More than 1,000 protestors filled the Tribal Flag Plaza and surrounding Capitol lawn on Saturday as part of a nationwide mobilization effort to express their frustrations with the Trump administration’s first 75 days in office.
Protestors voiced opposition to the firing of thousands of federal workers including hundreds in Montana, gutting of federal agencies, peeling back of protections for transgender people and deporting hundreds of immigrants.
Called Hands Off! rallies, there were more than 1,200 protest locations planned in all 50 states, according to reporting by the Associated Press. In Montana, large crowds gathered in communities like Billings, Bozeman, Kalispell, Missoula and Great Falls, along with smaller towns like Havre and Hamilton. The Waking Giant, a Helena-based coalition focused on “mutual aid and collective action,” organized Saturday’s event at the Capitol in collaboration with two nationwide organizing groups, Indivisible and 50501.
Speakers at the event admonished President Donald Trump’s swath of executive orders and his administration’s handling of health care, LGBTQ+ issues and veterans affairs. They also took aim at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which plans to shut down Border Patrol facilities and federal offices around Montana. Trump also recently cut grants that have long brought arts programing to cities and towns across the state. Trump put Musk, who runs Tesla, SpaceX and owns the social media platform X, in charge of DOGE on Inauguration Day. The task force is charged with restoring “competence and effectiveness to our federal government.”
From a podium at the base of the stairs leading up to the Capitol, veteran and longtime local government administrator Dennis Taylor addressed the crowd.
“We stand here today as part of a national mass act in defiance of the Trump-Musk takeover of our democracy,” Taylor said.
Sally Brauss, a 40-year resident of the Gallatin Valley, said driving to Helena for the event was an easy decision.
“Everybody says, ‘Why aren’t you going to the one in Bozeman?’ I said, ‘Because I want to be the Capitol where the decisions are made,’” Brauss said.
Montana has felt the pressures from the Trump administration — just last week two dozen workers at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton were laid off as part of a round of reductions at the National Institutes of Health. An executive order Trump signed to gut the U.S. Department of Education has raised red flags here, as programs run by the agency distribute about $200 million to schools here each year. Tariffs with Canada and China have farmers fearful of the fallout from a trade war.
Brauss didn’t expect to recognize anyone at the protest, but just as the rally ended, she spotted Max Rauchenberger, a friend she knew through Montana’s electronic dance music scene. Rauchenberger said he was worried about the administration’s impact on his peers.
“I feel like a lot of people are concerned about their safety. And I don’t think that they’re wrong to be concerned about their safety considering the rhetoric that the current administration has used in the past and the people around them use,” Rauchenberger said, specifying he took particular issue with “the way that they approach policies specifically relating to social issues.”
Rauchenbeger’s flag, a striped rectangle with earth-tone lines and a black bear print, symbolized a subculture within the LGBTQ+ community, he said.
Attendees’ flags were predominantly American flags, though Montana flags were also common. Several protestors sported Ukrainian flags. Most of the signs promoted democratic values. Some reused Trump’s rhetoric, like “stop the steal” and “found the waste and fraud,” while others identified specific policy areas, including “stop persecution of legal immigrants” and “protect trans kids.” Chants at the peaceful protest included “fight back” and “hands off.”
As the Capitol lawn began to clear in the mid-afternoon, Ali and Elizabeth Kramen, a mother-daughter pair who traveled from Missoula for the rally, engaged in an amiable back and forth over how to effectively advocate. Elizabeth sat on the ground hydrating while her mother stood holding a sign that read “WOKE UP!”
“We need to show compassion and win people over,” said Ali Kramen. “It’s the old saying that your grandma probably told you: ‘You get more flies with honey than vinegar.’”
“I agree with her to an extent, but I’ve known plenty of Trump supporters, I’ve given them all of my compassion, and they’ve never changed,” Elizabeth responded. She said didn’t want to “meet halfway.”
“They’re not willing to, so why should we?” Elizabeth said.
“I’m not saying meet halfway. I’m saying you win people over with reasoning and love and compassion,” Ali said. “They’re hurting their own base and we don’t want their own base to dig their heels in.”
Ultimately, the two agreed to compromise.
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