The National Mall transformed into a sea of outrage today as tens of thousands of protesters descended on the capital, their chants shaking the monuments that bear witness to America’s darkest hours. The “Hands Off!” uprising—a coast-to-coast explosion of dissent against President Donald Trump and his billionaire enforcer Elon Musk—erupted in over 1,300 protests across all 50 states, with crowds so massive they forced the White House to cancel its annual spring garden tours.
From the steps of the Washington Monument to the streets of tiny Corning, New York, Americans delivered a thunderous rebuke to what speakers called “the most brazen power grab since the Civil War.”
“This Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Democracy”
The scene in D.C. was electric—and ominous. By noon, the crowd stretched far beyond the Park Service’s 20,000-person estimate, with demonstrators hoisting signs like “Stop the Autocrat Playbook” and “Musk = American Oligarch.”
When Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin took the stage, his words detonated like a mortar shell: “No moral person wants an economy-crushing dictator who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing! Trump and Musk are turning America into a corporate fiefdom—and we are here to say NOT ON OUR WATCH.“
The crowd roared as Raskin catalogued the administration’s offenses: Gutting the IRS to protect billionaire tax cheats. Weaponizing tariffs to bankrupt small businesses. Installing Musk allies to dismantle the EPA, SEC, and Department of Education.
But this was no D.C.-centric spectacle. Saturday’s demonstrations were the largest Trump protests since the Republican criminal returned to the Oval Office in January.
In Trenton, New Jersey, 1,000 protesters encircled the Statehouse. In Louisville, teachers marched with “Hands Off Our Schools” banners. In London, expatriates rallied outside the U.S. Embassy with a effigy of Musk dressed as the “Doge Emperor.”
Even livestock farmer Jac Behrends, 28, drove from New York’s Hudson Valley at 4:30 a.m., although she’s never been particularly political, but seeing Musk mimic a “Nazi salute” and seeing Trump’s rhetoric sway her mom into fearing immigrants spurred her to action.
“I wanted to be at the heart of it, and D.C. is definitely the heart of it,” Behrends said. “I really hate that billionaires and the rich are in control of our political system. That is not what this country was founded on.”
“We the People are rising in this mass nonviolent action to reject Donald Trump and his billionaire oligarchs’ authoritarian takeover of our government,” said anti-establishment progressive New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick. “We will never consent to live under the tyranny of a king. We will rise in revolutionary love to defend our democracy, our human rights, and the working class.”
“They’re not just coming for abortion rights or unions,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona of Women’s March. “They’re coming for everything—Social Security, Medicare, even public libraries. This is a hostile takeover of America.”
“Americans across the country gathered together at rallies today with a clear and simple message to Presidents Trump and Musk: get your hands off our retirement plans, our schools, our health care, and leave us the hell alone,” said Governor Tim Walz.
Thousands braved the rain across St. Louis today to tell Republicans #HandsOff our government – our democracy, our healthcare, our schools, labor, liberty, dignity and more, too much for one poster.
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