Wenatchee’s “No Kings Day” Rally Protests Trump Administration

Approximately 300 people demonstrated at Memorial Park at the intersection of South Chelan and Orondo Monday afternoon.

The participants gathered as part of "No Kings Day," which is a protest against Elon Musk's involvement in the federal government and President Donald Trump.

Organizer Rita Cooper brandished a loudspeaker repeating phrases like, "hey hey, ho ho, Elon Musk has got to go," and says this protest is about protecting everyone's rights.

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"This country is not run by kings," Cooper said. "There's a lot of people who seem to think this is just a blue thing. It's not. This is a red, blue and every color on the planet. We all need to stand up and fight back."

Protestors garnished signs with slogans like "No Kings," "Support Federal Workers," and "Deport Elon."

"Elon does not belong in our government," Cooper said. "The people did not elect Elon and now his hands are in everybody's bank."

Many of the participants were local federal employees impacted by the Trump Administrations firings of over 200,000 workers.

In a statement, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) says the firings are targeting federal employees who lack full civil service protections and appeal rights because they do not have protections - not for performance reasons.

"The Trump Administration is trying to illegally cut the federal workforce in an attempt to come up with a budget and tax increases on middle class Americans," Sen. Cantwell said.

Rachel Granberg is a Union Steward for the National Federation of Federal Employees, a labor union with 200 local branches nationwide. She said a majority of the people she has seen or heard lose their jobs had satisfactory performance reviews.

"Prebationary employees are the ones who were fired for this round of terminations," Granberg said. "The reasoning listed on their termination documents was poor performance, but all the people who have been terminated that I've talked to have positive performance evaluations."

Cooper is pleasantly surprised with the turnout for the "No Kings" rally.

"Only because it took awhile for everyone to kind of stand up and come out and I really appreciate the turnout that did show up," Cooper said. "If we're united, you can't divide us."

There is no indication the protest was anything but peaceful. Dozens of cars showed their support by honking their horns as they drove by.

This is the second rally in a month in Wenatchee protesting the Trump Administration's policies.