4 hours ago
2 ARTICLE AD
Embed from Getty Images
People are angrier and hitting the streets in greater numbers during Trump 2.0. As these times call for, because this administration has been destroying the whole American experiment. Protests of some variety have been happening nearly every weekend since inauguration; some targeted at Vice President JD Vance, some at President Musk, and some weren’t protests but Republican town halls in which representatives got an earful from their constituents.
But it really felt like things changed last week when NJ Senator Cory Booker made his record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor. It was invigorating and empathetic, and, as CB notes in the new Gossip with Celebitchy podcast, Booker was a damn impressive speaker during the marathon he put himself through! His speech was also well-timed, coming just a few days before the Hands Off rallies happened in all 50 states on Saturday, April 5, where hundreds of thousands of galvanized Americans showed up to declare hands off our country.
Tens of thousands of people crowded in front of the Washington Monument and in cities across the nation on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump and top adviser Elon Musk’s dismantling of federal agencies, imposition of sweeping tariffs and what demonstrators called the circumvention of due process.
Organizers said at least 1,300 “Hands Off” rallies were planned by more than 150 groups in all 50 states. Photos and videos on social media showed throngs gathered in public squares or marching through the streets from Boston to Los Angeles.
Rallygoers dressed in Statue of Liberty waved anti-Trump flags and had their canines wear “dogs against doge” collars. In the freezing rain in Providence, Rhode Island, they carried signs decrying the administration’s deportation efforts. Under sunny skies in Atlanta, home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they blasted the defunding of public health.
And on a beach in San Francisco, they formed a human banner to send a message to the president: “Hands off democracy!”
In Washington, the crowd swelled as far as the eye could see from all sides of the stage on the National Mall.
“No moral person wants an economy-crashing dictator who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) declared, laying into the Trump administration for the stock market downturn, attacks on law firms and close relations with international dictators.
Organizers said they hoped Saturday’s events would be the largest Trump protests since he returned to office in January. In their permit application to the National Park Service, rally organizers in D.C. said they anticipated a crowd of 10,000. By Friday night, though, the organizers said they expected at least 20,000. Saturday afternoon, they were estimating the crowd was five times as big as they predicted.
The White House postponed spring garden tours scheduled for Saturday because of the potential size of the event. Police began closing streets around the National Mall on Saturday afternoon as the crowd swelled beyond the figures predicted by organizers.
Jane Fonda won the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year, and she gave a barn-burner speech that included (I’m paraphrasing): “Have you ever watched a documentary on a social movement and wondered if you would have been brave enough to show up? You don’t have to wonder anymore, cause this is it.” So even though I usually reserve Saturdays to be my laziest day of the week, with Jane Fonda and Cory Booker in my ears I simply could not stay home. And I’m so glad I didn’t! CB marched in Virginia while I paraded down Fifth Avenue in NYC (spot me in the crowd! I’m wearing a bright pink raincoat!) and both of them were packed and full of fantastic signs. One favorite of mine read, “Hey Trump, we’ve seen smarter cabinets at Ikea!” And of course all the penguin posters did me in. But what truly moved me was all the people who showed up. I saw young Baby Boomers, people using walkers, people on crutches, people who you’d think would’ve had a clear pass to stay home. Instead they said, “No, I have to be here to march.” Let’s keep up the good trouble!
Yesterday, we sent a historically big message to Trump, Musk, and the GOP — and we also sent a signal to all those who agree with us but have spent the last few months feeling shaken, hopeless, and afraid. #handsoff
— Indivisible (@indivisible.org) April 6, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Now THAT’S some #GoodTrouble. #HandsOff
— Nick Knudsen (@nickknudsenus.bsky.social) April 5, 2025 at 7:26 PM
What an absolutely incredible sight in New York City today.
— Ricky Davila (@therickydavila.bsky.social) April 5, 2025 at 10:47 PM
photos credit: Jeff Rivera/TheNews2/Cover Images, Getty and via Social Media
