In coordination with similar events across the country, a couple hundred protestors gathered at Baltimore’s City Hall Monday for a Presidents Day rally to voice opposition to the policies of President Donald Trump and the dismantlement of federal government agencies by billionaire Elon Musk.
Several other anti-Trump and anti-Musk rallies were held in the state on Monday, including at the Annapolis State House and at city halls in Frederick and Salisbury.
The national effort, dubbed “No Kings on Presidents Day” was led by the grassroots 50501 Movement and other organizations. It comes on the heels of recent radical federal funding cuts, government agency closures, forced federal agency resignations, threats of mass federal government layoffs, and buyout offers that have upended the federal bureaucracy, as well as private and nonprofit sectors. Roughly 75,000 federal workers accepted the Trump Administration’s deferred buyout plan, intended to shrink federal agencies, some of which have been told to prepare for staff cuts up to 70 percent.
The 50501 Movement, “50 protests in 50 states on 1 day,” according to its website, “began as a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies,” with its first coordinated protests two weeks ago. Those rallies also denounced Trump and Musk, the head of the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, which has been directing the slashing of federal spending.
Kelly Schiaffino of the Free State Coalition, and one of the organizers of the Baltimore protest, said that, as much as anything, Monday’s rally was intended to send a message to Marylanders frustrated by the Trump Administration’s actions that they are not alone.
“We want our fellow citizens to know that we and others are fighting the Trump Administration policies, and they should, too, however they can,” Schiaffino said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who no one elected, are taking a sledgehammer to the federal government under the guise of ‘cost cutting,’ but the people who will suffer the most live on the lowest rungs of society. That’s who they are really taking a sledgehammer to.”
Among other actions seemingly in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the Trump Administration has all but shuttered USAID, whose programs are authorized and funded by Congress, placing roughly 10,000 employees, hundreds of whom live in Maryland, on administrative leave. (Catholic Relief Services, headquartered in Baltimore, and a USAID funding recipient, is bracing for layoffs that could affect half its workforce.)
The Trump Administration has also sought to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and threatened mass deportations of noncitizens.
The administration has fired more than 10,000 other federal workers. They are largely probationary employees—who lack federal job protections—at Health and Human Services, the EPA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Department of Education, among other agencies. Layoffs have also impacted the Department of Veterans Affairs, including researchers there investigating cancer treatments, opioid addiction, and prosthetics. With tax season approaching, the IRS is soon expected to see several thousand employees dismissed
The Trump Administration is now trying to bring back hundreds of terminated Department of Energy workers tasked with handling the nation’s nuclear weapons programs.
In Baltimore and Maryland, Trump Administration cuts, including a $4 billion decrease in medical research funding to the National Institutes of Health, are expected to have profound effects. Both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, as well as associated medical and biotech startups, will be affected.
Luke and Liz Littell, who brought their two small children to the protest, said their wide-ranging concerns about the recent Trump Administration executive orders and sweeping Musk actions brought them to the City Hall protest.
“It’s everything, including threats to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare funding,” said Liz Littell, pushing her 3-year old in a stroller. “It’s the fear everyone is experiencing around downsizing. And obviously, it’s cuts to education, which we care about.”
State Senate Majority Leader Bill Ferguson has said downsizing the federal workforce—more than 140,000 federal employees live in the state—will negatively impact Maryland’s budget, which is already grappling with a $3 billion deficit.
Earlier this month, the City of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against Trump Administration executive orders that blocked federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Angie McLean, a local educator who also attended the protest, said she believes it’s critical that educators speak out for their students, mentioning the Department of Education cuts. It’s an agency Trump says he eventually plans to rid of altogether. But she also is concerned about the trampling of civil rights and the First Amendment rights of the media, noting the recent Trump Administration ban of the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One.
“We are living under authoritarian president,” McLean said. “This is not a time to sit down.”