Kamala Harris has reacted to the “Hands Off!” protest against Donald Trump’s administration, accusing her former rival of implementing Project 2025 “at full speed.”
The Context
Protests against President Donald Trump‘s administration were planned for all 50 states on Saturday. Organizers said millions took part.
Participants held signs that targeted Trump’s key adviser Elon Musk, mass federal layoffs, immigration crackdowns, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine and Gaza.
Saturday’s protests appear to be the largest nationwide demonstrations
Activists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Trump and Musk multiple times since Trump returned to office. But before Saturday the opposition movement had yet to produce a mass mobilization like the Women’s March in 2017, which brought thousands of women to Washington after Trump’s first inauguration, or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floyd‘s killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020.
Trump has always distanced himself from Project 2025, the 900-page policy book that some, mostly critics, compared to his agenda during the 2024 Election campaign trail. The book details the Heritage Foundation’s proposal to shrink the federal workforce and dismantle federal agencies.
An aerial view (mian) of demonstrators march in a ‘Hands Off!’ protest against the Trump administration on April 5 in Los Angeles, and (inset) Kamala Harris accepts the chairman’s award during the 56th NAACP Image… An aerial view (mian) of demonstrators march in a ‘Hands Off!’ protest against the Trump administration on April 5 in Los Angeles, and (inset) Kamala Harris accepts the chairman’s award during the 56th NAACP Image Awards on February 22. Mario Tama/Getty Images
What To Know
Protests against President Donald Trump‘s administration were planned for all 50 states on Saturday. Organizers said millions took part.
Participants held signs that targeted Trump’s key adviser Elon Musk, mass federal layoffs, immigration crackdowns, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine and Gaza.
“Americans are standing up to the administration as they implement Project 2025 at full speed,” Harris wrote on social media on Saturday.
“Thank you for using your voices and the power of protest to stand for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; for the Department of Education and programs like Head Start; for clean air and water; for the right to make decisions about your own body without government interference. The voices of working people will always be louder than the unelected billionaires.”
Today in every state across our nation, Americans are standing up to the administration as they implement Project 2025 at full speed.
Thank you for using your voices and the power of protest to stand for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; for the Department of Education…
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 5, 2025
Musk has led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during Trump’s second term, leading efforts to reduce the federal state.
Project 2025 authors called for all presidential appointees to control “unaccountable federal spending” and work to subdue government civil servants.
“The Administrative State is not going anywhere until Congress acts to retrieve its own power from bureaucrats and the White House,” they wrote. “In the meantime, there are many executive tools a courageous conservative president can use to handcuff the bureaucracy (and) bring the Administrative State to heel.”
What People Are Saying
“Hands Off!”‘s Executive Director Rahna Epting said in a statement: “What we witnessed today was nothing short of extraordinary. Across the country and around the world, people came together to say: we will not be silent while our rights, our futures, and our democracy are under attack. This peaceful movement is powered by everyday people—nurses, teachers, students, parents—who are rising up to protect what matters most. We are united, we are relentless, and we are just getting started.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, said at a demonstration: “The attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all. They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives. We don’t want this America, y’all. We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us.”
The White House said in a statement: “President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats‘ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.”
