Many may have protested Trump and Musk yesterday
From Common Dreams to Ukraine: Why Trump, Musk and the Washington Monument Have a Changing Mind, and What We Can Do About It
The protests were focused on Musk and Trump but there were other concerns, from the trade war to the war in Ukraine, that drove yesterdays demonstrations. More than 150 groups participated in their organization, including those mentioned in this story, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and labor unions like the AFL-CIO and those representing federal workers, such as the National Treasury Employees Union.
In a statement written for Common Dreams, Indivisible says that Crowds exceeded their estimates at virtually every single protest it has participated in. From Common Dreams:
The protest was against Musk, the CEO of the company, who has spearheaded an effort to carry out mass federal workforce layoffs and hollow out government agencies. As Tesla’s sales have plummeted this quarter, Musk has threatened to “go after” the company’s critics, while the FBI has created a task force to investigate individual acts of vandalism and other actions aimed at the company.
Surrounding the Washington Monument Saturday were thousands of signs with messages spanning innumerable topics. Just a few of them included, for example: “support Ukraine”, “Beware of Doge”, and “Protect Trans Lives”. Others struck a note of exasperation: “Where do I start…”
The woman in front of the Washington Monument was draped in blue pool noodles and holding signs that said “DOGE is a SCAM” and “STAND with Ukraine.” A third bore a long list of things the government should keep its “hands off”: law firms, universities, and many federal agencies. “There are so many things that Trump has done — and Musk and [Vice President JD] Vance — that are outrageous,” she told me. There are at least four or five things each day. Whether it is snatching people off the street, cutting agencies which perform vital functions, things that may make sense to somebody wielding a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel. Susan, who did not want to give her last name, says that she chose the pool noodles because they were peaceful at the event. “This is a non-violent movement, and unlike the January 6th insurrectionists who brought flag poles and other things to use as weapons, everybody who’s here is here to peacefully protest.”
Some organizers arranged buses to help people travel to the nation’s capital for the rally, though many people showed up closer to home at the events spread across the country (and, thanks to protests in several major European cities, the world.) New York City reportedly had a similar turnout to DC — which is a much smaller city — and protests cropped up in stereotypically deep-red states like Idaho and West Virginia. But for many who attended the DC rally, the event was deeply personal. One person who works for the Office of Management and Budget, and who wouldn’t give her name, says that Russell Vought wanted to put us into trauma, and they are delivering on that promise every day. “And it has been nothing but a nightmare since January 20th for 3 million federal employees.”
A retired DOJ worker created an enormous figure of a man in a DOGE cap out of chicken wire and foam. Speaking to me while holding up his sculpture from the back, Bailey said that it really “pains” him to see how the colleagues he spent 33 years working with are being treated by Musk’s DOGE. He says colleagues who worked well into the night, through the weekend, and family vacations to keep the American public safe were his experience. He started his pre-planned retirement in January, and while he says “people keep telling me what great timing, I’m nursing a case of survivor’s guilt.”
Doug Wilson, an enforcement attorney with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, found being among other federal workers to be comforting. The bureau has had a bumpy couple of months, with the acting director ordering employees to stop working and then a judge ordering them to come back.
The 50500 protests: HANDS OFF our democracy by a politician in the shadow of Musk’s term at the Department of Government Efficiency
One of the most specific numbers reported so far comes from the social media accounts of 50500, one of the most prominent protest movements that sprung up in the wake of Musk’s actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The group posted late yesterday that “over 3 million people across the country stood up to say HANDS OFF our democracy.”
