Hundreds attend Statehouse rally to protest Trump, Musk and more

COLUMBIA — Hundreds of people who oppose the Trump administration gathered on the Statehouse lawn as part of a national Presidents’ Day protest in all 50 states. 

At exactly 1 p.m. Monday, they started chanting in unison: “This is what Democracy looks like.”

Their complaints were many. An estimated 400 people chanted, booed, marched and flashed signs of numerous gripes with President Donald Trump, who was sworn into office four weeks ago.

They included the influence of tech billionaire Elon Musk, the government-shrinking efforts of the temporary Department of Government Efficiency that Musk leads, Trump’s rollback of protections for transgender students and military personnel, and his numerous other executive orders.

They also faulted South Carolina’s Republicans on Capitol Hill for supporting Trump’s initiatives. South Carolina has just one Democrat in Congress.

While officers were on hand, they had no interactions with the peaceful protesters. And there were no counter-protesters.  

“I just want to hold our elected officials accountable for what they pledge to do for our citizens,” Amy Dupuis, a 40-year-old teacher, told the SC Daily Gazette. 

Dupuis held a sign that read “so bad, even the introverts are here.” 

Her top concern was the access that Trump gave Musk. Her second was the future of education. 

Education funding

The Ladson native is a math teacher in Dorchester 2 School District. She worries about her job and K-12 education generally if Trump dismantles the U.S. Department of Education and transfers its duties “back to the states” as he’s repeatedly said he wants to do. 

Like other public schools statewide, the school where Dupuis works receives federal money to help educate students who live in poverty through Title I and to support students with disabilities via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. (At her confirmation hearing last week, education secretary nominee Linda McMahon told senators neither Title I nor IDEA funding would be reduced by potential changes.)

Statewide, federal aid makes up about 7% of school districts’ revenue. Summerville-based Dorchester 2 specifically is slated to receive about $23 million this school year from the federal government, which amounts to 6% of its total revenue, according to the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.  

Dupuis said she is specifically worried about protecting Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which makes it illegal for recipients of federal funding to discriminate against people with disabilities. 

South Carolina is among 17 GOP-led states that sued last September seeking to declare unconstitutional the civil rights law as amended by the Biden administration to include “gender identity disorders.” 

“It would be devastating to see that” thrown out, Dupuis said about the law. 

In a statement last week, Attorney General Alan Wilson said he fully supports Section 504 accommodations and wants only the part pertaining to gender dysphoria removed. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that removed “gender identity disorders” as a disability.

The case was put on pause following Trump’s order.

Local organizing

Awareness of the Statehouse event went out over social media and can be credited to two people who formed Peace and Progress in South Carolina. The protest was part of a larger initiative dubbed “No Kings,” organized by a group that calls itself the 50501 campaign, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one movement.

A flyer that circulated on social media also advertised protests in Greenville and Myrtle Beach. 

The protest marked the second at the Statehouse this month organized by Peace and Progress.

The first, on Feb. 5 — also as part of 50501 — was more specifically against Project 2025, a 900-plus-page book created by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation as a blueprint for overhauling the federal government. Trump distanced himself from it during the campaign. But one of its many architects, Russ Vought, has been confirmed as the director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.

Monday’s attendance dwarfed the gathering 12 days earlier. It helped that the latest was held on a state and federal holiday and happened to be a sunny day.  

“It’s definitely a big gathering, many more than we expected,” its co-organizer, Blake Justice, a restaurant manager in Columbia, told the SC Daily Gazette. 

Speakers included members of local political groups, religious leaders and one Richland County lawmaker. 

Rep. Heather Bauer, D-Columbia, condemned the inner workings of the Statehouse, where Republicans control both chambers with a supermajority advantage. But that didn’t stop her from criticizing members of her own party. 

“Not everyone with a ‘D’ beside their name is great,” said Bauer, who ousted a Republican in 2022 and managed to hold on to her seat in a rematch last November.

Former Republicans

The crowd included people who said they used to be Republicans.  

Barbara Bates, a 78-year-old housewife from Goose Creek, was there with her husband Bill, also 78 and a former master chief in the Navy Submarines, as well as her daughter Stacie Arcomona, 54, and a pair of friends. 

Barbara Bates held a sign Monday that called out South Carolina’s two GOP senators and 1st District representative: “Graham! Scott! Mace! You work for US!!” Bill Bates’ sign said “IMPEACH TRUMP!” And Arcomona’s read “DITCH D.O.G.E.” 

The trio said they used to be involved with the Berkeley County GOP.

Barbara Bates voted for Trump in 2016, but did not vote for president in 2020. Bill Bates voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. “I was stupid,” he said. Arcomona didn’t vote for President in 2016 before voting for Biden in 2020. 

This year, the entire family voted for Kamala Harris. Bill Bates and Arcomona no longer identify as Republicans, they told the SC Daily Gazette. Meanwhile, Barbara Bates said she still is a Republican, just not one who supports the current president. 

“The party left me,” she said.

SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.