Washington DC—Federal workers, their families, and supporters continued their grassroots demonstrations in opposition to increasing aggressive agency takeovers and takedowns by the Trump-Musk presidency. Thousands took part in the President’s Day protest at the US Capitol Reflecting Pool demanding Congress act now against what many say is an illegal and unconstitutional power grab by the executive branch of government.
The group 50501 organized the Monday afternoon demonstration at which speakers warned in no uncertain terms that the multi-billionaire Elon Musk was on the verge of permanently disabling by dismantling the Federal government without any legal authority and with no transparent plan to replace it. No members of Congress showed up to defend their own roles in government power or to speak out on behalf of the Federal workers being dismissed from public service. The FiftyFifty One website reads it is a decentralized organization with limited or no budget which was conceived over social media to stop executive overreach.
The assembly was part of a series of actions taking place across the country in every State, according to the 50501 website.
A lineup of Federal workers, Veterans, and activists spoke from a makeshift sidewalk stage with a sound system much too small to reach the thousands assembled in the permit area but their messages were clear: the Federal government was teetering on the verge of complete takeover and replacement by proxy of authoritarian rule from unelected mega-billionaire Elon Musk.
Although the permit granted to 50501 organization did not allow a street protest, many walked around the Reflecting Pool chanting and carrying their signs, many of which were handmade. Two things were clear: the size of the grassroots movement is growing from its initial inception two weeks ago and the anger and rage is mounting against the continuing Trump-Musk Federal agency takeovers, takedowns, and Federal worker reductions in force.
One speaker told of his family’s three generations of public service and how he was a Veteran who followed them into public service. Another told of how fascism gains footing and robs a republic of its life and takes away freedoms.
But the keynote speaker who stole the mic was Tara Hoot, a Drag Queen who has recently stepped up and into the resistance spotlight to encourage those assembled to be “brave,” be “strong,” and believe in yourself. It was some much needed advice for many who were in fear of what was happening in the world around them.
Tara Hoot did not mention the Government takeover or the struggle going on over power and access within the many agencies affected but she condemned Trump’s hostile takeover of the venerable Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and ousting of its Board. She also announced her run for the “People’s choice” to run the Board at the Kennedy Center.
She gave some practical advice by “doing something controversial” she had not publicly done before. She read her children’s book she authored because “Children’s books often contain lessons for all of us.” She began by saying,”The world can be a difficult place,” and read what she had told children at Drag Queen Story Hours. A link to her speech is here.
Her reading gave the thousands assembled there a moment to pause and reflect on themselves, and their value in a time of uncertainty and fear. She has not yet published her book.
Meanwhile the thousands there sought connections through the crowd in an effort to coordinate further actions and mobilization against the Trump-Musk regime.
