Thousand Gathered at SF City Hall to Protest Trump and Musk

Monday’s protest

On Monday, thousands of San Francisco residents took over the area across the street from City Hall. The day was quintessential San Francisco: cool but not too cool with shades of gray and light flashes of rebellious sun trying its best to break through the overcast clouds to warm and bring hope to the protestors – who were all very pissed off. Rightly so. 

Not even one month into the presidency, President Donald Trump, along with Tesla/Space/X CEO Elon Musk who, day after day, appears to be the unofficial VP (or the one in charge), has seemingly – and illegally – flipped the game board of the United States and the constitution over. 

I don’t need to dive into the complete list of bat shit, terrible, sadistic things Trump, Musk, DOGE, and his administration have followed through with these last thirty days, but to review what’s gone down since Friday: JD Vance made the outgoing chairman of the Munich Security Conference cry; Trump started up his favorite hit of “You’re Fired” with the FAA as yet another plane crash involving Delta Airlines happened; he’s firing almost 5000 combined National Park and US Forest Service employees that is likely tied to the Department of Energy’s likely land grab for “Unleashing American Energy”. And oh yeah, those suspect Nazi-esque tweets from Trump/Musk on, ironically enough, President’s Day weekend. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” which Trump tweeted:

Only to be followed up by what many suspect to be a dog whistle of white supremacy by Musk, who responded with 14 Flags at 14:14. “14 words” is a reference to the most popular white supremacist slogan in the world: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

So yes…San Francisco protestors and many a passing car with their horns blaring were very, very pissed off which they rightly and legally (for now) have every right to be. 

The protest was organized by fiftyfifty.one a “decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” The idea, per their website is to hold “50 protests in 50 states on 1 day” born on their Reddit page here. For a volunteer team of non-professional organizers (their words, not mine) the turnout and energy was raw, real, and very much felt as I snaked through the crowd of protestors to get to what I assumed was the center of the action. The action in question was what appeared to be the organizers, though based on their “decentralized” nature, it very could have well been anybody. Which, considering where many people are with the Democrats in power (appearing powerless) at the moment, feels right, echoing a similar sentiment from the 50501 movement in their press release which states:

“We see elected officials shrinking from their responsibility to speak out, paralyzed by fear of losing their political opportunities. But amidst this, we are witnessing an unprecedented wave of unity. People from every background and every corner of this nation are coming together to demand accountability and to push back against the erosion of our rights.”

A wave of unity was right and demanding accountability even more so, as people of all ages, ethnicities, cultures, and scopes held up signs that read “RESIST NOW!,” “HANDS OFF OUR DEMOCRACY AND DATA,” and the always classic “DEPORT ELON.” People were enraged but not in any violent or uncontrolled way. Yes, there was anger, fear, and even moments of hesitation. As one chant ended, a deafening silence descended for a second, revealing the truth of the ever-encroaching fascism we were all fighting against. But then someone new would take the bullhorn, and a new chant would begin, just in the knick of time. I spotted a few people dancing to chants like, “LOVE NOT HATE! THAT’S WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT!” as they laughed and threw their arms into the air in revelry, appearing almost relieved that finally, after a month of the incessant ever-sprawling shit everyone has had to deal with, they found a community to fight with rather than going it alone.

One person that was not there (or at least I didn’t catch him) was newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie. I asked a few people if they had seen or if they knew if he was planning to show up to no avail. A part of me wondered if he was at all hesitant about showing up to a rally openly protesting the sitting President and his partner in crime Musk (the richest man in the world) considering his affection for big tech (there were a few signs of OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman in the crowd as well) but, as far as I saw, he was a no show. I did call his office to see if he actually did attend and, if not, if he had any comment/thoughts on the protest itself.

There was one speaker that I got close enough to hear well. He was an older, tall man with gray hair and very shiny new New Balance sneakers. I don’t know why I wrote that down, but I did. He took a circle cleared out for speakers like a pro, emphasizing what Bernie Sanders had been preaching for years: there is too much money in politics, and US Congress has and can be bought. No surprise there, but instead of just offering everyone information they already knew, he offered a plan of action that would hit these oligarchs where it hurt and mattered most when it came to how they had control/power at all – money via a nationwide strike. For example, Yahoo Finance reported that Target lost $15.7 billion in market value after share prices fell 22% , which was connected to the end of their DEI initiatives. This is a real example of what customers do when cooperating and coordinating against these seemingly untouchable corporations.

As I left the protest with endless cheers and chants behind me, I passed the Abraham Lincoln statue in the Civic Center in front of City Hall. Created in 1926 by Armenian American artist Haig Patigian (and replacing an earlier statue that was destroyed in an earthquake in 1906), the bronze sculpture had Lincoln staring ahead with a slight bend forward. I stopped, observing his hardened face, one weighed with tragedy, with tales of acts of heroism freeing enslaved African Americans as well as neglect when it came to his relationship Native Americans. He appeared to me in deep, unsettled thought, this time perhaps at the words written on the concrete in pink chalk that read, “They are not Lincoln Republicans.”