Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads
The protesters marched against tariffs and oligarchs, dark money and fascism, the deportation of legal immigrants and the Department of Government Efficiency. Opponents of the Republican president's policies -- from government staffing cuts to trade tariffs and eroding civil liberties -- rallied in Washington, New York, Houston, Florida, Colorado and Los Angeles, among other locations.
ALSO READ: Could Pete Hegseth face consequences for discussing sensitive military ops on Signal app? Pentagon's big move
Elon Musk slams "puppermasters"
Tech billionaire Elon Musk called out "puppetmasters" behind anti-Trump demonstrators after a viral video showed protesters struggling to explain why they believe President Donald Trump is a "fascist.""The problem is the puppetmasters, not the puppets, as the latter have no idea why they are even there," Musk posted to X, formerly called Twitter, on Sunday accompanied by video footage of protesters stumbling over what issues they have with Trump.
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads
Popular in International
ALSO READ: Elon Musk's DOGE found something 'horrible': Trump makes big claim, wants his 'first buddy' to stay with admin
"He just does everything he wants… He's a convicted felon, you know, that's all I know," one protester in the video said after tripping over why he believes Trump is a "fascist," while holding a sign reading, "The Fascist Trump Regime Must Go." The footage was recorded by Ted Goodman, a political strategist who launched a livestream program with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on Saturday in Washington, DC, according to Fox News.
"One of the things is he's trying to control the media," another protester in the video responded when asked for evidence Trump is allegedly a "fascist."
"Doesn't every president try to control the narrative?" Goodman pressed.
"They try to control their own narrative. But one of the things that Trump has done, for example, is the renaming the Gulf of Mexico and then not allowing the Associated Press to come into the White House," the protester continued.
ALSO READ: Trump fires three National Security Council officers after meeting far-right activist Laura Loomer for THIS reason
When asked by a cameraman, "How is he doing that?" The man then tried to divert the question.
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads
Repeatedly asked the same question, the first protestor took out a sheet of paper from his bag and admitted he didn't really know about this. He said, "Someone just gave me the sign near the gate."
Elon, Trump's 'first buddy', also shared a video of another protestor and said, "He had to read the paper he was given to understand the sign he was holding."
In the video, a man was holding a sign reading, "End the Kastikokracy." When the reporter asked its meaning, he, too, pulled out a printed paper and started reading it.
ALSO READ: Friday night firings: Elon Musk's DOGE initiates unprecedented mass layoffs of federal employees
'Hands off' rally in US
More than 1,200 protests were held across the nation on Saturday as critics gathered to protest the administration, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), reciprocal tariffs, federal layoffs and immigration reform. The protests this weekend follow mass protests targeting Tesla last weekend. Elon Musk, who is helping lead DOGE and is a staunch Trump ally, is the CEO of Tesla and has seen anti-Trump critics physically attack, monetarily boycott, and protest the car company over his politics."Who is funding and organizing all these paid protests?" Musk posted to X last weekend of the recent anti-Tesla protests.
Amid the protests, a local news outlet, media personalities and conservative critics speculated that the anti-Tesla protests were embroiled in "astroturfing," which is defined by Merriam-Webster as a campaign "falsely made to appear grassroots."
(With agency inputs)
