdated: March 28, 2026, 8:12 p.m. MDT

People walk from Washington Square Park to the Capitol during a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Eva Terry is a staff writer with the Politics and the West team, covering energy and the environment.

With “Protest Songbooks” in hand, thousands of Utahns congregated at a Salt Lake City park for the third nationwide “No Kings” day of protest since last June.

Salt Lake City’s protest, which included a 1.3-mile march to the state Capitol, was just one of more than 3,100 similar events in the U.S. and several international locations on Saturday. A party atmosphere enveloped many of the protesters across the country, with American singer Bruce Springsteen performing at the foot of Minnesota’s state Capitol for their own anti-Trump rally.

While Salt Lake City’s crowd had pockets of youth, Baby Boomers were again well represented. Some came with friends from book club; others came with their husbands.

Nicole Kunz, center, sits with her daughter during a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

As organizers from the Democratic Socialists of America and other progressive organizations led anti-Trump and anti-ICE chants in Washington Square, protesters happily mingled under the budding trees. One protester sang an anti-fascist version of “This Little Light of Mine,” while clutching a sign that read in all caps, “I need to be able to tell my grandkids I did not stay silent.”

Protesters interviewed by the Deseret News were divided on whether they believe full-fledged socialism should take root in the U.S., but the event’s speakers and organizers appeared more certain.

Two armed protesters walk ahead of people marching from Washington Square Park to the Capitol during a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Samantha Reagan, a student organizer with the University of Utah’s MEChA chapter, said she believes President Donald Trump is not the root cause of America’s woes — and instead claimed it is because of capitalism. “As long as capitalism is here, it’s going to make working people’s lives harder and harder. The system is why so many of us are living paycheck to paycheck,” she said.

Rebecca Cummings, a former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, echoed a similar sentiment. She made the case that America’s real enemy is the “system” that enables American “tech billionaires.”

As she concluded, Cummings said, “We may not have money, but we do have the majority.”

However, a massive amount of money has been funneled into organizing and coordinating Saturday’s nationwide No Kings protests. One investigation found that 500 groups supporting these events hold a collective annual revenue of $3 billion.

People take part in a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest where they marched from Washington Square Park to the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

One social welfare nonprofit, Home of the Brave, launched a $1 million advertising campaign for the coordinated protests on Monday.

As Salt Lake City’s anti-Trump protesters geared up for the march up State Street, an organizer yelled into the microphone, “Please grab water and song books before you go.”

Then the procession of American flags, Palestinian flags, bubbles and blow-up costumes began the approach to the Capitol.

People stand behind a construction fence as they listen to speakers at a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest at Washington Square Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Ben Herrick and Carla Patton, senior friends with a shared love of climbing, joined the procession up to Utah’s Capitol on Saturday.

Herrick moved to Salt Lake City four years ago after spending his entire adult life in Boston, Massachusetts. Seeing his fellow Democrats take to the streets gives him “hope,” he told the Deseret News. Hope “not just that we can just get through it (Trump’s presidency) but that we can end it.”

Saturday’s march is “probably my fifth protest this year,” Patton told the Deseret News. “I feel like, you know, if I’m just going to be sitting at home and organizing a drawer, I need to buck up and show that this is not OK.”

Denise Weaver, an organizer of the event, center, takes part in a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Other protesters came in bigger friend groups. Paula McEvoy came with 10 of her friends who she met through hiking and at her local Presbyterian congregation. Events like the No Kings protests are meaningful to her, since she gets to see “people out there who don’t subscribe to the Republican Party and the Republican agenda.”

One woman named Louise told the Deseret News that she had joined anti-Vietnam War protests in the ‘60s. Back then, “I felt more like a rebel.” She didn’t want to tell her parents she was out protesting, but “now I’m proud to be here.”

Grannies for good government

Protesters arrive at the Capitol after marching from Washington Square Park during a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Louise came to Utah’s Capitol with two of her girlfriends. They wore matching shirts with the text, “Grannies for good government” across the front.

Katie, who held a sign that read “Save Our Democracy,” said she wasn’t politically active for years, “but this is so beyond the pale.” When asked what was beyond the pale, she said she believes the Constitution isn’t being upheld and Congress is failing to accomplish anything. She also referenced Trump’s recent ballroom addition to the White House.

Their friend Gudrun said she believes the political reactivation of her generation “is driven by Trump … I think Trump tapped something in the population.”

People take part in a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest at Washington Square Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

When asked if they felt any concern about the Democratic Party embracing socialism, Gundrun replied, “I’m a little worried about that … Historically, from my view, all radical change turns into tyranny. … Look at Cuba. You know, I loved the Russian Revolution, and look what happened.”

Surveys have found Gen Zers to have particularly warm attitudes toward socialism and hostility toward capitalism, and Saturday’s speakers backed the data. However, Gundrun said, “I don’t think capitalism in and of itself creates those issues as long as we follow the Constitution.”

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“I think most Americans are centrist. They’re not the radical right, and they’re not the radical left. I’m hoping we have a more moderate representative,” she said.

Angel Vice, right, and husband Mitchell Vice, left, dance to music during a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Several attendees and speakers referenced the recent changes to Utah’s congressional district boundaries, which section off the northern two-thirds of Salt Lake County into its own heavily Democratic district.

Christine Helfrich said the protest had more energy this go-round because of the redistricting. “People are going to be energized in the midterms and think carefully about who they’re going to vote for,” she said.

“I’m old. I could just sit home and doomscroll, but this lifts me up that people are paying attention,” Helfrich said with a smile.