Chris Scott, center, of Santa Fe leads a march around the Capitol during a demonstration Wednesday against the the Trump administration. Photo by Jim Weber/The New Mexican

By Nicholas Gilmore
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Asked what brought them out to protest the Trump administration, Debrianna Mansini and Lisa Lucas began naming what they see as crises:

Executive orders attacking the rights of transgender people and immigrants.

Effects on the right to reproductive care.

Nongovernment employees led by billionaire Elon Musk reportedly gaining access to databases in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“There are so many things to list,” Mansini said. “But for me, the most important thing is, you know, just the absolute overthrow of our government that is happening right now.” 

The two Santa Fe women were among about 400 people who gathered Wednesday afternoon outside the state Capitol, holding signs and chanting in disapproval of President Donald Trump, Musk and a myriad of developments that have dominated news headlines in the first few weeks of Trump’s second presidential term. 

The protest was one of dozens at statehouses nationwide to show opposition to Trump’s policies and the massive “Project 2025” policy guide for the presidency.

No single person or group took credit for organizing the event in Santa Fe. Rather, many said they learned about the protest through word of mouth or posts on various social media sites, including TikTok, Facebook and Bluesky. 

A photo that circulated on social media sites in recent days called for “50 protests in 50 state capitals on one day,” a national movement dubbed the “50501,” which aims to “build the resistance” against Trump, according to a website on the protests across the nation. 

A section of sidewalk just outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe was marked with signs reading, “Rally Area,” but most of the protesters gathered instead on a different stretch of sidewalk just off Old Santa Fe Trail, chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho — Elon Musk has got to go!” and “No Project 2025!”

They marched in a circle around the building several times — as lawmakers inside conducted session business — and then several groups formed across the property. Some held signs and chanted in support of Palestinians, while others yelled with bullhorns in protest of Trump’s “mass deportation” plan.

“You’ll notice, there are just as many signs here about Musk as there are 47,” or Trump, Fay Steving said. “He has no right — we didn’t elect him.” 

Some signs at the event said, “Deport Musk.”

Reports and lawsuits over the past week have indicated Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, has led a group of young tech workers who have gained access to confidential files and databases in multiple federal agencies, including the payment system for the Department of the Treasury.

Musk’s group — called the Department of Government Efficiency — is not an official government entity, but its employees and volunteers reportedly have been exerting control over federal agencies, according to a recent lawsuit filed by federal workers. 

Steving attended the rally with two others, all from Santa Fe, she said, and belong to a local chapter of the national activist group Indivisible, which is involved in advocacy for a host of issues like civil rights, environmental protection and voting rights.

“No one specifically organized this, but it’s just word of mouth, social media, and here we all are because we are so upset,” she said.

Steving said the group’s members would like to see Democrats act together to slow down and block as many of Trump’s actions that they can. 

Some attendees expressed disappointment with Democrats in Congress who they believe have not been meeting the urgency of the moment. 

“We need to be the opposition party,” Mansini said. “We can’t pretend this is normal. We don’t have normalcy. It is not OK to be bipartisan while we fall into fascism.” 

Republicans also “need to take a stand, and they are not doing it,” she added.

“What brought me out today is the Democrats are not able to do anything,” Lisa Lucas said. “They’re talking, they’re proposing legislation that won’t pass and, in the meantime, we have the richest man in the world taking over the country.”

Several protesters said they had attended demonstrations during Trump’s last administration; others were new to the “resistance” and felt galvanized by the onslaught of executive orders and other controversies in the first few weeks of the presidency.

Many traveled to the state capital from Albuquerque to attend the demonstration. 

Dawn Feece said she took the Rail Runner Express commuter train to Santa Fe from Albuquerque on Wednesday morning and the train was “full” of demonstrators.

Feece said she has a Mexican son as well as grandchildren, adding, “I want them to grow up in a community where they have rights.” 

An art teacher, Feece said she previously taught in Texas near the Mexican border and worked in facilities where immigrant children were detained.

“It’s the most inhumane thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said. “Those kids are harmed forever. … I mean, there are so many things that are wrong, but that’s one that is really important to me.” 

May Smith also took the train from Albuquerque to attend the protest in reaction to what she sees as the president “trying to expand his power.” 

Smith, a student, said she became involved in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that took the form of an encampment at the University of New Mexico last year. 

She said, “if you say nothing, I think you’re part of the problem.”

The flurry of developments at the start of Trump’s presidency highlight the “urgency” for people to speak out, Smith said.

“It makes you not want to be idle anymore,” she said. “It makes you feel like you have that fire again, you know?”