'Not My President’s Day' protesters gather across Bay Area

Anger at the Trump administration bubbled over across the Bay Area as hundreds gathered for “Not My President’s Day” to protest alleged anti-democratic actions by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Monday protests — with large groups in San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco — were part of a series of demonstrations meant to antagonize President Donald Trump, presidential adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other members of the administration who have challenged democratic norms, curtailed protections for the LGBT community and ended equity and diversity initiatives across the United States.

“Even in defeat we stand together,” said Berkeley’s first poet laureate, Rafael Jesus Gonzalez, at the Oakland Pergola beside Lake Merritt to a crowd that surrounded him. “We cannot let fascism rule in America. We must come together.”

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Demonstrators march on Grand Avenue during a National Day of Action protest against the current Trump regime, Monday, Feb. 2/17/25, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. (Photo by D. Ross Cameron)

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Democrats and progressives across the United States had been largely stagnant since President Trump returned to office on Jan. 20 and sweeping changes to public agencies, protections for trans people and immigration enforcement. The few protests there have been were sparsely attended and often lacked the energy of those from Trump’s first term.

That changed this past weekend in the Bay Area where residents gathered outside of Tesla showrooms to denounce Musk and hurt the world’s richest man where it counts: his wallet. Protest signs from the march called to “send Musk to Mars” while other signs tied him to Nazism after he gave a Nazi salute at President Trump’s inauguration.

In San Jose, hundreds of demonstrators converged at the Circle of Palms downtown, where they hoisted signs saying “Remove the Muskovites,” “Elon is a Terrible President” and “Wake Up America.” Speakers included Assemblymember Ash Kalra and former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon Sr.

After the crowd had grown to an estimated 1,500 demonstrators they marched around the block into Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go.”

Jessie Heminway, a protester in Oakland with a family member in the federal government, said Musk’s cuts to agencies are unauthorized and unconstitutional.

“It’s a nuthouse there. They’re firing qualified people. It’s retribution,” Heminway said. “Letting Elon run free in the government without even confirming him is entirely inappropriate.”

She said she had questioned the purpose of protest as a political action after the women’s march and Black Lives Matter rallies that occurred during Trump’s first term had little effect on public policy. She found an answer during the march along Lake Merritt, however, saying, “People need to meet each other and have community.”

Members of the protests varied from long-time organizers from the 1960s to newly activated participants like 14-year-old Iris Baker.

Baker, who is nonbinary, joined the protests because the federal government had suspended applications for people seeking to add “X” as a gender label on passports. “In the eyes of the law, it says people like me aren’t valid.”

Baker was hoping for increased coverage of the protests. “This protest is more of a general cause, to raise awareness, it’s more about class consciousness. I don’t see a lot of protests in the news, and there should be.”

Originally Published: February 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM PST

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