More than a thousand actions, meetings, and demonstrations are planned across the country on Saturday, in all 50 states and of varying magnitude. A total of around 500,000 people have announced that they intend to participate, according to the organizers behind the so-called "Hands off" protests.
"Trump, Musk, and their billionaire companions are staging a full-scale attack on our government apparatus, our economy, and our fundamental rights – and it is being enabled entirely by Congress", the organizers state, and behind them stand many large organizations within American civil society.
Encroachment on the public sphere
President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who have been given extensive powers, are being urged to "keep their hands off". The protests concern, among other things, the cuts to the public sector, limited access to funded healthcare, and restricted rights for workers, consumers, minority groups, and citizens in general.
The largest demonstrations are expected in the capital Washington DC, in several major cities, and at the respective state congress buildings. Everything is to proceed peacefully, the organizers assure.
Their stated goal is to be able to show that a majority of the American people oppose what is happening. Opinion polls currently paint a slightly different picture: It is evenly divided between those who approve of President Trump's actions so far and those who disapprove, although the latter have become slightly more numerous in recent weeks.
"Let it burn then"
During Donald Trump's first term, many enormous demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of participants took place. There have been protests this time as well, but on a visibly smaller scale.
Many democratically inclined voters say they feel great powerlessness and exhaustion. Erin Edlow, a long-time active Democrat in Virginia, tells The Washington Post that she is keeping away from politics "for her own mental health's sake". She says she understands that many like-minded individuals are taking a step back:
It's like "Okay, we'll let it all burn down then", since one couldn't think that the USA would be so stupid twice.
