“I’m appalled by democracy’s changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks — but it started a long time ago,” Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. “So I’m just trying to put a presence into resistance.”
The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.”
Outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, a crowd of hundreds gathered in freezing temperatures.
Catie Miglietti, from the Ann Arbor area, said Musk's access to the Treasury Department data was especially concerning. She painted a sign depicting Musk puppeteering Trump from his outraised arm — evoking Musk's straight-arm gesture during a January speech that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.
“If we don’t stop it and get Congress to do something, it’s an attack on democracy,” Miglietti said.
Demonstrations in several cities piled criticism on Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
“DOGE is not legit,” read one poster on the state Capitol steps in Jefferson City, Missouri, where dozens of protesters gathered. “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???”
Members of Congress have expressed concern that DOGE's involvement with the U.S. government payment system could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. A Treasury Department official says a tech executive working with DOGE will have "read-only access."
Trump has signed a series of executive orders in the first couple of weeks of his new term on everything from trade and immigration to climate change. As Democrats begin to raise their voice in opposition to Trump's agenda, protests have multiplied.
Demonstrators also strode through downtown Austin, Texas. They assembled in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park for a march to Georgia's state Capitol and gathered outside California's Democratic-dominated Legislature in Sacramento. In Denver, political protests coincided Wednesday with nearby operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and an unspecified number of people detained.
“We need to show strength," Laura Wilde, a former public school occupational therapist in Austin. “I think we're in a state of shock.”
Thousands protested in St. Paul, Minnesota, where 28-year-old Hallie Parten carried a Democratic presidential campaign sign, revised to read “Harris Walz Were Right.” The Minneapolis resident says she was motivated by fear.
“Fear for what is going to happen to our country if we don’t all just do something about it,” Parten said.
In Alabama, several hundred people gathered outside the Statehouse to protest actions targeting LGBTQ people.
On Tuesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey promised to sign legislation declaring that there are only two sexes, male and female — echoing Trump's recent executive order for the federal government to define sex as only male or female.
“The President thinks he has a lot of power," the Rev. Julie Conrady, a Unitarian Universalist minister told the crowd. “He does not have the power to determine your gender. He does not have the power to define your identity.”
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The attribution for a quote from the Alabama protest has been corrected to reflect that it was from The Rev. Julie Conrady, not Patricia Todd.
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Associated Press journalists Joey Cappelletti and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Michael Conroy in Indianapolis, Indiana; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota; Mike Stewart in Atlanta; and Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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