On a drizzly Presidents Day, throngs of protesters lined the sidewalks in front of the Mount Vernon Library Commons and Skagit County Superior Court, while hundreds more gathered at the Federal Building in Bellingham bearing cardboard signs, banners and flags to show their vehement opposition to the Trump administration.
In both cities, passing drivers honked their horns in support, drawing cheers.
The Monday, Feb. 17 protest was one of many demonstrations held in cities around the country, loosely organized on social media as the 50501 movement, which stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one day.” Another nationwide day of protest was held earlier this month, on Feb. 5.
“It’s been beautiful to see people step up and take action,” said educator and activist Callie Lowenstein, who led the Mount Vernon crowd in call-and-response chants.
Attendees said the gathering was in protest of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal government and suspension of already-allocated funding. Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an entity created by Trump with the purported intention of cutting costs in the federal government, has so far gutted many humanitarian and regulatory agencies, fired thousands of employees, and attempted to access million of taxpayers’ private data.
Shannon Brundle, 50, who attended the Bellingham demonstration, said she’s seen the impact of federal funding cuts in her work at the state Employment Security Department.
The changes caused by the cuts have created “inefficiencies and roadblocks,” she said. “It impacts the participants who receive the services.”
Bellingham’s protest drew about 300 people, according to the city police department. Skagit County organizers estimated there were similar numbers in Mount Vernon.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined 13 other state AGs in filing a lawsuit on Feb. 13 challenging the authority of Musk and DOGE.
“We are seeing people who are ignoring constitutional rules, we are seeing people who are being appointed to positions to power who do not deserve to have them, who have lots of money but not lots of experience in the areas where they’re jumping in,” said Ethel Evans, a Mount Vernon resident who works in security. She said she was concerned the administration was not protecting the data of taxpayers.
Eric Hart, 48, said he joined the Bellingham protest because he’s “disgusted with the way the world’s going.”
His friend David Weiss, 65, said so far Trump’s second presidency is worse than he could have imagined in terms of its destructiveness and abuse of power.
Trump’s reelection was a failure on the part of Democrats and Republicans alike, Weiss said. “It’s just the whole system. It’s just not working.”
Reverend Paul Moore of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church gives services in English and Spanish in Mount Vernon. Attendance at his Spanish-speaking congregation has been halved, he said, with congregants avoiding public places out of a fear of the possibility of arrest and deportation.
Moore said he attended the protest because “there’s a difference between what you can get away with and what you oughta do, and the church should stand up for what you oughta do.”
