06-02-2025
Anti-Trump protesters rally in Columbia: 'Make our government work for all of us'
Protesters gathered in Columbia on Wednesday as part of coordinated nationwide demonstrations opposing actions by President Donald Trump's administration.
About 300 people showed up outside the South Carolina state capital for the 50 Protest 50 States One Day protest or 50501 Movement that originated on social media. Protesters carried signs, repeatedly chanted "vote them out," and heard from speakers, all designed to voice displeasure with Trump and the seeming embrace of Project 2025, a conservative effort to remake the federal government. The scene was similar to protests in other state capitals and Washington, D.C.
A South Carolina organizer, Blake Justice, a restaurant general manager in Columbia, said he was not affiliated with any political group but saw the 50501 Movement on social media and decided to mobilize on Facebook after not finding an event in Columbia. "The primary reason is to reject Project 2025, now known as American First," he said.
He called Project 2025 "an all-encompassing guidebook" of the Republican Party to strip women of abortion rights, deport immigrants, restrict medical access, remove social safety nets, and "lessen taxes for the wealthy while increasing taxes on day-to-day citizens."
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He added while there are many Trump administration policies to reject, "the one we reject overall is Project 2025."
The president has signed a flurry of executive orders since taking office on Jan. 20, including cracking down on illegal immigration, eliminating diversity, equity, and including programs and pardoning people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He has also shut down international aid programs and enlisted billionaire Elon Musk to cut the federal workforce.
Yvonne Julian, chairwoman of the Greenville County Republican Party, criticized the protests. She said the organizers favor actions that are either illegal or "make no sense."
"They are people who are in favor of allowing people to enter the country illegally. They're essentially people who are in favor of doing things that either are morally wrong or, in some cases, actually morally repugnant," Julian said.
Melanie Trimble, a therapist and activist from Columbia, said she was at the rally because she knows many people who need government to work.
"I have friends who are afraid about healthcare and housing, food, their children's education, going to college, whether they'll be attacked in the street. I have Black friends, gay friends and they all need us to be an ally."..I'm here... trying to make our government work for all of us."
