Washington DC—The Nation’s Capital and outlying region usually sees a protest or two on any weekend. But Saturday saw so many street actions against Trump policies it was difficult to keep track of them. In fact it was impossible to be in the dozen or more locations of the actions at the same time.
Easter weekend is usually quiet in DC as Spring break begins but it was a very busy day across the region as thousands took to the streets in multiple actions. And it wasn’t just happening in Washington DC; actions countering Trump were reported all across the country.
We take a brief look at what some of the civiic resistance looked like here in the DC-MD-VA (DMV) region on Easter weekend.
Tesla Takedown Boycott Line Week Eleven
Tesla Takedown boycott lines reached their eleventh week Saturday and are still captivating many with multiple locations reaching record numbers of participants. These grassroots activities have no overarching group or organization spearheading them yet they have attracted many mainstreamers who previously did not exercise First Amendment rights. They’ve given many a chance to engage a low-impact type of resistance that is family and children friendly. Many also brought their dogs.
Actions took place at a dozen Tesla showrooms across the region.
Elon Musk is the central target of these long-running boycott lines as the result of his so-called Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) takeover of government agencies, accessing citizens’ data, firing thousands of Federal employees, and shutting down their agencies. The goal of the boycott lines is to build public opposition to Musk’s brand, crash his Tesla Electric Vehicle stock value, and damage his reputation in the public sector, by shining light on his involvement in the U.S. Government agency takeovers.
The reality is that no one has done more to damage Musk’s reputation more than he has by disenfranchising every American from their private data. He and his DOGE team have done this with the consent of the Trump regime at the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and work and financial data of millions of Federal employees, potentially exposing it to unscrupulous third party accessories.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Hollander has blocked for now, DOGE attempts to further access Americans’ Social Security data.
The Tesla Takedown boycott line actions are succeeding way beyond activists’ greatest hopes and are still expanding.
El Salvadoran Embassy
At the Salvadoran Embassy a group of activists brought hand made signs and posters to challenge El Salvador’s authoritarian Nayib Bukele for his role in confining and denying release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Venezuelan legally seeking American citizenship in the U.S. He was kidnapped by ICE agents and illegally flown to El Salvador in defiance of a U.S. District Court Order, shacked at CECOT prison after falsely being accused by the Trump regime of being a gang member. The Department of Justice later admitted his illegal arrest was due to an administrative error but still refused the Supreme Court order to facilitate his return.
This story has captured world attention and has galvanized resistance against the Trump regime. The U.S. Judiciary has repeatedly ruled against the Government over its mishandling of the legal status and physical status and the rights of Habeas Corpus of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), hundreds of Federal employees, CFPB Union members, and supporters, picketed outside its headquarters on 17th Street over the takeover and takedown of that agency by DOGE infiltrators. Recent Reductions in Force as the result of Elon Musk’s DOGE operations inside the building have been stopped by court order. The action has been one of many which DCMG has covered since early February when DOGE operatives first forced their way into the CFPB headquarters building.
The Federal employees of CFPB provided a valuable service to consumers by providing relief from unscrupulous lenders who charged junk fees, unfair mortgage fees, rip-off bank overdraft fees, and fly-by-night online services which charged customers for add-on services they did not request. The CFPB returned $21 billion to consumers since 2011 when it was created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
On Thursday this week, a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amy B.Jackson blocked the RIFs of 1400 Federal employees at the CFPB after the National Treasury Employees Union filed suit. This fight is far from over and neither are the actions outside the Bureau.
50501 Action At the White House
The Hands Off action of April 4, two Saturdays ago drew millions into the streets across the country. Washington DC saw tens of thousands of protesters with some reports claiming between 50 and 100 thousand joining in.
On Saturday just two weeks later the action did not approach that number but those that did show up in Lafayette Square are continuing the message: Hands off Social Security, Hands off Medicare, Hands off Education, Hands off Health and Human Services, USAID, OPM, NOAA, NASA, FDA, … , Hands off of government.
The 50501 movement is a formidable decentralized operation and is likely to grow more powerful as civic actions are taken to the next level of civil disobedience.
