Protests against Trump and Musk spring to life — with a mass demonstration set for April 5
As President Trump and Elon Musk continue their plan to dramatically reshape the federal government, a growing protest movement is emerging to try to stop them.
Over the past few days, thousands of people have gathered to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York castigate the current administration.
'We will not allow America to become an oligarchy,' Sanders told a crowd of 34,000 in Denver. 'This nation was built by working people, and we are not going to let a handful of billionaires run the government.'
At five stops in three states — Arizona, Colorado and Nevada — Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez drew crowds that exceeded expectations.
The rallies by the two high-profile politicians have proven to be the biggest demonstrations of the first months of Trump's second term, but numerous others have been popping up nationwide. On March 7, a 'Stand Up for Science' rally drew thousands of people to Washington, D.C., and other cities to demand a restoration of federal scientific funding cut by the Trump administration.
Yet compared with the Women's March of 2017, which drew millions of citizens to the streets the weekend after Trump's first-term inauguration to protest what many saw as the newly elected president's pattern of sexist rhetoric, the second-term protests have, so far, been much smaller.
To hear Musk tell it, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the advisory group Trump has tasked him to lead, is playing a crucial role in addressing what Republicans see as out-of-control spending.
'The country is going bankrupt,' Musk said last week in an interview with Fox News in reference to the growing national debt. 'If we don't do something about it, the ship of America is going to sink.'
But in response to Musk's efforts to slash the federal workforce and pare back popular social programs, so-called Tesla Takedown protests have entered their fifth week at Tesla dealerships across the country. On Saturday, hundreds gathered at Tesla dealerships in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and multiple other states.
Organizers are planning a 'global day of action' at Tesla dealerships on March 29.
'Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup,' reads the text on ActionNetwork.org, a website that says it 'empowers individuals and groups to organize for progressive causes.'
The protests against Musk's actions as the head of DOGE have sometimes turned violent. Over the weekend, the FBI issued an alert warning that acts of vandalism, including gunfire, have occurred at Tesla dealerships in at least nine states. The FBI warned citizens to 'exercise vigilance' and to 'look out for suspicious activity' on or around dealership locations. On Monday, the agency announced it was creating a task force to investigate recent attacks on the company.
"The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X. "This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice."
Tesla Takedown organizers, however, have distanced themselves from any acts of vandalism.
'Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly,' Action Network said on its website.
Another test of the strength of the protest movement against Trump will come on April 5, when a coalition of liberal groups is planning nationwide demonstrations, including one at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
'Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them,' Indivisible, the organization running the so-called Hands Off! protests, said in a social media post.'
Will the demonstrations draw enough people to have an impact on Trump's agenda? Not according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
'Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years," Leavitt told USA Today last week in a statement. "President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country who overwhelmingly reelected him.'
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