WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk rallied across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the administration’s actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues.
Some 1,200 demonstrations were planned across the U.S. in what organizers expected to be the largest single day of protest against Trump and Musk since they launched a rapid-fire campaign to overhaul government and expand presidential authority.
Thousands were streaming into downtown Washington as the protests got underway under gloomy skies and light rain. Organizers said more than 20,000 people were expected to attend the rally at the National Mall.
The protests in the U.S. gave Trump opponents an opportunity to demonstrate their displeasure en masse in response to Trump’s raft of executive orders.
Some 150 activist groups had signed up to participate, according to the event’s website. Protests were planned in all 50 states plus Canada and Mexico.
Protesters carried signs with slogans such as “No Kings in the USA” and “Deport Musk.”
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist from Princeton, New Jersey, was among hundreds who gathered early in front of the stage below the Washington Monument.
She said she drove down to attend the rally to protest Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education. I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is.”
David Madden, a 75-year old Army veteran and retired trial lawyer, said he flew from Dayton, Ohio, to demonstrate against “the injustice that is dominating this country, the institutions that are being stolen from the American people, the confusion in the courts, the fact that we have a population that I believe is essentially racist.”
With Trump’s blessing, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has scythed through the U.S. government, eliminating more than 200,000 jobs from the 2.3 million federal workforce. At times, the effort has been haphazard and forced the recall of needed specialists.
On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 20,000 workers, as much as 25% of its ranks.
Several hundred people gathered on Saturday outside the headquarters of the Social Security Administration, a top DOGE target, near Baltimore to protest against cuts to the agency which delivers benefits to the elderly and disabled.
The mood was angry and defiant, after the agency recently announced cuts of 7,000 staff and the ending of phone services to millions of claimants.
Members of DOGE have been inside the building for weeks. Many in the crowd of mostly retirees held handmade signs, including “Where Has My Country Gone?”,

 “FIRE DOGE!”, “Send Musk to Mars,” and “Hands off Social Security!”
Linda Falcao, who turns 65 in two months, told the crowd she had been paying into the Social Security fund since the age of 16.
“I’m terrified, I’m angry, I’m pissed, I’m bewildered this could happen to the United States,” she said. “I do love America and I’m heartbroken. I need my money. I want my money. I want my benefits!” In response, the crowd chanted, “It’s our money!”
Much of Trump’s agenda has been restrained by lawsuits contending he has overstepped his authority with attempts to fire civil servants, deport immigrants and reverse transgender rights.
Trump returned to office on January 20 with a stream of executive orders and other measures critics say are aligned with an agenda outlined by Project 2025, a deeply conservative political initiative to reshape government and consolidate presidential authority. His supporters have applauded Trump’s audacity as necessary to disrupt entrenched liberal interests.
Hours before the protests were due to kick off in the United States, hundreds of anti-Trump Americans living in Europe gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and London to voice opposition to Trump’s sweeping makeover of U.S. foreign and domestic policies.
People, mostly American, gathered on Paris’ Place de la Republique, listening to speeches and waving banners ranging from “Resist Tyrant”, “Rule of Law” to “Feminists for Freedom not fascism” and “Save Democracy”.
“We have to show solidarity with all the demonstrations in a thousand cities today in the USA,” Democrats Abroad spokesperson Timothy Kautz said in Frankfurt. Protester Jose Sanchez said Trump was a con man who was destroying U.S. democracy.