UNITED STATES – Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington DC and across the United States yesterday, part of some 1 200 demonstrations that were expected to form the largest single day of protest against President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk since they launched a rapidfire effort to overhaul government and expand presidential authority.
People streamed onto the expanse of grass surrounding the Washington Monument. Organisers said more than 20 000 people were expected to attend a rally at the National Mall.
Some 150 activist groups signed up to participate, according to the event’s website. Protests were planned in all 50 states plus Canada and Mexico.
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist from Princeton, New Jersey, was among those who gathered by the stage beneath the Washington Monument.
Klein said she attended the rally to protest Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education. I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is”.
Wayne Hoffman, 73, a retired money manager from West Cape May, New Jersey, said he was concerned about Trump’s economic policies, including his widespread use of tariffs.
“It’s going to cost the farmers in the red states. It’s going to cost people their jobs – certainly their 401ks. People have lost tens of thousands of dollars,” Hoffman said.
Some of Trump’s import tariffs will affect Caribbean countries, including Barbados.
Also goods from some Caribbean islands, including Barbados, that are exported to the US, will face a ten per cent tariff.
Trump, who shook financial markets and upset nations around the world with a raft of trade tariffs last week, spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf at his club in Jupiter before returning to his Mar-a-Lago compound in the afternoon.
At a protest in Stamford, Connecticut, Sue-ann Friedman, 84, brought a bright pink, handmade sign objecting to the administration’s moves to cut funding for medical research.
Paul Kretschmann, a 74-year-old retired attorney in Stamford, said it was the first time he had ever attended a protest.
“My concern is that Social Security is going to be gutted, that we’re going to lose our benefits, and that there’s going to be nobody around to administer it in the first place,” he said. “I’m afraid that this is all part of a larger plan to dismantle the government and for Trump to maintain power.”
With Trump’s blessing, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has scythed through the US government, eliminating more than 200 000 jobs from the 2.3 million federal workforce. At times, the effort has been haphazard and forced the recall of needed specialists.
On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 20 000 workers, as much as 25 per cent of its ranks.
Several hundred people gathered outside the headquarters of the Social Security Administration, a top DOGE target, near Baltimore to protest against cuts to the agency which delivers benefits to the elderly and disabled.
Linda Falcao, who turns 65 in two months, told the crowd she had been paying into the Social Security fund since the age of 16.
“I’m terrified, I’m angry, I’m bewildered this could happen to the United States. I do love America and I’m heartbroken. I need my money. I want my money. I want my benefits!” The crowd chanted, “It’s our money!”
White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston disputed the protesters’ charge that Trump aimed to cut Social Security and Medicaid. (Reuters)
