Adversaries of President Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk intend to organize demonstrations nationwide on Saturday. These protests aim to voice opposition against the administration’s policies regarding federal cutbacks, economic matters, human rights, and various other concerns.
In the Triangle area, demonstrators are staging protests on Saturday in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Pittsboro.
Among more than 1200 "Hands Off!" demonstrations organized by approximately 150 groups—including civil rights organizations, trade unions, LGBTQ+ supporters, veteran associations, and election activists—the protests are scheduled across all 50 states.
Activists are criticizing the Trump administration's plans to dismiss numerous government employees, shut down Social Security Administration branch locations, essentially close whole departments, expel immigrants, reduce safeguards for transgender individuals, and decrease federal support for healthcare initiatives.
Musk, an advisor to President Trump who also owns companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media site X, has been instrumental in reducing government size as the leader of the recently established Department of Government Efficiency. According to him, his efforts have saved American taxpayers billions of dollars.
In response to the protests, the White House issued a statement indicating that “President Trump’s view is unequivocal: he remains committed to safeguarding Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for those who qualify as beneficiaries. Conversely, according to the Democrats’ perspective, providing Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to undocumented individuals could lead to insolvency of these programs and adversely affect senior citizens in America.”
Protesters have organized national rallies against both Trump and Musk several occasions following the change in leadership. However, the protest movement hasn’t managed to orchestrate a large-scale gathering similar to the Women’s March in 2017, where countless participants gathered in Washington, D.C., post-Trump’s initial inauguration. Nor has it matched the scale of the Black Lives Matter protests that swept across numerous urban centers after George Floyd was killed in 2020.
The organizers express their hope that the protests scheduled for this Saturday will become the biggest since President Trump resumed his term in January.
The Associated Press provided contributions to this report.