Thousands rally, march across Iowa for ‘hands off’ anti-Trump message

To the question of what rebuke, resistance, and rebuff exists to the policies, practices, executive orders, and cuts that have characterized the first months of Donald Trump’s second presidency came an answer on Saturday — from the streets of Iowa City to parks and capitals and communities coast to coast and abroad.

“Hey hey, ho ho, Musk and Trump have got to go; hey hey, ho ho,” a crowd of hundreds chanted while marching down Dubuque Street in Iowa City on Saturday carrying signs pleading for national and local leaders to keep their “hands off.”

“We're going to march with our signs and our voices to say ‘hands off of Iowa City’ and show everyone that we're here together to walk together and say hands off,” organizer Sue Thompson shouted through a megaphone before the crowd began its winding journey through the downtown. “Hands off democracy … hands off Social Security.”

The Iowa City march was among more than 1,000 that unfolded across the state, nation, and world Saturday to “stop the most brazen power grab in modern history.”

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“Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights — enabled by Congress every step of the way,” according to a Hands Off 2025 website created to organize among the most sweeping exhibits of resistance and defiance since Trump took office in January.

In addition to Saturday’s Iowa City protest, more than a dozen others cropped up across the state — from bigger cities like Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, to smaller communities like Red Oak in southwest Iowa, Fairfield, and Vinton.

‘Stand together right now’

Waverly O’Malley, 19, of Iowa City, said he felt personally and ethically compelled to show up Saturday — despite the cloud cover and chill.

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“I'm a bisexual man. I'm part of the LGBTQ community, and I'm a big believer in there's no LGB without the T,” O’Malley said about transgender rights that have already and are at ongoing risk of being cut — and the decades of advocacy being eroded in the process. “I think it is part of our responsibility to pay it forward in a way, and make sure that everybody has the same rights. All LGBTQ people need to stand together right now.”

Rebuffing the idea of Trump-backing patriots, 19-year-old Susannah Smith on Saturday said she doesn’t buy it.

“Nobody in the Trump cabinet and nobody who supports Trump is a patriot or can claim to love America or love God, because America is based on freedom, and that includes the freedom of who you want to be, the freedom for LGBTQ people, the freedom for people of color, the freedom for people to practice all religions,” Smith said. “The fact that they're trying to take that away absolutely kills what America stands for.”

Showing up to march and chant and mingle and mix with like-minded community members seemed the least — and frustratingly, at times, the most — Andrea Oropeza, 33, of Iowa City, could do.

“I’m a registered nurse, and I work at the cancer center here, and with all the funding cuts my patients are so upset constantly,” Oropeza said. “As a woman, I am very pro-choice, and seeing those rights being stripped is very upsetting.”

She added, “my dad is also a Green Card immigrant from Venezuela.”

“So I fear for my dad and so many families,” she said. “He tries to hope that everything's going to be fine, because he is a legal permanent resident. But, as we've seen, that doesn't matter, right?”

‘Wrong on so many levels’

The Iowa City march and rally focused its activity along a shuttered portion of Iowa Avenue instead of the University of Iowa Pentacrest, where protests have been commonplace for generations.

“The university was very nice and agreed we could use the green space but the speaker system needed plug in, which the Pentacrest did not have,” Thompson told The Gazette.

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Organizers listed their demands, including ending “the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption”; ending the slash in federal funds for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs; and ending “attacks on immigrants, trans people, and other communities.”

Margaret Pardini, 68, of Tiffin, said she’s been writing and calling lawmakers looking for ways to defend a democracy she perceives is in peril.

“The scalpeling of jobs instead of thoughtful downsizing of government, our relationships with our allies, the stock market,” Pardini listed among the issues that are worrying her. “There's a lot of lies going on, and a lot of people aren't listening.”

Saturday’s collective action felt cathartic — although Pardini said she wished more of her rural-based friends would have held similar shows of defiance.

“What the government is doing at the moment is just wrong on so many levels,” Anna Van Note, 35, of North Liberty, said. “And I can't just continue to sit by and do nothing. It's just kind of like, how can you help? And it's easier to figure out how to do that when you can get out and be around people that believe in the same things.”

Young and old assail funding cuts, mass firings, deportations & more

North up I-380 on Saturday more than 1,000 demonstrators lined both sides of Eighth Avenue SE in downtown Cedar Rapids. The crowd stretched two- to three-people deep by the federal courthouse, with passing motorists honking in support — some even stopping or slowing down to snap photos or share words of encouragement.

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Vickie Smith, 69, of Cedar Rapids, joined protesters in assailing the Trump administration's mass firing of federal workers, closure of Social Security field offices, deportation of immigrants without due process, scale back of protections for transgender people and federal funding cuts for health programs and medical research.

Smith and others held signs that read "Hands off our democracy," "Hands off our Social Security" and "Diversity equity inclusion makes America strong.“

Retired from the Iowa Department of Corrections’ community-based correctional services that supervises those on parole or probation, Smith said she fears losing her Social Security and other benefits due to federal budget cuts.

“I’m out here mainly to fight for democracy and my Social Security and the rights that we've lost,” she said of reproductive rights and racial justice. “I feel scared that I could lose some of those things that I've worked for, my Social Security and the things that we've worked for as Americans: freedom.”

Asked what she wants to come from the nationwide protests, Smith said she hopes “it will unite us as people and as government officials — see the people are against what is happening.”

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Michael Ades-Eye, 63, of Cedar Rapids, joined the sea of signs with one that read: “Hands off free speech! Hands off cancer research! Hands off public lands! Hands off the courts!”

He joined Saturday’s demonstration to voice opposition “to the chaos in Washington” caused by Trump’s and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal government.

Sharing concerns over the destruction of civil rights, government integrity, and how plummeting U.S. stocks responding to Trump’s sweeping tariffs might impact his savings and retirement, Ades-Eye said he also worries about job and funding cuts at federal health agencies and how they might jeopardize health care research, including cancer and HIV prevention.

“I’m greatly encouraged by the opportunity for peaceful protest to show that people are really fed up, and they're outraged about the chaos in Washington,” Ades-Eye said.

Travis Luchtenburg, a 41-year-old resident of Cedar Rapids, brought his daughters Alice, 10, and Ophelia, 6, to Saturday’s event to emphasize the importance of standing up for rights amid political changes that could affect their future, particularly concerning LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights.

“To show my kids what it means to stand up and really fight for what you believe in when you feel people are really being persecuted,” he said.

Luchtenburg, who works with a labor union, also expressed concerns about job losses in manufacturing as a result of sweeping duties on U.S. imports from other countries.

“Jobs are disappearing under the lie of manufacturing coming back to the United States,” he said, citing this week’s announcement that appliance-maker Whirlpool plans to lay off 650 employees from its Amana facility, effective June 1.

Luchtenburg said both his parents worked at Whirlpool while he was growing up.

For Madison Clark, 23, of Cedar Rapids, among the biggest worries are her grandmother's Social Security and food access for people in poverty.

“I’m sick of seeing the disgusting things that the current administration is doing, and I just want to speak my word,” Clark said.

She highlighted her strong support for reproductive freedom, citing the repeal of Roe v. Wade as a pivotal issue and her goal to codify abortion rights into federal law.

Clark said she was surprised by the large turnout at the protest and hoped it would raise national awareness and encourage voters to become more informed and active.

“I see the Wisconsin Supreme Court election as a spark to sea change. I see this as a stepping stone,” she said. “And I see all these people driving by and honking and support are stepping stones as well.”

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