Protesters converged on the focal point of the autocratic threat to American democracy on Saturday, on the street that fronts both President Donald Trump’s White House as well as the federal courthouse where he until last year faced criminal charges for his 2021 coup attempt.

What appeared to be a hundred thousand people or more rallied to oppose the moves Trump has openly taken toward authoritarianism since his return to the White House in January. They carried signs and wore clothing with messages ranging from the direct – “NO KINGS, NO NAZIS, NO TRUMP” – to the subtle – a cap with the words “Gulf of Mexico,” referring to his decree that it now be called the Gulf of America.

Chad Williams, who is 49 and works for local government in Maryland, compared today’s America to the final days of Germany’s Weimar Republic in the early 1930s.

“There’s no pushback. There’s no deference of congressional power, which, of course, the Founders never thought would happen,” he said, adding that he finds it alarming that more Americans are not more frightened by Trump’s actions. “He feels he has no constraints and he’s surrounded himself with people that won’t fight back.”

Williams and his wife, Cynthia Owens, carried several American flags, as did many of the protesters, to refute claims by Trump and his allies that the protests were anti-American or even terroristic.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 18:........

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