The Daily Populous Thursday February 6th, 2025 day edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by 1Rab

▶ Follow today’s live updates on the Trump administration

Demonstrators gathered in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.

“I’m appalled by democracy’s changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks — but it started a long time ago,” Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. “So I’m just trying to put a presence into resistance.”

The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.”

AP AUDIO: Thousands protest Trump administration policies in cities across the US AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports protests are expanding to President Trump’s proposed changes.

Outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, a crowd of hundreds gathered in freezing temperatures.

Catie Miglietti, from the Ann Arbor area, said Musk’s access to Treasury Department data was especially concerning. She painted a sign depicting Musk puppeteering Trump from his outraised arm — evoking Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a January speech that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.

“If we don’t stop it and get Congress to do something, it’s an attack on democracy,” Miglietti said.

Demonstrations in several cities piled criticism on Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

“DOGE is not legit,” read one poster on the state Capitol steps in Jefferson City, Missouri, where dozens of protesters gathered. “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???”

Members of Congress have expressed concern that DOGE’s involvement with the U.S. government payment system could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. A Treasury Department official says a tech executive working with DOGE will have “read-only access.”

Trump has signed a series of executive orders in the first couple of weeks of his new term on everything from trade and immigration to climate change. As Democrats begin to raise their voice in opposition to Trump’s agenda, protests have multiplied.

Demonstrators strode through downtown Austin, Texas. They assembled in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park for a march to Georgia’s state Capitol and gathered outside California’s Democratic-dominated Legislature in Sacramento. In Denver, protests coincided with nearby operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and an unspecified number of people detained. Protesters in Phoenix chanted “deport Elon” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”

A movement to oppose President Trump organized is looking to spark nationwide protests on Wednesday. Hundreds are also rallying in Washington, D.C., in support of USAID as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle the government agency aid.

“We need to show strength,” said Laura Wilde, a former public school occupational therapist in Austin. “I think we’re in a state of shock.”

Thousands protested in St. Paul, Minnesota, where 28-year-old Hallie Parten carried a Democratic presidential campaign sign, revised to read “Harris Walz Were Right.” The Minneapolis resident says she was motivated by fear.

“Fear for what is going to happen to our country if we don’t all just do something about it,” Parten said.

At Iowa’s Capitol in Des Moines, protesters who joined the anti-Trump movement went inside to counter a registered event by the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty. The anti-Trump protesters shouted over the speakers in the rotunda for about 15 minutes before law enforcement pushed them outside, removing four demonstrators in handcuffs.

In Alabama, several hundred people gathered outside the Statehouse to protest actions targeting LGBTQ+ people.

On Tuesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey promised to sign legislation declaring that there are only two sexes, male and female — echoing Trump’s recent executive order for the federal government to define sex as only male or female.

“The president thinks he has a lot of power,” the Rev. Julie Conrady, a Unitarian Universalist minister, told the crowd. “He does not have the power to determine your gender. He does not have the power to define your identity.”

The attribution for a quote from the Alabama protest has been corrected to reflect that it was from the Rev. Julie Conrady, not Patricia Todd.

Associated Press journalists Joey Cappelletti and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Michael Conroy in Indianapolis, Indiana; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota; Mike Stewart in Atlanta; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; and Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Calcutec_1 on February 6th, 2025 at 07:40 UTC »

Finally,

this needs to grow, and multiply and not back down!

BlahMan06 on February 6th, 2025 at 06:36 UTC »

Ok listen……. It’s time for some real action.

If you want to stop this Trump agenda, go after the Heritage Foundation.

These are the people who are writing the executive orders Trump is signing. THEY are telling Trump what to do. Do you really think Trump is smart enough to pull this off?

These are the people who are keeping the Republican congress and ALL of the major news organizations in lock step. They fund the lawyers. They back the initiatives from Main Street to Wall Street.

Get educated and fight back. Look at their history. Learn what they did during the Regan Administration. Learn about Project 2025.

Protest the Heritage Foundation properties. Draw attention to their places of business. Boycott their financial interests. Make it toxic for businesses to do business with them or their members.

Stop them in local town halls. Protest their events. Make them unwelcome in public forums. Make their businesses unwelcome in the markets. Sue them. Sue their interests. Counter their proposals. Name their leaders and representatives as agents of Project 2025 in public.

Contact the media, encourage stories on them. Contact your congressional leaders and make your opinions about the foundation and project 2025 known. Keep posting and reposting the truth about the foundation on social Media. Point out their hypocrisy. Their hate. Their agenda. Their ambitions.

Tell your family, friends and kids about their evils. Demand that your clergy cut ties with them. Tell anyone who will listen what their real agenda is.

When Project 2025 initiatives make a mistake, be sure to tag the heritage Foundation. Tag their business interests. Tag the public leaders of those businesses. Point those mistakes out to your friends and family. Your neighbors. Anyone who will listen.

I am NOT advocating nasty or even illegal exposure tactics. I am NOT advocating false accusations. I am simply advocating making their business known to the public. Shining a spotlight on into the shadows.

It’s time to face the real enemy. Go after them. If they falter, the Trump agenda will falter right behind them and we will be one step closer to fixing this mess in the midterms.

PlayShelf on February 6th, 2025 at 04:52 UTC »

I never understood billionaires who openly support one party or another. Your only policy should be making good products and being as discreet as possible.