More than 10,000 protesters gathered in New York City on President's Day to oppose the actions of the current Trump administration and, in particular, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It was one of several protests held in major cities across the country on Monday, with smaller protests at Tesla dealers across the country that came on the same long weekend.
Protesters who spoke to TechCrunch from Washington Square Park raised concerns about Doge's access to sensitive data from millions of Americans and the dismantling of a group of federal agencies. They view Musk's work with Doge as a veiled attempt to grab financial strength, and that Musk, an unelected official, has gained an unprecedented level of power over the federal government. He said he expressed his dissatisfaction with the
“I think it's very dangerous [Musk] Dmitri, 53, the architect who asked not to use his last name, told TechCrunch. “He basically lives in a sci-fi fantasy and is like a futurist fanboy who is trying to implement it, and has the resources to deal a lot of damage. He actually has the ability to understand. You're bullying something you don't have.”
The 55-year-old retired teacher, who is Tom alone and has the sign that read “No one voted for a mask,” said “I hate the fact that a considerable number of Americans voted for Trump. , who It's definitely true that he didn't vote for Musk either.”
Tom pointed out he didn't believe the average MAGA supporter voted for Musk, and worried that Doge's cut would hurt Americans on the state, local and individual level.
“The integration of power under a billionaire is horrifying,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order to create Doge on his first day in office, and billionaires owners of Musk, SpaceX, Tesla, X and other companies, to government fraud, waste and taxpayers. They gave them reins to eradicate abuse.
Since then, Doge has fired nearly 10,000 federal workers who handled everything from managing federal land to caring for military veterans. Another 75,000 workers accepted the Trump administration's proposal to buy it. In late January, federal workers provided eight months of pay and benefits, and if they resigned in early February, they left the post. Doge also cut 104 government contracts related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs and dismantled the US International Development Agency.
Trump also manages trillions of dollars in payments to Americans, from Social Security benefits to tax refunds despite questions about security clearance, cybersecurity practices and legality of mask activities. Allowed access to Mask's Doge team to the system. .
Trump and Musk supporters praise paper-like efforts to eradicate corruption, inefficiency and deficits. Opponents oppose the way Doge achieves stated goals and warn that team actions will lead to more corruption and national security risks.
A wave of legal challenges continues, claiming lack of transparency and data privacy violations.
New York protesters began at Union Square, marched into Washington Square Park, gathering under the iconic memorial arch dedicated to the country's first president, George Washington. They chanted “Hey, hey, hey, Ho, Ho, Elon Musk, have to go,” and held signs that they promoted various causes, but Musk and Doge were a common theme.
New York police estimated the number of participants to exceed 10,000.
Having identified herself as a 37-year-old teacher, Victoria had signs that read, “Stop the coup.” US, we appeal rulings we disagree with – we ignore court orders and threaten judges with bullet each, simply because we don't like decisions. plug. This is a coup, simple and simple. ”
“This is not against Republican policies,” Victoria said. “It's the fact that Trump handed over the power of his wallet to unelected Elon Musk.”
As people played music and yelled hymns, their homemade signs rose above their heads, and the 39-year-old small business owner said about Corwin and himself about musk, “He was very conflicted.” And it is clear that his anti-establishment attitude will benefit him personally and financially.”
Musk has targeted several agencies for reductions or demolition that regulates the industries his company operates.. Earlier this month, Musk said he wanted to regulate X's planned expansion into financial services and eliminate the consumer finance protection department, separated by gravestone emojis, featured on social network X's CFBP RIP. He states his intention to chase after the Federal Aviation Administration, agencies that previously collided with, and agencies that regulate SpaceX. He also asks that rules require carmakers to report crashes when autonomous driving technology is engaged.
Mask's behavior at the federal level has influenced Tesla's brand image. During the carmaker's fourth quarter revenue, Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro noted that hype around Tesla has been on the downward trend due to “severe brand devaluation.”
The story of people selling Teslas comes from a desire not to support the mask business. Some cybertruck owners have reported cases of vandalism and harassment. Sales of automakers, which had already begun to suffer due to increased competition in the market and an increasing number of old lineups, began to plummet in Europe after the gestures by musk were interpreted as Nazi salutes at the time of the president's inauguration. Polish Minister of Sports and Tourism Slaumir Nitras lobbyed the Tesla boycott and in Germany, he responded to Musk's support for both Trump and German far-right party alternatives (AFD) in response to Tesla's relationship We have reduced some.
