(Headline USA) Donald Trump is the president, but billionaire Elon Musk is the focus for thousands of Democratic activists launching a protest campaign this week to fight the Trump administration’s push to gut federal health, education and human services agencies.
Hundreds of protests are scheduled outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships, with organizers hoping to send a pointed message to members of Congress who are on recess this week.
Already, the protests have turned into mob-like calls for violence. At a rally in DC, a reporter for conservative personality Laura Loomer spotted one protestor holding a sign featuring a picture of the Luigi cartoon character coupled with the slogan, “Deny, Defend, Depose”—a reference to alleged left-wing assassin, Luigi Mangione, and the words he wrote on the bullets he used to murder an insurance CEO.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:
Anti-Trump & anti-@elonmusk protesters in DC are calling for someone to “Luigi Mangione” Trump and Musk at a protest that was organized by the Women’s March called “NOT MY President- No Kings In America National Action”.@LoomerUnleashed captured this today. pic.twitter.com/J8Cuvxg8DJ
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) February 17, 2025
The backlash still hasn’t approached the intensity of protests during and after Trump’s first inauguration eight years ago. But a loose coalition of Democrats and progressives is coalescing around Musk’s rise as Trump’s top lieutenant and his purge of the federal bureaucracy.
“He’s a major weak link in the MAGA coalition,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, said of Musk. “I can’t think of something that polls worse than the richest man in the world is coming after your Social Security check or your Meals on Wheels or your Head Start.”
Indivisible, which claims more than 1,300 local chapters nationwide, is encouraging members to protest at the offices of their members of Congress, regardless of political party. The group also offered a step-by-step guide for protesting at dealerships for Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company.
The memo encourages protesters to stay on sidewalks and public spaces and to avoid any actions that might directly interfere with business operations, such as blocking entrances or trespassing on private property. It also calls for Tesla protesters to stay on message: “This is about Musk’s political takeover, not Tesla, SpaceX, or X as companies.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is launching what he’s calling “a national tour to fight oligarchy” with stops in working-class districts of Iowa and Nebraska this week.
🚨 Leftist “protestors” in DC today are OPENLY calling for the ass*ssinations of both Trump and Musk
This man is literally dragging around a Trump figure with a noose around its neck
There MUST BE ARRESTS. These calls for vioIence CANNOT continue. pic.twitter.com/ePTqg5PF2k
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 17, 2025
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin will hit the road for the first time as party leader as well. The newly elected DNC chair will travel to Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri in the coming days to meet with local Democratic officials and labor leaders, spokesperson Hannah Muldavin said.
Like the protesters, Martin is expected to seize on Musk’s role. During a meeting with labor leaders in Pittsburgh, for example, he plans to highlight Musk’s recent focus on the Department of Labor, which could put “the integrity of data like the unemployment rate and inflation rate at risk, which is important for a stable U.S. economy and, by extension, working people,” Muldavin said.
Aware of the intense displeasure from their party’s base, many House Democrats plan to be proactive.
The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee issued a memo ahead of the recess instructing Democrats to embrace “nine days of visibility” and said it was essential for members to host one town hall, in-person or via telephone, and at least one community event that highlights the “devastating impacts” of Trump and Musk’s actions.
The wave of protests comes at a critical moment as fractured Democrats struggle to stop the Republican president’s purge of the federal bureaucracy, which features thousands of layoffs inside departments focused on public health, education, veterans affairs and human services, among others.
Firings in recent days at the Department of Veterans Affairs include researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state. The cuts also include more than 5,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services and roughly one-tenth of the workforce at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In some cases, Musk’s team is trying — with Trump’s blessing but without congressional approval — to shutter entire agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Trump has defended the cuts as necessary to eliminate waste and fraud. And he has praised Musk’s work with his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, saying it has found “shocking” evidence of wasteful spending. He signed an executive order expanding Musk’s influence.
Musk, meanwhile, has defended the swift and extensive cuts he’s pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes.
Democrats in Congress condemn the moves as dangerous, but without control of either chamber of Congress, there is little they can do to stop the Trump administration aside from turning to the courts. Still, three of the nation’s largest progressive groups — Indivisible, MoveOn and the Working Families Party — are coordinating this week’s protests to send a clear message to elected officials in both major political parties that they must do more.
Ken Silva contributed to this report.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
