‘Not my president’: Hundreds protest Trump, Musk in Annapolis

Hundreds gathered outside the State House Monday to protest President Donald Trump and the government-cutting moves being pushed by billionaire Elon Musk, as part of a coordinated national effort on President’s Day.

The protest was organized through 50501, a decentralized movement that sprang from the social media site Reddit, after Trump’s election, and featured speeches from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd), as well as a slate of local politicians and leaders.

“People need to speak out and push back,” Van Hollen said after speaking to the crowd. “I think this is an important part of our democracy, and these are great patriots out here today.”

Attendees gathered in the cold wielded signs emblazoned with anti-Trump and anti-Musk slogans, and choruses of boos and jeers erupted when either was mentioned. At one point during Van Hollen’s speech, chants of “lock him up” erupted.

A prime target of both Van Hollen and the crowd was Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency that he heads.

“This has nothing to do with efficiency,” Van Hollen said of DOGE. “This has everything to do with making the U.S. government answer to Elon Musk and the billionaires at the expense of the American people.”

Slashing the size of the federal workforce, one of the priorities of  DOGE, has been of particular concern to Maryland and its lawmakers. About 160,000 federal workers call the state home.

Other issues raised at the rally included Trump’s threatened deportations, the potential cuts to government services such as Medicaid and the administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI initiatives.

Not everyone in Annapolis agreed with the protest. Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (R-Baltimore County), one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the State House, said the participation by Van Hollen and other Democrats was not productive.

“I think they’re showing a side where they don’t want to cooperate,” said Salling, who has advocated for Democrats to work with Trump. He also took aim at some of the inflammatory language from the protest, saying, “I think it’s very sad to represent a party or people that speak that way out loud.”

Erik Berg, an organizer and the de facto host of the protest, said that protesters plan to continue their work in the long term.

“At this point, it’s not [like] we’re going to have two more protests, and everything’s going to be solved,” Berg said. “It’s going to be a long fight.”

According to Berg, the movement has grown in Maryland since the first protest on Feb. 5, when he said about 300 people gathered in Annapolis. He estimated that Monday’s drew about 500 in Annapolis, with more at a separate rally Monday in Baltimore.

With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Van Hollen said dissent at the grassroots level is critical to resisting Trump.

“What, ultimately, people like Trump and Elon Musk hope is that people grow cynical and give up,” Van Hollen said. “It’s very important that people show that they’re not going to go silently… that’s frankly the only way we’re going to succeed in protecting our Constitution.”