Blitz Bureau
Demonstrators gathered in cities across the US on February 5 to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything from the President’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
According to an AP report published by Hindustan Times, protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American Government and society.
“I’m appalled by democracy’s changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks — but it started a long time ago,” Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. “So I’m just trying to put a presence into resistance.”
The protests, said the AP report, were a result of a movement that has organised online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day.
Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.” Catie Miglietti, from the Ann Arbor area, said Musk’s access to Treasury Department data was especially concerning. She painted a sign depicting Musk puppeteering Trump from his outraised arm – evoking Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a January speech that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.
“If we don’t stop it and get Congress to do something, it’s an attack on democracy,” Miglietti was quoted as saying. Demonstrations in several cities piled criticism on Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. “DOGE is not legit,” read one poster on the state capitol steps in Jefferson City, Missouri, where dozens of protesters gathered. “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???” Members of the Congress have expressed concern that DOGE’s involvement with the US Government payment system could lead to security risks or missed payments for programmes such as Social Security and Medicare. A Treasury Department official says a tech executive working with DOGE will have “read-only access.”
Trump has signed a series of executive orders in the first couple of weeks of his new term on everything from trade and immigration to climate change. As Democrats begin to raise their voice in opposition to Trump’s agenda, protests have multiplied. Demonstrators strode through downtown Austin, Texas. They assembled in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park for a march to Georgia’s state Capitol and gathered outside California’s Democratic-dominated Legislature in Sacramento.
