BOZEMAN — More than 250 people marched through downtown Bozeman Tuesday night to protest a suite of actions President Donald Trump has taken since resuming office Jan. 20.
Indivisible Bozeman, which describes itself as a “grassroots organizing group focusing on fighting for progressive democracy issues in Bozeman,” organized the protest.
In their remarks and signs, the protesters surfaced concerns about Trump’s attempt to expand the executive branch’s power, sudden reductions to the federal workforce, the Oval Office’s shifting support for Ukraine, and the future of public land, veteran benefits and university-supported scientific research.
Similar protests occurred in other cities in Montana and across the nation, and the effort builds on last month’s Indivisible Bozeman event seeking information on U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke’s position on recent executive orders.
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Former U.S. Army Officer Andre Zollars helped organize the event. In a Wednesday phone interview, Zollars told Montana Free Press that she and her husband, a retired U.S. Army Ranger, have been speaking out to support the future of America’s democracy.
“My husband’s been in seven combat zones. I was in during Desert Storm. We fought for democracy overseas. We never thought we’d have to fight for it at home,” she said. “We’ve got all these Republican representatives who we don’t feel are standing up for our rights. … We’re telling these Republicans, ‘Hey, stand up for American values, stand up for what our Constitution stands for, for the basic rights of individuals.’”
Indivisible Bozeman is garnering traction with Montanans who voted for members of Montana’s all-Republican federal delegation, Zollars said.
“That’s the interesting part about what we’re seeing with our group,” Zollars said. “As it’s growing, we’re getting a lot of people that did vote for some of these people — [U.S. Rep. Ryan] Zinke and [U.S. Senators Tim] Sheehy and [Steve] Daines.”
Zollars attributes the protest’s turnout to the wide net organizers cast in their outreach. Indivisible Bozeman shared protest details with public land and climate advocates, high school students who support LGBTQ+ individuals, university students worried about funding for scientific research, and federal workers recently fired from the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service.
Montana’s federal delegation has largely remained in lock-step with Trump on several issues, including the federal workforce reduction that resulted in more than 300 Forest Service workers in Montana losing their jobs in an event that’s since been dubbed the “Valentine’s Day massacre.”
In a statement following Trump’s Tuesday night address to Congress, Zinke touted the “rooting out [of] waste and fraud.”
“My husband’s been in seven combat zones. I was in during Desert Storm. We fought for democracy overseas. We never thought we’d have to fight for it at home.”
Indivisible Bozeman organizer Andre Zollars
“I will continue working with President Trump to fulfill our promises to the people of Montana, restore American greatness, and get the government back in the business of working for We the People, not itself,” Zinke wrote.
In an interview with Newsmax, Daines described the pace and scope of Trump’s actions, including reducing the federal workforce at the behest of the Department of Government Efficiency, as “remarkable.”
“President Trump has accomplished more in the last 42 days than most presidents get done in four years,” Daines said. “It’s like every hour is a new day.”
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In a statement emailed by a spokesperson Tuesday evening, Sheehy said Trump’s administration has “hit the ground running to secure our borders, unleash American energy, lower costs, rebuild our military, and root out waste, fraud, and abuse in our sprawling federal bureaucracy.”
Indivisible Bozeman has invited Montana’s federal delegation to a town hall-style event at the Bozeman Public Library on March 21, Zollars said.
“They’re all going to be on break, so we’ve requested that they come to Bozeman,” she said. “We have a large group of concerned citizens that would like to talk to them and ask them to protect us — protect Yellowstone, protect our Forest Service workers’ jobs, protect women’s rights, protect social benefits for people in our community, protect veterans’ benefits.”
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