Thousands massed around the steps of the Colorado Capitol and took to the streets of downtown Denver on Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s wide-ranging funding cuts and executive actions.
The first months of President Donald Trump’s second term have seen his administration — including the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk — attempt to freeze trillions of dollars of federal grants and cut tens of thousands of government jobs.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is among the agencies targeted for cuts, facing a reorganization that would include the loss of 80,000 positions, according to The Associated Press.
Shaunice Coleman of Denver, who joined demonstrators Saturday, described her own struggles as a Navy veteran trying to access mental health resources and other help after losing her job as a pharmacy technician.
She said she was particularly concerned about the direct and indirect impact of cuts on the VA’s health care professionals.
“The veterans are not getting the support and the care that they need, because the workers are burnt out,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to use my voice. I just never knew how.”
Along with spending cuts, the president has signed more than 100 executive orders since returning to office Jan. 20, including directives to curtail birthright citizenship, assert executive control over regulatory agencies, dismantle other federal agencies and overhaul the election process.
Trump’s administration has defended the cuts and executive actions as necessary to conserve taxpayer money and fulfill election promises, while opponents have accused the president of an ongoing, undemocratic power grab benefitting himself and his associates.
The idea that Trump and Musk pose a threat to American democracy was reflected in the signs held by protesters, many of which ridiculed the two and compared them to fascist political figures, and in the statements made by speakers.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser described the state’s efforts to fight Trump’s executive orders in court and said the size of Saturday’s crowd was proof that opponents of the administration “will not be intimidated.”
“Just like fear is contagious, so is hope,” Weiser said. “What we need to recognize is (that) the rule of law, the Constitution, they are in the balance.”
Jessie Danielson, a Democratic state senator representing Lakewood and the west side of the Denver area, also denounced Trump’s public lambasting of judges who have blocked some of his policies.
“They are threatening judges to give them cover for corrupt and illegal actions that defy our laws and our Constitution,” Danielson said. “Using fear and extortion, Trump and Musk attack, every day, the very ideas of free press, free speech and freedom of thought.”
Protesters marched through downtown Denver after the conclusion of the speeches. During the speeches, some protesters, flanked by members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, also began marching west on Colfax Avenue, blocking traffic and chanting in opposition to Trump and U.S. military aid to Israel.
Graham Ottley, joined by his wife and two young children, said his family took part in the protest and march in part because of the federal government’s policies on immigration, which have impacted the nonprofits he and his wife work with. He said they also wanted to show their children what it means to be active participants in a democracy.
“We want them … just to be active and engaged with what’s going on in our political system, and to feel like they have a voice, and that they matter as citizens in our country,” he said. “We’re excited to just exercise our rights.”
Labor unions and activist groups also set up booths around the Capitol steps during the event, which was scheduled to last until 4 p.m.
Saturday’s protest was organized by the Colorado 50501 Chapter, Move On, Colorado Indivisible, Solidarity Warriors, Political Revolution and Common Ground People’s Collective, and it coincided with similar “Hands Off!” protests that the chapter said in a news release were taking place in all 50 states and in Europe.
Protests were also scheduled in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Pueblo and other Colorado cities, according to the Colorado 50501 Chapter.
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