About 3,000 people gathered Saturday along LaGrange Road in Orland Park for a “No Kings” rally opposing President Donald Trump’s policies, one of several similar protests held across Chicagoland and one of thousands held nationwide.
The rally was one of many organized by Indivisible, a grassroots movement that has grown significantly since Trump took office for a second term. The group says it now has 2,700 chapters nationwide, a 150 percent increase since January.
Carrying placards that read “No Kings in America,” “I Have Seen Better Cabinets at IKEA,” and “You Cannot Bury the Epstein Files Under Iran’s Rubble,” protestors lined LaGrange Road from about 150th Street to 144th Street.
Music blasted from over-sized speakers and protesters used bullhorns to rally the crowd. Some motorists traveling both north and south along the roadway periodically honked their horns in support of the protest.
Maurice “Mo” Legault was attending the event with his wife. The New Lenox man said he emigrated from Canada with his parents when he was 9.
Less than a decade later, Legault was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. “I know war,” he said. “We don’t need to be in this position we are in with Iran.
“President (Richard) Nixon was bad, but Trump is worse,” Legault said. “We need a president we can trust.”
Legault cited fact-checkers’ reports that Trump made thousands of false statements during his first term.
“It was documented that during his first term in office he lied 33,000 times. That’s reprehensible. We need to protect our democracy.”
Bill Rosana, of Tinley Park, said the rally in Orland and others across the country were ways for “people to let this administration know that we are not happy.”
“I’m concerned about the future of this country,” said Rosana, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher. “We are moving in the wrong direction. I definitely don’t want World War III. We need to do better for the next generation.”
Saturday’s rally was part of No Kings 3, a national day of protest against Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration and now the war with Iran. It was followed by a massive demonstration in downtown Chicago that drew hundreds of thousands of protesters.
