More than 10,000 protesters gathered in New York City on the day of the presidents to speak against the current Trump administration and the actions in particular of the Efficiency Department of the Government of Elon Musk (Doge).
It was one of the some protests that happened on Monday in big cities across the country and came during the same long weekend that the smallest protests gathered in Tesla traders across the country.
Protesters who spoke about Techcrunch of Washington Square Park raised concerns about DOGE’s access to significant data of millions of Americans and dismantling the group for federal agencies. They said they see Musk’s work with Doge as an attempt covered with a capture of financial energy, and expressed the disappointment that Musk, an unsolved official, has gained unprecedented levels of power over the federal government.
“I think it is extremely dangerous for (Musk) to have access to our personal data,” Dmitri, 53, told him an architect who demanded that his surname not be used, Techcrunch told him. “He is a kind of futuristic fanboy that is essentially living in a scientific fantasy and trying to implement it, and there are resources to make massive amounts of damage. He is wagging with something he does not have the ability to understand in true. “
A 55-year-old retirement teacher who identified himself only as Tom and held a sign that read: “No one voted for Musk,” Techcrunch told, “I don’t like the fact that a significant number of Americans voted for Trump, it’s absolutely the case that no one voted for Musk. “
Tom noted that he did not believe that the average Maga supporter voted for Musk and worried that Doge’s cuts would hurt Americans at a state, local and individual level.
“Consolidating power under billionaires is a scary thing,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order on his first day on duty to create DOGE, giving Musk, the owner of the billionaire of Spacex, Tesla, X, and other companies, brakes to root government fraud, waste and abuse taxpayers’ dollars.
Since then, Doge has shot nearly 10,000 federal workers who treated everything, from federal land administration to caring for military veterans. The other 75,000 workers have accepted the proposal of purchasing the Trump administration, which at the end of January offered the federal workers eight months of payments and benefits to leave their posts if they resigned in early February. Doge has also shortened 104 government contracts regarding diversity, equality, inclusion and access programs and dismantled the US Agency for International Development.
Trump also gave the use of Musk’s Doge team in the digital payment system of the Treasury Department, which controls trillion dollars in payments for Americans, from social security benefits to tax refunds, despite questions about cleaning of them security, their internet security practices and the legality of musk activities.
Trump and Mus supports applaud their paper efforts to root corruption, inefficiency and red ribbon. Opponents oppose the way Doge is going for his stated goals and warns that the team’s actions will lead to more corruption and national security risks.
A wave of legal challenges has followed that claim the lack of transparency and violations of data intimacy.
Protesters in New York began at the Square Union and marched to Washington Square Park, gathering under the iconic memorial dedicated to George Washington, the country’s first president. They cheered “hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk should go”, and held signs that required a variety of causes, but Musk and Doge were a common theme all over.
The New York Police Department estimated that the number of attendees was more than 10,000.
Victoria, who identified herself as a 37-year-old teacher, held a sign that read: “Stop the fist”, echoing comments made to the Guardian on Monday by Arizona Prosecutor General Kris Mayes, who said The Outlet, “In Sh.ba, we appeal decisions that we disagree with – we do not ignore court orders or threaten judges with impeachment just because we do not like the decision. This is a punch, simple and simple. “
“This is not about us who disagree with Republican policies,” Victoria said, joined against the cold winds in the city, where although sunny, temperatures increased about 32 degrees Fahrenhei. “Well the fact that Trump has handed over the power of the Elon Musk bag, which is not chosen.”
As people played music and shouting calls, their home-made signs rose up on their head, a 39-year-old small business owner who identified himself while Corwin said for Musk, “he is so conflicted and is so Clear how his anti -regulator attitudes benefit him personally and financially. ”
Musk has aimed at several reduction or dismantling agencies that regulate industries in which his companies operate. At the beginning of this month, Musk said he wants to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would regulate the planned X expansion in financial services, posting on his social network “CFBP RIP”, painted with a tombstone emoji. He has declared a goal to go after the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency with which he has previously clashed, and one that regulates Spacex. He has also called to end a rule that requires automobiles to report clashes when autonomous driving technology is engaged.
Musk’s actions at the federal level have affected the image of the Tesla brand. During the profits of the 2024 2024 vehicle of the fourth quarter, analyst Thomas Monteiro of Investing.com noted that Hype about Tesla is trending down due to, among other things, “severe brand depreciation”.
Stories are accumulating people who sell their teslas out of the desire to no longer support musk businesses. Some Cybertruck owners have reported cases of vandalism and harassment. Automobile sales, which had already begun to suffer due to increased competition in the market and a stagnant formation, have begun to fall to Europe after a gesture from Musk, in the inauguration of the president, was interpreted by many as a Nazi greeting . Poland Sport and Tourism Minister Slawomir Nitras lobbied for a Bojkot Tesla, and in Germany, some companies have cut tesla links to Musk’s support for both Trump and the right -wing alternative party for Germany (AFD).
