Hundreds of protesters stood on the steps of the Kentucky State Capitol on Tuesday, some waving Ukrainian flags and holding homemade signs with messages like “Nobody voted for Elon Musk” and “Presidents are not kings.”
It was the third Capitol protest organized by the national grassroots 50501 movement, and locally led by a small group of Kentucky organizers. They chose Tuesday because President Donald Trump is set to deliver his first address in his second term to a joint session of Congress, for which the theme is reportedly the "Renewal of the American Dream."
One organizer speaking before the crowd of hundreds said they gathered in Frankfort to “speak the truth.” He told the crowd he believed the government is “under siege” and the county in crisis, to cheers from the crowd. Protesters also trickled away from the Capitol steps to march up and down Capital Avenue, shouting chants like “47 is a felon” and “Divided we fall, united we stand.”
Gerald Thompson, a retired colonel of infantry and special forces in the U.S. Army who lives in Somerset, said he’s concerned about the administration cutting veterans benefits and services, but even more concerned the country is losing the ideals upon which it stands.
“There's no question but that we are in a rather desperate situation,” Thompson said. “We're supposed to have three branches of government, and right now we effectively only have one. And I think if the people don't come out and say that we want to have that made right, we may lose our country.”
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins posted a video on social media last week claiming to have cut $2 billion in contracts that he viewed as wasteful spending that did not help veterans. But Kentucky Public Radio reporting found at least one of those cancelled VA contracts was from a Kentucky veterans small business inspecting housing for safety and hazard issues, like lead paint.
His wife, Jolene Thompson, is also a retired public servant. She used to work for the U.S. Department of Defense and says she doesn’t even feel confident Social Security will remain intact in the face of Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE.
The Washington Post reported that DOGE has recommended slashing the Social Security Administration staff in half, which former Social Security commissioner Martin O'Malley warned could interrupt payments within 30 days.
Anice Chenault is an organizer with Showing Up for Racial Justice and a program manager at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She said the firing of federal workers will “be a bloodbath.”
“I'm also terrified what the budget is going to look like because I can only assume that firing off of the workers portends a decimating of the funding as well,” Chenault said.
A budget framework that passed the U.S. House last week included $2 trillion in spending cuts, paired with $4.5 million in tax cuts. Now it’s up to committee budget writers to drill down into the specifics of which programs and agencies are going under the knife.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
