NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is the president, but billionaire Elon Musk is the focus for thousands of Democratic activists launching a protest campaign this week to fight the Trump administration’s push to gut federal health, education and human services agencies.
Hundreds of protests are scheduled outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships, with organizers hoping to send a pointed message to members of Congress who are on recess this week.
The backlash still hasn’t approached the intensity of protests during and after Trump’s first inauguration eight years ago. But a loose coalition of Democrats and progressives is coalescing around Musk’s rise as Trump’s top lieutenant and his purge of the federal bureaucracy.
“He’s a major weak link in the MAGA coalition,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, said of Musk. “I can’t think of something that polls worse than the richest man in the world is coming after your Social Security check or your Meals on Wheels or your Head Start.”
Indivisible, which claims more than 1,300 local chapters nationwide, is encouraging members to protest at the offices of their members of Congress, regardless of political party. The group also offered a step-by-step guide for protesting at dealerships for Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company.
The memo encourages protesters to stay on sidewalks and public spaces and to avoid any actions that might directly interfere with business operations, such as blocking entrances or trespassing on private property. It also calls for Tesla protesters to stay on message: “This is about Musk’s political takeover, not Tesla, SpaceX, or X as companies.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is launching what he’s calling “a national tour to fight oligarchy” with stops in working-class districts of Iowa and Nebraska this week.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin will hit the road for the first time as party leader as well. The newly elected DNC chair will travel to Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri in the coming days to meet with local Democratic officials and labor leaders, spokesperson Hannah Muldavin said.
Like the protesters, Martin is expected to seize on Musk’s role. During a meeting with labor leaders in Pittsburgh, for example, he plans to highlight Musk’s recent focus on the Department of Labor, which could put “the integrity of data like the unemployment rate and inflation rate at risk, which is important for a stable U.S. economy and, by extension, working people,” Muldavin said.
Aware of the intense displeasure from their party’s base, many House Democrats plan to be proactive.
The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee issued a