As Republican leaders attempt to cast the nationwide “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday as anti-American rallies, organizers are pushing back and say that they have spent weeks preparing demonstrators to remain calm, lawful, and nonviolent—even if met with aggression.

The organizers said they expect millions to turn out for what they describe as a peaceful demonstration against President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power, suggesting that Trump’s prediction of “very few people” taking part will prove false. The marches, planned in more than 2,600 cities and towns, will be the second major mobilization of the movement since June—but it comes amid heightened warnings and military preparations from some state and federal officials.

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced National Guard deployments in Austin, citing what he called possible threats from “antifa-linked” demonstrators. Democrats there accused him of using the Guard to intimidate protesters.

The tension reflects a broader clash over the meaning of public dissent in the Trump era. While administration officials frame the protests as a potential threat to order, organizers say they represent a test of the country’s ability to tolerate peaceful opposition—and of citizens’ willingness to defend their own rights.

Given the heightened rhetoric, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Indivisible, MoveOn and the American Federation of Teachers say they are taking extra precautions, focusing on de-escalation and community safety, and distributing guidance on how to respond peacefully if met with aggression by law enforcement or counterprotesters. “They might try to paint this weekend’s events as something dangerous,” said Diedre Schlifeling, the ACLU’s chief political and advocacy officer. “But the reality is there is nothing unlawful or unsafe about organizing and attending peaceful protests. It’s the most patriotic and American thing you can do.”

The “No Kings” movement began earlier this year as a response to Trump’s assertion of sweeping executive powers. Its slogan—modeled after the Revolution-era rejection of monarchy—has become a rallying cry for those who see the administration’s actions as a threat to democratic institutions. 

The movement’s first nationwide day of protest in June was largely peaceful, though isolated clashes broke out between police and demonstrators in several cities. Organizers deliberately avoided holding a march in Washington, D.C. at the time, as Trump was attending a military parade in the city after he lobbied for one commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with his 79th birthday. Around five million people attended the protests nationwide, organizers said.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump downplayed the scope of the demonstrations. “They have their day coming up,” the President said. “I hear very few people are gonna be there, by the way. But they have their day coming up and they want to have their day in the sun.” 

House Speaker Mike Johnson called the demonstrations against the Trump Administration a “Hate America rally” and claimed it would draw the “pro-Hamas wing” of the Democratic party and “the antifa people.” Majority Whip Tom Emmer accused Democrats of “promoting the terrorist wing of their party.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described expected participants as “the farthest left, the hardest core, the most unhinged in the Democratic Party.” Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas suggested the National Guard might need to show up.

In a press conference on Thursday, organizers accused Republicans of attempting to intimidate people from attending. “Now they are trying to smear millions of Americans who are coming out to protest so that they can justify and crack down on peaceful dissent,” said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the groups that organized the event. “It is the classic authoritarian playbook—threaten, smear and lie—but we will not be intimidated.”