Welcome to The Beat. I am Melissa Murray in for Ari Melburgh, and we begin tonight with the massive

no-kings protests that took place all over the country and the world this weekend. Organizers say that

nearly 7 million marchers turned out in big cities and small towns to protest Donald Trump

and his policies. And notably, the protests were peaceful.

The NYPD said over a hundred thousand people gathered in New York City alone without a single

arrest. In San Francisco, Americans used their own bodies to spell out the message of the day. No kings.

And while Trump did his best to downplay and undermine the event, protesters were prepared to speak for themselves.

I think it's a joke. We live by the Constitution. I guess it was made for by Soros and other radical left lunatics.

No one paid me to be here.

My rage is free and well deserved.

The demonstrations were very small.

There's over 2,000 of these things going on, right?

I think it's going to be bigger than 5 million.

The people were whacked out.

Those are not. I think it's going to be bigger than 5 million. The people were whacked out.

Those are not representative of the people of our culture.

I was willing to die and lost leg in a corn country fighting for their rights.

There's no way I'm bending the only knee I have left for a king here in America.

No, I'm not a king.

Trump's claim that he doesn't see himself as a king may be contradicted by his actions.

Over the weekend, he reposted two different AI-generated videos that depicted him as a king.

Now, of course, the president's authoritarian ambitions go beyond AI social media.

...