Tallahassee rallies against Trump and Musk on President’s Day

Tallahassee, FL – Over 150 Tallahasseans assembled at the Florida State Capitol, February 17, to rally against Donald Trump and the outsized role of billionaire union-buster Elon Musk. Responding to an online call for nationwide protests known as “50501,” it was the second such rally, following an all-day action two weeks prior.

The event was organized by a coalition of local groups, and featured speakers from Students for a Democratic Society, Food Not Bombs, Equality Florida, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, the Industrial Workers of the World, Dream Defenders, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Most of the crowd faced the intersection of Apalachee Parkway and Monroe Street with signs, drawing supportive honking from drivers. Some had gotten there five hours early to protest and stayed there until the event ended. Even at the home of the most far-right state governments in the country, Trump and Musk’s unprecedented attacks on millions of Americans have brought out hundreds since the inauguration to stand up and fight back.

“Trump played on the real fears of working people in America, promising peace and prosperity, but we know that he’s only intensifying the war on oppressed people worldwide,” said Joelle Nuñez from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Protesters paid special attention to the power and influence held by Elon Musk, condemning the Trump administration for empowering an unelected billionaire to slash federal spending and lay off thousands of employees.

“Despite the fact that Elon Musk has never been a public official, he was appointed to an office that Trump created which now has more control over our government than any one man should,” said Kingsley Early from Tallahassee SDS.

Robert Lee from Food Not Bombs Tallahassee, a local mutual aid organization, stated, “Mutual aid work like this is small, and is never enough to tackle the enormous social problems that are the inevitable byproduct of a capitalist free market system, but they are absolutely necessary, even essential. Every time your hands do the work – good, kind work – you are making the world a materially better place, even for just one person. That’s not only a kindness to others, it’s a gift to yourself.”

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