No Kings is another defeat for the American, global — and Brazilian — right

More than 8 million Americans returned to the streets this weekend in protest against the authoritarianism of the Trump administration.

It was the second wave of popular mobilizations – dubbed “No Kings” – against the president of the United States. The first had taken place on June 15 and had already been the largest in American history, with more than 5 million people gathered in thousands of cities to denounce the White House’s abuses.

Due to the latest events in Brazil, the Bolsonarist movement was betting on the ideological sectarianism of the Trump administration to attack Brazilian democratic institutions. The strategy relied on a popular and strong American government, capable of carrying out its wishes — among them, blackmailing Brazil in exchange for the subjugation of the Judiciary and the national political system.

These demonstrations therefore represent a setback not only for Trump’s authoritarianism, but also for those in Brazil who bet on the strength of his model as an instrument of pressure against Brazilian democracy.

More broadly, this is a defeat for the entire global extreme right, which is already showing clear signs of wear and tear across the planet. Milei’s recent failure in the legislative elections in Buenos Aires and his fall in the polls for the next national elections, as well as the failure of the extreme right in Portugal, illustrate this movement. The possible defeats of the left in the Western world, such as in Bolivia and the imminent electoral setback in the United Kingdom, originate more from domestic errors than from a supposed global conservative wave. In the Bolivian case, an internal division within the left itself led to the victory of the center-right — but at least the extreme right was contained. As for the United Kingdom, the Starmer government is so pathetically subservient to the United States, so obedient to every imperial narrative — from Russophobia to Zionism — that it would be an offense to consider it a left-wing government.

The greatest irony of all this is that the violence of the Trump administration is triggering a process unimaginable a few years ago: the birth of a left in the United States. This is a process that still needs to be matured, but with three more years of struggle ahead, it is possible to witness the emergence of something truly new in the country. This will, of course, come at the cost of much pain, much suffering, and countless violations of human rights and American freedoms. At the moment, what is being observed is the formation, still incipient, of a great democratic coalition against the authoritarianism of Donald Trump — which today is, in fact, the center of the entire global extreme right. The broad masses of people may not follow much of what is happening in the United States, but the most influential sectors of Latin American public opinion follow it closely. They are witnessing the emergence of a fascist, radical and extremely prejudiced government against Latino, black and foreign immigrants in general — and all of this will have profound repercussions on political and cultural relations in the region.

The despair of the American right in the face of the demonstrations was evident in the statements made by its leaders. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that “the Democratic Party’s core constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal immigrants and violent criminals.” House Speaker Mike Johnson called the protests a “demonstration of hate for America” and said he expected to see “pro-Hamas supporters,” “antifa types” and “Marxists on full display.” The day after the demonstrations, Donald Trump himself tried to minimize the impact of the protests, declaring that “the demonstrations were very small, very ineffective, and the people were crazy.” In response to the mobilizations, Trump published a video generated by artificial intelligence in which he appears wearing a golden crown, flying a fighter plane with the inscription “King Trump” and pouring brown liquid — apparently feces — on protesters in an urban landscape that appears to be Times Square.

This entire scenario results in a political and symbolic defeat of Trumpism in the United States. You don’t need to be a great communications expert to understand that this is a generational turnaround. The demonstrations represented a symbolic blow of great impact and a moral shock for the Trump administration. How this will be reflected politically may still take some time, but the effect is profound and lasting.

The attempt to associate opposition to Trump with the radical left movement, Marxists and defenders of the Palestinian cause has a deeply ironic side: it accustoms the Democratic Party to coexist with and accept its own left. Figures such as Bernie Sanders — an independent senator with historical connections to the party —, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — one of the most popular congresswomen, with all the qualities to be a presidential candidate in the future — and Zohran Mamdani, a self-declared socialist and defender of the Palestinian cause, likely to be the next mayor of New York, gain legitimacy in this process. By accusing his opponents of being antifa, pro-Hamas, Marxists and the radical left, Trump produces a political movement of cohesion that helps the American liberal center to break its prejudices against these currents, as everyone becomes part of a broad democratic front.

This dynamic generates revolutionary political education within this broad front that is being built organically in the United States. It promotes cohesion by bringing together Marxists, socialists, defenders of the Palestinian cause and liberals of the American democratic tradition, making everyone take a step towards convergence. This is critical not just for the United States, but for the world.

One of the most moving moments of the protests was Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s speech in Chicago. Before a crowd of more than 200,000 people, Pritzker declared: “We are here today to defend the principle that has defined America since its founding: the belief that tyranny, in any form, must be resisted by people of conscience — especially here in Chicago. We will never surrender.” The governor warned that “tyranny doesn’t come with dramatic proclamations: most of the time, it comes silently, wrapped in the language of law and order, pointing the finger at someone who doesn’t look like you, promising safety while demanding that we sacrifice our neighbors.” He concluded bluntly: “This is not a political choice — it is a moral imperative. Donald Trump, stay away from Chicago! We will not bow. We will not submit. Chicago will not surrender to Trump’s authoritarianism.”

During Pritzker’s speech, protesters displayed signs with messages such as “Hands Off Chicago” and “No Human is Illegal” — the latter in English and Spanish. The phrase carries a deep philosophical meaning, especially given the dehumanizing way in which the Trump administration treats immigrants. The expression “illegal aliens”, widely used by the administration and the American right, reveals a deliberate attempt at dehumanization. The word “alien”, which in English also designates extraterrestrial beings, is the same one used in films such as Ridley Scott’s Alien. This vocabulary choice is based on the assumption that the undocumented immigrant is not a human being. During the debate over the government shutdown, Republicans argued that Democrats wanted to extend healthcare subsidies to “illegal aliens” — a controversy that unfortunately the Democrats themselves do not explore in a fully humanistic way, limiting themselves to denying that they want to extend these benefits to undocumented immigrants. It is surprising that the richest country in the world wants to build a fascist society in which a person, because they are an undocumented immigrant, does not have the right to hospital care. Nowhere in the civilized world does this exist. In Brazil, a much poorer country than the United States, anyone who suffers an accident on the street is treated free of charge by the public health system. Many dilemmas experienced between Democrats and Republicans in the United States need to be resolved with the establishment of a free and universal public healthcare system. The Democratic Party should openly defend this — it doesn’t matter whether for immigrants with or without documentation, everyone has this right, including for the health stability of the country itself. The refusal to recognize this basic humanity reveals the authoritarian and inhumane core of the Trumpist project.

Finally, these 8 million Americans who protested against Trump also protested against $20 billion in aid to Milei’s failed government in Argentina. They protested against the tariffs imposed on the entire world by the Trump administration — taxes that, in practice, are paid by American consumers themselves, raising the cost of living especially for the poor and the middle class and increasing income inequality in the country. In the case of Brazil, this tariff punitivism took on especially serious contours, based on political blackmail against national democratic institutions and in defense of a fascist like Jair Bolsonaro. This is, therefore, an absolute defeat for Bolsonarism — which confirms a prediction I have made: Eduardo Bolsonaro could be arrested in the United States for having influenced the American government, with heavy financial costs for the American taxpayer, to embark on a self-destructive and anti-democratic path.