On Saturday, Oct. 18, hundreds of people showed up at the Coolidge Corner MBTA station for a protest organized by No Kings, an organization opposed to the controversial policies of the Trump administration. The demonstration was one of over 2,700 events planned across all 50 states, making the protest the largest same-day protest in American history.
This protest marks the second group of coordinated demonstrations that started on June 14, 2025, in response to Trump’s crackdown on immigration, controversial funding cuts and a military parade in Washington, D.C., coinciding with his 79th birthday.
Protestors stood at the intersection of Beacon and Harvard Streets with a myriad of signs. Some criticized funding cuts while others were more focused on President Trump’s character..
Brookline resident Stephen Holstein has attended several similar protests. He said that he is not as worried about how the Trump administration will affect his own life, but rather the lives of others.
“I’m concerned about having the First Amendment right and supporting the protestors,” Holstein said. “I think if people see the numbers [of people in the protest] come out, then people have to recognize that people are upset.”
Brookline resident Andrew Shapira has seen the impacts of the Trump administration firsthand, as it affects his family and other immigrants. While this is not his first protest, he said he attended because he believed in the power of demonstrations. He said he wanted to show solidarity with other protesters who voice the same concerns about the Trump Administration, specifically its approach to foreign policy.
“I think the main thing is that it makes people feel they’re not alone, and it helps them realize that there are lots of other people who feel the same way,” Shapira said. “I don’t think it’s going to have any immediate impact or change, but it gives rejuvenation and energy to those who are feeling the same way.”
Brookline resident Donna Steivater has protested against the government multiple times, most notably against the war in Vietnam in the 1960s. She said that protests like these are important, as they embody the public’s opinions of the government and raise awareness of problems caused by the current administration. She said that although protests may seem to do little, they can greatly influence public opinion. For example, the Vietnam War protests contributed to skepticism of the government and influenced Lyndon B. Johnson to drop out of the election in 1968.
“I started with the Vietnam War protests in 1968 and 1969. I marched on that with my firstborn son, who was on my back in a backpack, and I marched down on the Boston coast. [I was] younger then, of course,” Steivater said.
Meanwhile, MIT professor Margery Resnick said she worries about education in particular under the Trump administration.
“I’m affected because my colleagues, not only at MIT, but in the whole city and the whole country, their lives are dedicated to finding human solutions to problems,” Resnick said. “Having their funds cut, their research threatened and the possibility of teaching a new generation truncated; they can’t take graduates if they don’t have funding.”
Steivater said that she has lost faith in the government because of how the policies of the Trump administration affect those around her. She said she believes that branches like the Supreme Court are enabling the president to do unconscionable things, and tshe is frustrated by the lack of accountability from the president and the government overall.
“My sense of values and my sense of trust in the United States has been shaken to its core because of what [Trump] has been allowed to get away with,” Steivater said. “No one is stopping him. No one.”
Steivater said she urges people to stand up to tyranny and to exercise their right to protest to demonstrate that real change comes about.
“We have to stand up. We have to be counted. Otherwise, what’s the point of living in America in the first place, if we don’t do something?” Steivater said. “The little bit that we can do, we must do [it], we must.”
