Thousands turn out for national 'No Kings' protest in downtown Boise

Nick Rosenberger, The Idaho Statesman on Jun 14, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — Thousands of Idahoans flocked to downtown Boise amid national “No Kings” protests Saturday against President Donald Trump and his administration.

Protesters filled the Capitol steps and lawn, and spilled onto nearby streets with anti-Trump signs and chants in the unforgiving heat. Attendees listened to about an hour of speeches from a number of different groups, including from Boise Tenants United and United Vision for Idaho.

“We gathered here today because something has gone very wrong,” said Adrienne Evans, executive director of United Vision for Idaho, a left-leaning organization. “They said government was the problem, then they gutted it.”

Speakers and attendees funneled frustration at the administration and hit on a number of party-line issues including trans rights, support for unions and Palestine. But there were also calls for working across party lines and coming together.

“We’re not here to protest, we’re here to build,” Evans said.

Protests were also planned in Nampa, Idaho Falls, Moscow, Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, according to the No Kings website.

The national protests, widely expected to be the largest since Trump returned to office, came as Trump hosts a military-style parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, his 79th birthday and Flag Day — which all fall on June 14.

The military parade in D.C. is expected to cost between $25 million to $45 million, with more than 6,000 soldiers, 49 aircraft, 128 vehicles, 25 horses, two mules and one dog, according to NPR.

The parade follows months of cuts to government budgets and contracts from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that slashed funding for scientific research, international programs and the federal workforce.

The cuts included more than a dozen employees of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ regional office and medical center in Boise, employees of the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho and Americorps members at a Boise-area eviction- and homelessness-prevention nonprofit.

No Kings protests were scheduled in every state, several U.S. territories and dozens of countries abroad, including multiple places in Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Germany and France, according to the No Kings website.

According to a news release from No Kings, protests were held in more than 2,100 cities across the country and had attracted more than 5 million participants by mid-afternoon. That number included more than 200,000 participants in New York and more than 100,000 in Philadelphia

Labeled as a “nationwide day of defiance,” No Kings comes on the heels of protests in Los Angeles over Trump’s hard-line immigration policies. Trump has ordered the deployment of about 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to those protests, over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass.

Trump said the military was needed to quell unrest, while Newsom and Bass said that the military deployment — the first time Marines have been used for protests on U.S. soil since the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles — would only inflame tensions.

The No Kings protest was canceled in Northeast Minneapolis following the murder of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, along with the shooting of Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, on Saturday morning, according to CNN.

In a news conference, a visibly shaken Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that it appeared to be a politically motivated assassination. Hortman, a former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and Hoffman were members of the Democratic Party.

Hoffman and his wife were shot multiple times by the same individual who killed the Hortmans, but underwent surgery and are receiving care, according to Walz.

“We are cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” he said.

Walz called for settling differences peacefully and to find common ground amid politically charged times.

“We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” Walz said.

Lawmakers across the country and on both sides of the political spectrum put out statements condemning political violence after the attacks, including Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

“Political violence of any kind cannot be tolerated in our country,” Little said in a post on X. “Teresa and I are praying for the victims, families, loved ones and colleagues affected by the devastating attack in Minnesota.”