Some two hundred people gathered in East Orlando Saturday to peacefully protest a suite of dramatic, sweeping changes announced by President Donald Trump and top adviser Elon Musk. It was the second Orlando protest to attract hundreds of Trump opponents in the last two weeks.
Nationally, hundreds of demonstrations have been organized during Trump’s first month back in office, according to the Crowd Counting Consortium.
Twenty-year-old Brianna Larson organized both of the recent Orlando protests that drew big crowds of people with a range of different concerns about the Trump administration's far-reaching moves. For Larson, Trump’s mass deportation plans are the biggest concern.
The point of Saturday’s protest, though, was catharsis and community. “I know a lot of people are frustrated, so I want them to get their voices out in a peaceful manner, instead of using violence against everybody,” Larson said.
Dorothy Butala, a combat veteran who served as an Army officer and platoon leader in Iraq, traveled from Volusia County for Saturday’s protest. Butala said she’s upset that “the Constitution is getting trampled on,” pointing specifically to how Musk and other members of his team at the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were granted access to sensitive Treasury Department material.
Last week, Trump signaled his support of the work done by Musk and DOGE, saying he was "very proud of the job that this group of young people." Early Saturday, a federal judge halted DOGE’s access to those Treasury records, which contain personal data for millions of Americans, including Social Security and bank account information. A hearing is set for February 14. Still, some damage is already done, Butala said.
“The fact that they have unfettered access to these systems is really upsetting,” Butala said. “We're trying to get criminals off the streets, but we're allowing people to criminalize our institutions? It just doesn't seem right,”
Musk is described by the Trump administration as a “special government employee,” a temporary appointment, raising legal and ethical questions as he shares his plans to shrink the federal government. Those moves are disrupting some key government functions, including blocking funding from reaching dozens of humanitarian aid programs here and abroad.
Healthcare and childcare providers like Head Start are among the programs that can’t access critical funding they need to operate, along with faith-based social ministries like Catholic Relief Services and Lutheran Services in America.
“In one night, I watched Elon Musk destroy every single fabulous charity my mother ever worked for,” said Orlando resident Heather Fremling, 58, who came to Saturday’s protest. “Catholic Charities, gone. Lutheran Family Services, gone. Head Start, gone.”
Fremling said she turned out Saturday in honor of her mother, a nurse, as well as to voice her overall “fear for our democracy.” She said she feels the Trump administration’s rapid rollout of dozens of new directives is an intentional strategy, meant to be chaotic in order to divide and distract the American people.
“They're flooding the zone. Stay focused,” Fremling said. “Musk out of government is the ask right now; Musk stopping what he's doing right now.”
Along with the federal funding freezes, another concern is the administration’s takedown of virtually all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Army and Navy web pages that were previously dedicated to women’s military service are no longer accessible, something Butala said she noticed and doesn’t appreciate.
“Right now they are trying to erase women out of it. They took down the women's page on army.mil,” Butala said. “So they’re trying to erase me, and it’s really sad that my brothers and sisters may have voted for this.”
A review of that web page referenced by Butala confirms, a U.S. Army page highlighting women's military service is no longer publicly accessible as of February 9. The U.S. Navy also recently removed a similar page dedicated to women serving in the military.
The Trump administration said efforts to remove DEI initiatives in the federal government advances “colorblind equality,” and was one of the promises Trump made during his campaign.
Across the country, many fear recent actions like the creation of DOGE and its access to personal information and federal payment systems are bringing the country close to a point of constitutional crisis, defined by one law professor interviewed by the Washington Post as “a clash between two powers that cannot be resolved within the system.”
Northeastern University law professor Dan Urman told Post reporters that while he doesn’t feel the country is experiencing a full-on constitutional crisis yet, “we are heading toward one.” A true crisis would arise if Trump were to refuse to abide by a court order directing him to stand down on something, Urman told the Post.
Back in East Orlando, amid all the uncertainty and fear, Butala said she found a sense of hope and community at Saturday’s peaceful protest.
“I've been swinging between despair and being active,” Butala said. “But coming out here, being with everybody, hearing the overwhelming support from the cars passing by … this gives me hope.”
Larson said she plans to organize more peaceful demonstrations soon in Central Florida.
