Hundreds of protesters filled the areas in front of the Old Santa Fe Trail entrance of the Roundhouse around noon Monday to rail against policy directives set by the Trump administration as well as billionaire Elon Musk’s new role in the federal government at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Photo by Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican

By CORMAC DODD and ESTEBAN CANDELARIA
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Penny Yardman Gonzales held aloft a stick with a mask meant to depict President Donald Trump with devil horns, something she said she wore in 2017 as a Halloween costume during his first term, coupled with prison garb.

“It’s frightening, three weeks in,” Yardman Gonzales said. “I think he’s planning on never leaving.”

She was among the hundreds of protesters who clogged the areas in front of the Old Santa Fe Trail entrance of the Roundhouse around noon Monday to rail against policy directives set by the Trump administration as well as tech billionaire Elon Musk’s new role in the federal government at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

In deep blue Santa Fe, the scene marked the latest example of fierce local critics of Trump gathering to voice their dismay. More than 300 people were in attendance, some holding signs that read, “Stop The Steal Of Our Democracy” and “Flush Musk,” chanting slogans like “Stop the coup.”

Monday’s protest came just two weeks after a Feb. 5 demonstration that drew about 400 people to the capitol building in disapproval of President Donald Trump, Musk, Project 2025 and a myriad of developments that dominated news headlines in the first few weeks of Trump’s second presidential term.

Protests were set to take place across the U.S. during the Monday holiday as a part of a grassroots campaign dubbed “Not My President’s Day” in some cities, including Santa Fe.

New Mexicans on Monday turned out to protest Trump actions on an array of issues. Some criticized his border policies, others targeted his approaches to LGBTQ+ issues, and many took issue with the administration’s use of sweeping executive orders. One poster labeled Trump’s official portrait with the word “Dictator,” and another called for people to “Lucha contra la tirania,” or “Fight against tyranny.”

“I truly feel like our democracy is at stake,” said Missy Jones, a Santa Fe resident. “… My concern here is for all groups of people — Jewish, [transgender], racially minoritized, women — I just feel like I’m seeing it being picked apart piece by piece by piece.”

Renee Dominguez stood amid the deluge of people who had descended on an area outside the Roundhouse at noon with a sign that said “Save Our Constitution.”

“He’s Machiavellian,” Dominguez said of Trump. “He’s going to destroy everything he can in order to scare us into believing he has control. The reality is we have to be strong. We cannot be defeatist.”

For Paul Apodaca, who said he came up from Albuquerque to demonstrate, the Trump administration’s recent efforts to halt hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for programs designed to combat the spread of HIV abroad was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I lost a lot of friends to AIDS,” he said.

Apodaca acknowledged the protest Monday may bear little fruit, but said standing up for causes as other generations of Americans have was critical.

“I can stay at home and [expletive] about it, but at least I protest,” he said. “Is anything going to come out of it? I don’t know. But at least that energy is there.”