NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Nermeen Shaikh, with Amy Goodman in Santa Fe.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! That’s right, and we’re going to end right now. Even as President Trump has cracked down on dissent and sent troops into multiple cities, organizers of Saturday’s “No Kings” protests expect millions to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. It could certainly go throughout the world. Turnout is expected to surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for No Kings Day events in June. For more, we’re joined by two guests.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: [Byron] Sigcho-Lopez is alderperson of the city’s 25th Ward. It includes immigrant neighborhoods such as Pilsen, where federal agents have conducted violent raids and arrests. And in Washington, D.C., Leah Greenberg is co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, the grassroots movement, which is part of the No Kings coalition helping to organize Saturday’s protests.

Welcome back to both of you. Leah, if we could begin with you? Just talk about the scale of the protests across the country and what you’re expecting.

LEAH GREENBERG: Well, we’re expecting about 2,600 protests all across the country, in every state, and about 18 other countries, as well. And we are expecting millions and millions of people to show up. And we are expecting to have a joyful and defiant day that stands as a rebuke to this administration’s corruption, its authoritarianism and its attacks on our neighbors and our rights.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, Leah, I was on the plane to Albuquerque, and as people were getting off, they were telling me about the mass protests planned for Albuquerque. They expect some, what, 100,000 people, people coming in from small towns and cities after having their protests in their towns. There’s going to be one here in Santa Fe, as well. Apparently, the Trump administration, President Trump himself and those in the White House, are deeply concerned about this. And you have these threats, comparing people here to Hamas sympathizers and antifa. And we’ve heard what Pam Bondi said, how she’s going to deal with antifa. What is your response?

LEAH GREENBERG: Our response is that we are engaging in the most American activity in the world, which is coming together in peaceful protest of our government. This is a classic exercise of our First Amendment rights. And it is a classic exercise of the authoritarian playbook, to try to create fear, to try to threaten, to try to make people back off preemptively. And we’re not going to do that. We won’t be bowed, or we won’t be cowed. We won’t stop. We will continue to exercise our rights peacefully and joyfully, and all over the country, because the backlash to Donald Trump is everywhere.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, I’d like to bring in Byron Sigcho-Lopez. If you could talk about what you’re expecting to happen in Chicago? But first, I’d like to turn to a clip. This is Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who made similar unfounded claims on Fox News about the No Kings protests.

SEN. TED CRUZ: What I’ve been urging is, follow the money, cut off the money. And you look at this No Kings rally, and there’s considerable evidence that George Soros and his network is behind funding these rallies, which may well be riots all across the country, and Soros is writing the check. And so, I’ve introduced legislation called the Stop FUNDERs Act, that would add rioting to the list of predicate offenses for RICO.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And now let’s go to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson speaking on Fox News.

SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: I encourage you to watch. We call it the “Hate America” rally that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that. I bet you see Hamas supporters. I bet you see antifa types. I bet you see the Marxists in full display.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, if you could respond to these comments?

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ: Well, anything that comes from the Republican Party is nothing but a distraction. They should be focused on the Epstein files.

But one of the things, I’ll tell you, here in Chicago we see is working people coming together. We have never seen this level of unity in our city, as we see the shameful, disgusting attack on our city, our constitutional rights being violated on a regular basis, the defiance of federal judges’ rulings and intimidation of judges. So, we will not be intimidated with — we are not going to be intimidated by no kings, no wannabe dictators.

Our city has been victim of a treacherous attack. They are turning the military on working people. Somehow they’re shooting at innocent people, then lying to the public. They murdered one of our neighbors. They’re conducting a shameful raid. They have kids in ziplocks and parents that are naked in the middle of the street. So, Chicago is not taking this. We’ve been organizing about knowing our rights, a massive campaign that was successful. Now we’ve got to protect our rights.

So, the Republican Party is a party that is spitting propaganda. They’re calling anybody who disagrees with them a terrorist. They want to crush dissent. That’s what authoritarian regimes do. And here in Chicago, they’re going to find a massive demonstration, more unity, working people fighting the billionaire agenda.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, what’s happening in Chicago, you have this judge’s angry ruling yesterday, saying that ICE is defying what she said as they attack protesters. You even have, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, this week ICE arresting and detaining a police officer in the Chicago suburb of Hanover Park. So, how are you organizing these protests tomorrow? And are you concerned about the violent approach that ICE is taking, that they’ll attack the protests?

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ: Well, certainly, we have seen an unhinged, unaccountable military force. One judge already in Portland, Oregon, said clearly — and we agree — they’ve been using the military as the personal militia of the wannabe dictator. They are using excessive force. Not only they arrested a police officer just two days ago, they went to another neighborhood after they attacked one of our neighborhoods on the Southwest Side, and they shot a woman that posed no threat to them. They also, just a few days ago, arrested three people, two of them U.S. citizens. One of them was a 15-year-old Black youth that they disappeared for five hours. They are unhinged.

And the best way that we can do to protect our communities is mobilizing, mobilizing our communities in every corner of the city, and certainly mobilizing on No Kings Day to demonstrate the unity of working people. We will defeat the Trump administration. We will defeat Project 2025. And we are going — and we’re asking the judges to hold the line. We see a number of rulings. We’re winning in courts, but they’re not respecting our Constitution. And in that sense, we need to protect it by mobilizing. There will be no fear, but the fear of what will happen to us if we don’t mobilize. And this is the time that we want no wars — no wars in Latin America, no wars in the Middle East and no wars at home. This is the time to stand up and hold the line. And Chicago is mobilizing and fighting back to an administration that is unhinged, attacking innocent civilians with the full weight of the government and the militia that has been deployed as a military weapon, a militia, personal militia of the wannabe dictator.

And also, when I’m talking about the intimidation of judges, last week, or a few weeks ago, they burned the house of one of the judges. We must hold the line and protect each other, mobilization, organizing, and not giving them an inch. In the courts, in the streets, in legislative bodies, wherever we need to fight, we’re going to fight back.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Leah Greenberg, I mean, as you mentioned, these are not just nationwide protests. They’re actually also global. So, if you can tell us: What are the cities where you think the protests will be biggest, and then your guidance protesters about how to keep safe this weekend as these protests go on?

LEAH GREENBERG: Absolutely. Well, it’s hard for me to say where I think it’s going to be biggest. I think we are going to have enormous protests in many of the big — in the big cities across America. I also think that I can’t emphasize enough how incredible we are seeing these smaller protests in places where there has never been a protest before. We are hearing about, you know, dozens of protests across Montana and West Virginia and North Dakota. People are coming out in neighborhoods that maybe have never protested before, because they are so activated. They might not have ever been political before, but they are activated by what is happening in this country right now, and they know they have to show up.

And in terms of safety and security, we take this incredibly seriously. We’ve been working very closely with hosts across the country who are organizing these protests to make sure that everybody is trained in safety and deescalation, has a safety plan, that there are marshals on hand when needed. And if folks are interested in security and safety training, then they can go to our website, NoKings.org. We have safety protocols for folks to participate in.

AMY GOODMAN: Leah, we have to leave it there, but we will cover these protests, of course, bring it to folks on Monday. Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, part of Saturday’s No Kings protest, and Byron Sigcho-Lopez, alderperson for Chicago’s 25th Ward.

That does it for the show. I’ll be at the Lensic Theater tonight in Santa Fe for the Santa Fe International Film Festival with the showing of the film about Democracy Now!, Steal This Story, Please!; tomorrow at the Woodstock Film Festival at 3:00 at Woodstock Playhouse. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.