(File Photo: Source for Photo: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a rally against the policies of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
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.
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.
Still, Democratic members of Congress may face their own voters’ fury.
MoveOn, which boasts a membership of nearly 10 million, is hosting dozens of rallies outside town halls and congressional offices for those members who do not host public events. The group will focus on “persuadable House Republicans whose votes will be crucial to opposing the Trump-Musk agenda,” according to a preview of its recess week plan. But there will also be rallies targeting House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, among other Democrats.
“We are seeing a true resurgence in energy opposing what Trump, Musk and Republicans are doing to our country,” MoveOn executive director Rahna Epting said, adding that “people are mad as hell.”
The Working Families Party is focusing protests in the districts of vulnerable Republicans in states such as California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The actions will feature people directly impacted by the Trump administration’s cuts, including special education teachers, nurses and Head Start workers, according to Working Families spokesman Ravi Mangla.
“A lot of Republicans,” Mangla said, “have not have had their feet held to the fire.”
