No Kings — From Our Smallest Towns to Our Largest Cities

By Senator Bernie Sanders

Thank you to the millions of Americans — from our smallest towns to our largest cities — who are gathering today at thousands of rallies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called these events “hate America” rallies. Boy, does he have that wrong. Millions of Americans are out here not because we hate America, but because we love it.

We’re here because we honor the sacrifices of millions who, over 250 years, fought and sometimes died to defend our democracy and our freedoms.

In 1776, with extraordinary courage, the founders of our country told the world they would no longer be ruled by the king of England, who had absolute power over their lives. They demanded freedom — and fought a bloody eight-year war against the most powerful empire on earth. Tens of thousands died, but they won.

And in 1789, they did something revolutionary. They created the first modern democratic government, declaring to the world: No more kings. In America, we the people would rule.

Today, in 2025, our message is the same: No, President Trump, we don’t want you — or any king — to rule us. We will not move toward authoritarianism. In America, the people will rule.

When George Washington was sworn in as our first president, he called this attempt at self-government “an experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

My fellow Americans, that experiment is now in danger.

It’s in danger when we have a president who wants more and more power in his own hands — and in the hands of his billionaire friends.

It’s in danger when peaceful protesters in Portland or Chicago are called “insurrectionists” while the U.S. military is deployed against them. It’s in danger when masked ICE agents break down doors, detain people without due process, and take them to unknown places.

It’s in danger when a president sues and intimidates the media, silences dissent, and undermines the First Amendment — the very foundation of our democracy.

Our democracy is in danger when he threatens to arrest political opponents — including a sitting U.S. senator, the governor of California and the attorney general of New York. When he undermines freedom of thought at our universities. When he threatens to impeach judges who rule against him. When he ignores Congress, diverts federal funds for political gain and redraws congressional maps to fix future elections.

It’s in danger when he illegally fires tens of thousands of federal employees and rips up the union contracts workers fought to win. And it’s in danger when he violates the Constitution by accepting lavish gifts — like a $400 million plane from Qatar’s royal family — and rewards them with a military contract on U.S. soil.

But this is about more than one man’s greed or corruption. This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on earth who have hijacked our economy and our political system to enrich themselves at everyone else’s expense.

I’m talking about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and the other billionaires who funded Trump’s campaign, showered him with gifts and saw their fortunes explode under his presidency.

We live in a nation where one man, Mr. Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of Americans. Where the top 1% own more than the bottom 93%. Where the richest have never been richer while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck — struggling to pay rent, child care, health care, and food, while trying to save for retirement.

We are the wealthiest country in human history, yet we have one of the highest rates of child and senior poverty in the industrialized world. Eighty-five million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. Eight hundred thousand are homeless — while Mr. Musk is on track to become a trillionaire.

The richest among us are pouring billions into artificial intelligence and robotics — technology that could eliminate tens of millions of jobs. This billionaire class believes they have a divine right to rule, to take massive tax breaks and avoid accountability.

My fellow Americans: We rejected the divine right of kings in the 1700s. We reject the divine right of oligarchs today.

And now, on the 18th day of a government shutdown, millions of federal workers are going without pay. What is this shutdown about? It’s about Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which gutted Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, throwing 15 million Americans off health care.

When you take away people’s health care, studies show 50,000 of them will die unnecessarily every year.

That same legislation doubled premiums for 20 million Americans. In Vermont, people have seen premiums triple or even quadruple. Across the nation, families are being crushed by skyrocketing health costs — all to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1%.

So let me be clear:
No, I will not vote for a budget that throws 15 million people off health care and causes 50,000 needless deaths every year.
No, I will not vote for a budget that doubles premiums for working families.
No, I will not vote for a budget that forces nursing homes, rural hospitals and community clinics to close — all so billionaires can hoard more wealth.

To my Republican colleagues: End this shutdown. Come back from vacation. Negotiate in good faith. Stop destroying the American health care system.

But ending the shutdown isn’t just about health care. It’s about declaring, once and for all, that we will not live under the rule of one man.

My friends, we are the greatest country in the history of the world. When we stand together — when we refuse to be divided by demagogues — there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

Yes, we can build a democracy that ends Citizens United and keeps billionaires from buying elections.
Yes, we can guarantee health care as a human right.
Yes, we can take on Big Pharma and stop paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world.
Yes, we can build millions of affordable homes so young people can achieve the American dream.
Yes, we can make public colleges tuition-free and build the best child care and public school system in the world.
Yes, we can expand Social Security so every senior can retire with dignity.
Yes, we can raise the minimum wage to a living wage and protect every worker’s right to join a union.
Yes, we can lead the world in ending fossil fuels, creating millions of good-paying jobs while saving the planet.
Yes, we can guarantee that every woman has the right to control her own body.
And yes, we can ensure American tax dollars never again starve children in Gaza or anywhere else.

Now, people ask me all the time: “Bernie, how are you going to pay for it?”

Here’s how: At a time when billionaires pay a lower effective tax rate than nurses and truck drivers, the wealthiest 1% and the largest corporations will finally pay their fair share.

My fellow Americans: The establishment wants you to believe you are powerless — that you cannot change the status quo. That is a lie.

Throughout our history, when Americans have stood up and fought for justice, they have prevailed.

When the founders stood up to King George, they were told it was impossible. But they won.
When abolitionists fought to end slavery, they were told it was impossible. But they won.
When workers organized unions, when women demanded the vote, when Black Americans fought segregation, when LGBTQ people demanded equality — they were told it was impossible. But they won.

They did it then. We can do it now.

And how do I know we will succeed? Look around you. Look at this crowd in Washington. Look at the millions marching across the nation — more people in the streets today, Oct. 18, 2025, than at any other time in American history.

This is not the end. This is just the beginning.

Together, we will build the kind of nation we know is possible — a nation devoted to freedom, justice and democracy.