Rally goers came in from around the region to object to a host of issues, from mass federal layoffs and cuts to social services to attacks on immigrants and trans rights. SEPTA ran on a regular schedule but added cars to some Paoli/Thorndale and Media/Wawa trains to help accommodate “heavier than usual travel”, according to a SEPTA spokeswoman. 

“I’m concerned about our democracy. It feels like it’s slipping away,” said Todd Hart, a retired architect from Ardmore. “I’m both scared and am I angry. I never thought that I’d have to worry about this in this country. “

He added that joining the rally and seeing that “other people are of the same mind helped.

“It gives me some hope we could head it off, but I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

For retiree Kelly Bliss looming cuts to Medicaid drove her to join the rally.

“I was a social worker for 40 years and I know what Medicaid does for people and it kind of sickens my stomach to see that they’re cutting that for the most vulnerable and we know damn well the money’s going to go to a tax cut for the rich,” she said.

She called Medicaid “the only way to get mental health treatment for anybody with serious mental health issues, who isn’t a millionaire.”

“The people who are suffering the most will lose the treatment that helps them keep their sanity,” she said. 

Mexican-born American citizen Gabriela Sykes criticized “cruel” deportations that have split up immigrant families. 

“Regardless of what party you are, separating kids from their parents is not right,” she said. “Immigrants are not criminals, the president is.”

Her husband Norman, who joined her at the protest, said he was “appalled at the aspect of having so many social services reduced, eliminated, or privatized.”

“I’ve been a physician in Philadelphia and now in Maine for 34 years and about two thirds of my patients depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and/or Social Security,” he said. “The prospect of seeing that disappear is as horrifying as is the prospect of our potential invasion of Greenland and world worth free among many other things.”

Many protestors declined interviews, expressing fear about being targeted citing news about activists being “doxxed” and foreign students being deported. A young transwoman, who agreed to speak under the pseudonym “Ashley,” said it’s a “scary world out there.”