I was disappointed on Presidents Day (aka “No Kings Day,” “Not My President’s Day”) to learn there had been a big protest demonstration in downtown Denver and I’d not heard about it beforehand. Participants were protesting Trump, Musk, and their power trip in Washington that is rapidly dismantling our government — as well as our reputation around the world.
50501, or 50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement, organized the protest and I’m posting this for anyone who might want to be in loop. Certainly I do. But I’ve aged way past tackling a drive into downtown Denver, parking, walking, standing. I did all my marching back in the ’70s.
March 4 is 50501’s next day of action, and full details are on their website, along with lots of tips on what to do and not do to be as effective as possible.
I don’t profess to know anything about 50501, but it seems to me that a coordinated effort will be much more visible than a bunch of small disorganized actions. And maybe it can preempt the violence and rioting that might otherwise erupt. I worry that the nation is moving in that direction.
(See more photos of the Denver protest at Denver Voice.)
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”
— attributed to Edmund Burke
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Header image: President’s Day demonstration in Denver (Photo from Denver Voice)
I’m staying away from protests. I did reach out to our representative, but I’m not sure where he stands (he’s a Republican).
At this point, my hope is for Republicans to retrieve their balls from whereever they have hidden them and stand up to President Must and Clown Puppet Trump. Short of that, for the Judicial Branch to step up, but my hope is not as strong in that regard.
Finally, at some point, MAGAns might realize they were taken for a ride and that it’s not going to go well for them. Then again, given the sunk cost fallacy (and ignorance coupled with the inability to reason), that might also be a dead end.
So far it seems only a couple of judges have done anything and I’ve no idea how they’ll enforce their rulings if Trump and Musk just ignore them.
My representative is a Republican too, but I include him whenever I write to my two Dem Senators at democracy.io. Just hoping they all understand that we in the hinterlands are pissed!
I do wonder if those who gleefully voted for Trump are now regretting their short-sightedness. But I’m not holding my breath. If they couldn’t see the handwriting on the wall, I doubt they’ll see or care what’s happening now. At least not until they lose their jobs.
Something I read just after the election, which I’m sure is true, is that many MAGAns are very, very, very low information voters. Many of them can’t be bothered to watch or read much real news and what they do get is likely Fox News, etc. These folks never heard of Project 2025, don’t know who Trump is appointing to his cabinet, don’t know anything about tariffs, how the economy actually works, don’t understand that the president doesn’t directly control inflation, or gas prices or egg prices. They vote emotionally, not intellectually. They go on gut reaction alone and are obviously easily fooled by the Orange Conman and his minions/masters.
Many believe what Ronnie Raygun said circa 1980, that government can’t solve our problems, that government IS the problem. They believe that all politicians, and by extension, all government employees, are corrupt bureaucrats. Thanks to Ronnie, they have no idea how much of the budget goes to social welfare programs, though they probably think it’s about half (actually 18% total from 13 programs). They believe that foreign aid (USAID) is about 25%, though they said they could accept 10% (it’s actually 8-tenths of 1%).
So, what they voted for was disruption, a wholesale overhaul of a government they completely misunderstand and which they’ve been convinced is outrageously inefficient, wasteful, full of corruption, and incompetent. They had no idea any current chain-saw “cost-cutting” measures might affect them personally.
I saw some interviews with Trump voters immediately after the election who, when they were finally told how tariffs actually work, were flabbergasted and instantly regretted their vote. So, there may be some waking up in the coming weeks and months as the carnage becomes so bloody they can’t ignore it. When the vegetables are in short supply in the produce section. When egg prices don’t immediately drop. When inflation reduction reverses, which it already has.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Washington representatives elected by those flabbergasted voters are just as stunned as their constituents.
You voiced very well what I am thinking also. Republicans in Congress have been blown away by the support of Trump’s base and most are cheering him and Musk on. I doubt very much if they would be swayed at all by letters from protesting Dems. The resolution will have to wait for reality to catch up. Let’s just hope that we still have a country worth saving in 4 years.
In the meantime I may have to go back into my cave or risk having my head explode. I can’t bear to watch the wholesale destruction of our government.
I’m all in on the protests and the more publicity the better!
50501 mentioned that larger gatherings will attract more media attention and publicity. Makes sense to me.
right!
These will get louder as time goes on.
No doubt. And in more ways than one, I fear.
johnthecook…When DOGE found empty fields in the Treasury’s payment system, they uncovered more than missing data. Here is what the Treasury didn’t want exposed: Over $100 billion flows annually to accounts without Social Security numbers. There are no temporary ID numbers, no verification, nothing. They found a mechanism. Simple things were left blank: Payment categories, Payment rationales and Basic audit controls. This is “unequivocal and obvious fraud. I sure hope President can get to the rock bottom of this.
I have less than zero confidence in what Musk and his 20-something DOGE investigators have to say about anything they see. Nor is it simply coincidence that Musk’s companies have substantial federal contracts and are affected by federal regulations. That’s a serious conflict of interests.
Trump and Musk have been dismantling federal agencies across the government. Trump “has fired top officials and pushed out career employees. Many of them were leading investigations, enforcement matters or lawsuits pending against Mr. Musk’s companies.”(1)
Giving free rein to a bunch of unelected Trump/Musk supporters who’ve not undergone any background or security checks is foolhardy at the very least. They certainly shouldn’t be allowed access to the government’s financial records and haven’t the background to comprehend why something is or is not done. (Those records are supposed to be strictly confidential and not pawed through and possibly changed or copied by a bunch of unauthorized private citizens with no security clearances.)
I don’t trust those DOGE investigators to have any idea what they are looking at, much less know if it’s fraud or unnecessary or just something they don’t like, but it’s a cinch I don’t want them seeing or messing with my records. Or yours. Or anyone else’s.
As for Trump and Musk, despite what they obviously believe, ego and power do not confer knowledge and understanding.