ATLANTA – As Donald Trump prepared Tuesday to address a joint session of Congress, protest groups gathered at parks, statehouses and other public grounds across the country to assail his presidency as dangerous and un-American.
The rallies and marches — set in motion by the fledgling 50501 Movement, a volunteer-driven group organized in the weeks after Trump’s inauguration — mark the latest attempt at national resistance to the hardened support of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base and the success it has had in reshaping the Republican Party in the president’s populist image.
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Yet some early scenes Tuesday vividly demonstrated the difficulty Democrats, progressives and everyday citizens face in marshaling a tangible response to Trump and the swift, sweeping actions of his second administration. Protesters have so many things to push back against — from tariffs to Trump's reset on the war in Ukraine to the aggressive and sometimes legally dubious actions of the Department of Government Efficiency and its leader, billionaire Elon Musk, that it's hard to know what to focus on.
“There are so many things to fight, but I hope by being here we are starting some conversations,” said Sara Grummer-Strawn, who held a sign declaring “So Much Wrong, So Little Space,” followed by a small-print litany of topics from Ukraine and tariffs to potential education cuts to the denial of climate and vaccine science.
Around her in Atlanta were hundreds of people marching and chanting about a range of Trump initiatives. There were Palestinian flags and Ukrainian flags, along with signs bemoaning Trump ending military aid to Ukraine as it fights off the invading Russian troops of Vladimir Putin.
Trump was called a fascist, a “Russian asset,” “Putin’s Puppet” and “Wannabe King,” among other, more profane monikers. One signed implored “Punch Nazis,” reflecting an increasingly common effort to compare Trump's presidency to Nazi Germany. Musk was a frequent target of mockery and ire. But there were also appeals for transgender rights, abortion rights and diversity. One understated sign appealed simply, “Save Our Parks.”
Events were scheduled throughout the day in all 50 states, ending late Tuesday in Hawaii.
In Austin, Texas, those gathered at the statehouse leaned in to support Ukraine. Pops of yellow — a nod to the colors of Ukraine’s national flag — dotted the crowd as protesters affixed sunflowers to their hair, hats and clothing. The Texas crowd, which numbered in the hundreds, eventually made its way through downtown, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
“I think protests can be impactful,” said Carol Goodwin, an Austin resident active in the local advocacy scene. “I think these smaller protests are valuable for the people who come to express their frustrations, and I think this movement will grow over time.”
For some participants, Tuesday recalled 50501’s first day of national action on Feb. 5 — or the many women’s marches in 2017, at the outset of Trump’s first term. But for many others, it was a new step in their engagement.
Goodwin cited Trump's tariffs against Canada and Mexico and the Oval Office exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week as her reasons for attending.
In San Francisco, Michael Gray also pointed to that White House exchange with the Ukrainian leader. “The meeting with Zelenskyy ... just made us so disgusted to see an American president act that way on the world stage,” said the Santa Rosa, California, resident.
Grayson Taylor, a 33-year-old who came to the Atlanta event, had not protested until this year. He described the actions of Trump, his Cabinet and Musk as a “billionaire coup” leading a government that “will be serving the ultra-rich.”
At the same rally, Sherri Frias, 58, said her concerns about the extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans — in conjunction with GOP proposals to roll back Medicaid and other aid programs — drew her to her first protest. Trump has urged Congress to renew the tax cuts, which are set to expire.
Another Atlanta attendee, 67-year-old Phyllis Bedford, said she came to her first political protest because she felt overwhelmed by the breadth of Trump’s actions.
“I was thinking on my way here what I want to say about the situation,” said Bedford, who drove from Republican-leaning Snellville, on the outer edges of metro Atlanta. “All I could come up with is, ‘I’m sorry.’ I am sorry to Canada. I’m sorry, Mexico. I’m sorry, Greenland. I’m so, so sorry, Ukraine and President Zelensky. … We’re just so wrong. And we don’t all support this man.”
“For my own mental health, because it makes me feel like I’m doing something other than just the screaming inside of my head, right? That goes on every day, And I want to be heard.”
The protests come after some Republican members of Congress met angry town hall crowds during a recent congressional recess and as Democrats on Capitol Hill face pressure from voters on the left to be more outspoken.
Taylor wants Democrats to be “rude and aggressive” like Republicans “have been for years.”
“The Republican Party right now is so much more organized, and not divisive,” Smith said. “The Democratic Party, they have individual issues, but in my observation it’s hard for them to come together to deal with the real issues they want.”
Multiple demonstrators said they want to see Democrats relentlessly highlight the real-world impact of Trump’s executive orders, Musk’s commission and the pending Republican budget plan.
Bedford worked in the financial aid office at Georgia State University. “Most of the kids I dealt with would not have been enrolled without Pell Grants and the (federal) financial aid system,” she said. “And now there’s just a war on education, and higher education especially.”
Grummer-Strawn divides her time between Atlanta and Geneva, where her husband works for the World Health Organization after having spent 24 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from supporting WHO and clamped down on the CDC’s research and public health advocacy.
“We need to get people to stop and pause and see what each of his actions is leading to, connecting the dots,” Grummer-Strawn said, “even if people don’t think Ukraine and tariffs and public health policy affect them directly.”
Frias, meanwhile, thinks Democrats are doing everything they can given GOP control on Capitol Hill and in the White House. The ultimate responsibility for action, she said, rests with “the people of the U.S.”
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Lathan reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press journalist Haven Daley contributed from San Francisco.