Tens of thousands of people gathered in downtown Chicago to protest against President Donald Trump and his senior advisor Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest person on earth. It was one of 1,300 “Hands Off!” demonstrations held across the U.S. Saturday.
The protests were against what organizers call a “brazen power grab” by Trump, Musk and other billionaires; a power grab in which they seek to “strip America for parts” by firing essential workers, gutting Medicaid, eliminating consumer protections and more.
Protestors carried signs that read “Hands Off! Civil Rights,” “Hands Off! Immigrants,” “Hands Off! Union Rights,” “Hands Off! Free Speech,” and so on. According to organizers, an estimated 30,000 people protested in Chicago.
“We need people who are horrified by what’s going on to know that their friends and neighbors are also horrified, and they can act together,” said Kathy Tholin, the chairperson of Indivisible Chicago.
“We won’t get out of this unless people stand up en masse and say ‘No!’” Tholin said. “This is one place we’re going to do it. This is going to be the biggest place we do it nationwide since the inauguration. It’s not the end, and we’re not going away and we will only get bigger and stronger.”
News reports from outlets such as CBS Chicago – whose studio is next to Daley Plaza – showed the massive crowd overflowing onto nearby streets. One protestor quoted by CBS Chicago described the crowd as “oceans of people.”
While many in the crowd had difficulty hearing keynote speakers (or indeed couldn’t hear them at all beyond a certain distance) the plaza offered protestors an opportunity to connect with each other as well as with organizations such as Indivisible, the Human Rights Campaign and others.
Given the scope of President Trump’s several “shock and awe” executive orders, there were several points of concern from protestors about how the administration is impacting their lives.
“One of my many concerns is the destruction of the Department of Education, which is going to lead to inequity in the way our schools are funded,” said Cheri, a teacher from Bolingbrook, Illinois, which is located roughly 30 miles from Chicago.
Cheri said the students she works with, including those who struggle with reading, depend on grants from the Department of Education.
“There’s a right to be able to read. It’s not a privilege,” Cheri said.
A 28-year-old college student – who was interviewed by People’s World alongside Cheri and who asked to remain anonymous – said the dissolution of the Department of Education would take away his Pell Grant funds and he’d have to stop going to school.
“I go to college literally on a Pell Grant and I spend no money out of my own pocket solely to attend college,” the college student said, while holding a sign that read “DEPORT PRESIDENT MUSKKK.” He described himself as a “gig economy employee” who spends about 90 hours a week juggling work and his studies.
“If there’s no Pell Grant, there’s also no extra money for me to actually attend college,” he said. “I’m going to have to give up my studies and resign myself to working a low-wage job for the rest of my life unless something changes.”
Cheri and those she attended the protest with also raised concerns over what they described as the Trump administration’s “disregard for democracy” and “tearing down” of the U.S. Constitution.
“This isn’t a war against left and right, it’s a war of top and bottom,” Cheri said. “And again like what my sign says, it’s about morality at this point, what’s the right thing to do.”
The demonstration was held just a few days after the Trump administration announced baseline 10% tariffs on imported goods from every country on earth. The tariffs have sent Wall Street into its worst crisis since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2,231 points (5.5%) on Friday and concerns are mounting over the likelihood of a global economic recession.
“The tariffs are going to totally disrupt the global economy,” said Richard Blackburn, who attended Saturday’s protest.
“It’s already destroying our retirement accounts, those of us who worked all those years to build up funds so that we could retire and have a decent lifestyle,” Blackburn said. “If this continues, it’s just going to totally destroy the economy.”
Blackburn also said he attended the protests because “our democracy is under threat” and added that President Trump “wants to be a dictator.”
“He got elected by the grassroots, but he is doing everything to undermine the lives of grassroots people,” Blackburn said. “And so we’re headed for a dictatorship if we don’t stand up to it.”
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