Trump on protests: 'I'm not a king'

President Trump rejected the idea that he's acting like a monarch in an interview that took place the same day as the nation's massive "No Kings" protests.

“They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo recorded on Saturday, prior to the demonstrations. 

Later in the day, millions of Americans protested the president and his administration. Roughly 2,600 demonstrations took place in all 50 states, with gatherings in small towns and major cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Many Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, joined the activists, while Republicans largely backed Trump and criticized the demonstrations. 

This marked the second set of No Kings protests since Trump took office. In June, widespread demonstrations coincided with the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade in the nation’s capital, which took place on the president’s 79th birthday.

Late Saturday, Trump shared an AI-generated video to his Truth Social platform. In the video, the president, wearing a crown, flies a fighter jet — inscribed with “King Trump” — over protesters in New York City and dumps brown liquid on them, as Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone” plays. 

The protests occurred amid the ongoing government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1. A poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 75 percent of respondents blame Trump either greatly or moderately for the shutdown. 

Roughly three-quarters of respondents also said Republicans and Democrats in Congress are greatly or moderately at fault.

"We're cutting Democrat programs that we didn't want, because they made one mistake," Trump told Fox News. "They didn't realize that that gives me the right to cut programs that Republicans never wanted, giveaways, welfare programs, et cetera."

Also during the interview, the president addressed the deployment of National Guard troops to cities across the country. Since Trump returned to office, his administration has sent military personnel to Los Angeles, the nation's capital and Memphis, while it has encountered legal setbacks in its deployments to Chicago and Portland, Ore.

Now, Trump has his sights set on San Francisco.

"I think they want us in San Francisco," the president claimed. "San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world. And then, 15 years ago, it went wrong."