In January, President Donald Trump made good on many of Project 2025’s sweeping promises. On Inauguration Day, he committed to militarizing the southern border, increasing fossil fuel extraction, and ending racial-and-gender equity efforts, arguing that they were necessary steps to bolster national security, strengthen the economy, and eliminate excess spending. Since taking office, he has signed executive orders restricting the rights of immigrants and transgender people, fired government watchdogs, and granted the world’s richest man control over the Treasury’s payment systems, arguing that private-sector efficiency was needed to modernize government operations. He’s also ordered the construction of a new 30-thousand bed facility at Guantanamo Bay and scrubbed US Federal websites of taxpayer-funded research relating to vaccines, HIV, abortion, and gender affirming care.
It makes sense, then, that the signs and chants at Saturday’s Rally for the People ran the gamut of causes: racial justice, women’s rights, and the prevention of climate change and gun violence among them.
Two rally-goers held three flags between them, tied into a single banner.
"This is the Mexican flag right here, this one is the Guatemalan flag, and this one is El Salvador, right here," said the protestor holding the flag of El Salvador. "Our Latino people are my people, no matter where the [expletive] they're from. There is beauty in all of us, every shape, size, and [expletive] color. That's why they're tied together!"
"That's what makes America," said the protestor holding the flag of Mexico. "We're so different, but we still come together and we make this beautiful country. And it is our country, even if we don't look a certain way."
Rally organizer Alyssa Porter shared that sentiment. She said some causes - like access to healthcare and fair wages - appeal to people across the political spectrum.
“It's such an easy time to be hateful and to stoop to the level that the current administration is stooping to, and I don't want to do that," said Porter. "I want us all to be standing together in the fight for all of our freedom. I hope that people on either side of the aisle can come to an event like this and feel welcome and say, 'We do support these issues, and we didn't know how bad it was going to be until we saw him get into office.'"
Anthony, a nurse practitioner from Madison County, held a sign which read “We do not want Greenland, we want health care.”
“They're hitting us with so much so fast that it's overwhelming and it's going to cause people to have apathy and to shut down," said Anthony. "We're not going to answer to that apathy. We're going to pick one or two issues that are individually important to us, and we're going to fight like hell to stay informed on those issues and to step up and fight for what we believe in regarding those issues. So it's going to take us all.”
Carly, also from Madison County, held several signs - one reading “My Body, My Choice,” another reading “Free Palestine,” and a third reading “Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again”.
“As a Jew growing up and going to Hebrew school and learning all about World War II, the Holocaust, Hitler, the rise of the Nazis... It is so clear to me that we are headed in that direct path," said Carly. "It's almost like he's taking it out of the playbook. And I am terrified, especially, [of] the fact that it only took him, what, nine or ten days to announce a modern-day concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay.”
State and local leaders also attended the event. Senator Reggie Thomas of Lexington shared a unifying message
“What America needs more than anything else is for people to be able to work, work decently, earn a fair wage and do those things that are most important to all of us," said Thomas, who called for a new New Deal, a strengthened public education system, and access to healthcare - including reproductive rights. He also emphasized the importance of remaining politically and civically engaged.
“Wherever our voice needs to be heard, we need to be present. It can’t stop today, it must continue past today."
Lexington 4th District Councilwoman Emma Curtis also spoke at the event
"Seeing everybody come out today to show their opposition to Donald Trump and Elon Musk's attacks on the most marginalized and vulnerable folks in our community means the world to me," said Curtis. "It shows that their actions don't represent Lexington's values. Here, we're going to take care of each other, we're going to show up for each other, and we're going to weather this storm together."
Curtis said the ability to peacefully coexist as neighbors isn’t something a government can bestow - and, so, it’s also not something a government can revoke.
“The struggle in this country for trans rights, the struggle for racial justice, the struggle for workers' rights, for fair and living wages, are all the same struggle. People like Elon Musk want to divide us because it allows them to rapidly gain power in an oligarchic system.”
Musk’s role in the Trump administration is currently unclear. Though he proposed the establishment of the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization and speaks on its behalf, it is unknown whether he operates as a volunteer or a government employee.