‘Hands Off’ protests drew hundreds of thousands of people who decried Trump’s attacks on democracy

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of cities, towns, and villages across the country on Saturday. They were protesting the Trump administration’s deep budget and staffing cuts, funding freezes, tariffs, and other actions that they believe threaten democracy, economic stability, and the fabric of American life. 

The national day of action to “stop the most brazen power grab in modern history” was organized by the nonprofits MoveOn, Third Act, Indivisible, and nearly 200 other groups working on behalf of climate action, civil rights, seniors, workers, veterans, corporate accountability, and many more issues. 

Opponents of the Trump administration flocked to “Hands Off!” protests around the San Francisco Bay Area. People voiced their concerns about the breakneck pace at which Trump officials are dismantling the machinery of government and firing the public servants who make it run.

More than 1,500 people crowded the streets around a BART station in North Berkeley, chanting “Not my president!” and “People over profit.” A steady stream of cars honked in support. As drummers infused energy into the crowd, a woman shouted through a bullhorn, “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at IKEA.”

Berkeley resident Lisa Oglesby, 70, organized the protest even though she’s “never been a big protester.”

Oglesby, a retired information security consultant, said she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.“ I am appalled at what’s going on in the country, and I know everyone else is too, but we need to know we’re all in this together.”

Laurie Baumgarten, who has worked on climate issues for the last 20 years, said she’s “against the entire Trump agenda” but focuses primarily on climate. Baumgarten said she has joined 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations, an organization of “elder women and allies” from Berkeley and Oakland raising awareness about the urgency of the climate crisis.

Baumgarten has been working to support California legislation to “make polluters pay.” This could shift the massive financial burden of the climate crisis from taxpayers—who face ever-rising insurance rates, health care costs, and devastation from extreme weather disasters—to the fossil fuel companies that are driving climate change. 

Oil and gas companies have been covering up what they knew about fossil fuel pollution since the 1970s, Baumgarten said, including the fact that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming. “And here we are now facing these disasters, and they have the money to pay for it out of their profits,” she said.

“Particularly since the L.A. fires, it’s important that we the taxpayers get help paying for all of this cleanup,” she said.

Some people at the protests—including teachers, Defense Department employees, and other federal workers—were willing to speak their minds but said they did not want to be quoted. These people said they were worried about experiencing backlash from the government or at their workplaces.

Asked for comment about the demonstrations, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston did not address the tariffs or research cuts that many protesters referenced.

“President Trump’s position is clear: He will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries,” Huston said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.

Devastated Infrastructure 

Demonstrations in major cities in Massachusetts, Illinois, and New York drew huge crowds, and organizers said there were plans for protests in all 50 states. In Pennsylvania, a key battleground state during the presidential election, crowds in Pittsburgh filled the city blocks and parking lots leading to the City-County building before noon. 

Steve Plant drove from the suburb of Wexford to protest the Trump administration’s canceling of federal science grants and efforts. His wife, the director of quality control for a private company based in Madrid, lost her job this week because of the cuts. An audit that the company expected from the Food and Drug Administration was derailed by budget slashing, he said, and now his wife was unexpectedly out of a job. 

The private company where she worked for 35 years “said ‘to hell with the U.S.,’” Plant said. 

“We were planning to retire and now she’s job hunting,” he said. Plant worked as a contractor and he and his wife had a retirement nest egg. “Right now, I don’t want to look at how it.” It has been affected by the stock market plunge that followed tariffs announced by President Donald Trump, he said. “His people don’t care if people like us have enough to retire.”

Chelsea Brunner drove with her two daughters and her mother from Ross Township, north of Pittsburgh. Brunner, 33, works as a pharmacy benefits manager. Her mother, Cathy, is a legal assistant who at age 69 is still working. Chelsea, a 10-month-old orphan in Guatemala when Cathy adopted her and her sister, was near tears as she described why her family was protesting.

“She’s worked so hard her whole life,” Chelsea said of her mother. 

Cathy said she has had sleepless nights watching her 401(k) dwindle from stock market losses under Trump. “I’m losing $8,000 a day,” Cathy said. “I wanted to throw up.” 

Her granddaughters, Natalie, 7, and Laila, 9, were there with hand-written signs demanding “hands off” their grandmother’s retirement savings. 

Subha Das spoke to the crowd from the steps of the City-County building about his love for and work in scientific research. That is what propelled him to move from India to America decades ago. 

Now an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he appealed to people to keep vigilant about the cuts that are gutting research and ambitions. 

“We can’t do this on our own,” he said about how scientists are coping with the losses. “I’m speaking out because I’m concerned about the future of America.” 

Later, in an interview about medical research in the United States, he said: “America has set the standard all over the world. That infrastructure has just been devastated.”

“Stop Stealing Our Data!”

At the main rally in Washington, D.C., people held mass-produced signs reading “Some cuts don’t heal,” referring to the inability to repair gutted government infrastructure and expertise that took decades to build.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) gave a shout out to the people of Wisconsin, who voted against a state supreme court judge backed by Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump donor whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency has driven the federal cuts. 

“They showed America that organized people who want nothing but freedom can defeat organized billionaires who want nothing but power,” Raskin said.

“Here in America, Mr. Musk, justice is not for sale,” Raskin said. “And we don’t raffle off state supreme court judgeships for million-dollar prizes. Stop trying to buy our votes, stop ripping off our government and stop stealing our data,” he yelled, referring to the thousands of web pages and datasets scrubbed from federal agency websites.

Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse and president of National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses, said she and her colleagues have long fought for Medicare for all because they believe health care is a human right.

”Health care is not just about medical treatment, it’s also about the world we live in and the support systems we all rely on,” said Kennedy, naming as examples Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs. “This current administration wants to weaken and privatize those programs that have helped millions of people stay alive, housed and cared for.”

Without these programs, she added, vulnerable seniors, low-income families, people with disabilities, and veterans will suffer. 

“The current administration wants a society where the wealthy and powerful get richer while the rest of us struggle,” Kennedy said. “They say people should be responsible for themselves while they’re handing out billions in tax breaks, subsidies, and bailouts to giant corporations. No way!” she yelled, as the crowd cheered.

— Liza Gross and Christine Spolar, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.