Upside-down American flags fluttered alongside bold signs that read “Hate does not make America great” and “Stop the d*cktator” as passing cars honked in spirited support.
On Saturday afternoon, around 2,000 protestors gathered at Depot Avenue and Main Street to demonstrate against President Donald Trump’s administration, calling for the removal of Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk from their United States governmental positions.
The protest was part of a nationwide campaign led by “50-50-1,” a political action group driven by grassroots activists. The title “50-50-1” stands for “50 protests, 50 states, one day.”
The Gainesville event was organized in collaboration with Gainesville Women for Democracy, Florida Indivisible, Badass Feminists Gainesville and the Democratic Party. Gainesville was one of 27 cities across Florida to hold demonstrations on the same day.
The flyer for the protest read, “Remove Trump, reverse DOGE, reclaim democracy.” DOGE — which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency — is an advisory committee launched during President Trump’s second term. The department, suggested by Musk, aims to boost efficiency through curbing federal spending waste, fraud and abuse.
“The overall goal here with the DOGE team is to help address the enormous [federal spending] deficit,” Musk said during the first Cabinet meeting of Trump's second term in February. “We simply cannot sustain [$2 trillion deficits] as a country.”
However, Musk’s exact role in DOGE remains unclear. While the White House stated he holds no formal authority over the advisory committee, Trump referred to Musk as its head during his March 4 joint address to Congress.
David Arreola, the 34-year-old Alachua County representative of “50-50-1,” said the Saturday protest was peaceful and strictly non-violent.
“We haven't seen any problems,” he said. “Everybody is engaging in their right to free speech and to peaceably assemble and petition the government, and so we're really excited about what we’re seeing.”
Protesters stand on Depot Avenue, holding signs calling for resistance against the second Trump administration on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Arreola said he was concerned over the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants. Pointing to the case of a U.S. resident who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, Arreola said incidents like this contradict the administration’s initial claims of focusing on individuals with criminal records.
“If you're telling me now that it's OK for the government to just snatch you off the street [if] you're here legally, what's next? Citizens getting snatched off the street for voicing their opinions?” Arreola said. “We're not going to wait for that. We're just going to sound the alarm right now.”
The goal of “50-50-1” is to help people find ways to resist, he said. Street protests, he said, are a powerful way for individuals to feel a sense of solidarity and shared purpose.
Pam Smith, an 80-year-old member of Gainesville Women for Democracy and one of the protest organizers, said she’s become pretty well-known in the community for her advocacy work since moving to Gainesville in 1968.
Smith hopes holding large-scale local protests will energize people and, over time, help drive national change.
“We will grow and grow all over the country,” she said. “We're going to show our strength.”
Laine Enholm, a 24-year-old Santa Fe College psychology junior, said she believes many people think Democrats have become too radical, when in reality, they’re taking actions that should have been taken sooner.
Enholm said she believes Trump prioritizes the interests of the rich and powerful above those of the average American.
“I think that his assumption, his belief, is that the average American person is a straight white male, and that's just not true,” she said.
Merryl Malter, a 61-year-old member of Jewish Voices for Peace, the National Women’s Liberation and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, expressed concern over many issues, primarily abortion access and women’s rights — causes she said she’s supported since her 20s.
Malter is also worried about the direction of education and healthcare policies under the Trump administration, which she said she believes have been negatively impacted.
“You have educated, healthy people, then we have a good society, then we have a productive society,” Malter said. “Those are things they're going after, and they're going after that for a reason.”
Malter said she was very proud of Gainesville’s strong protest turnout. People need to unite if they’re going to take control back, she said.
John Spitzberg, an 86-year-old Gainesville resident and veteran, said he’s committed to America's role in making humanity more important than money, which he believes the current administration is failing to uphold.
America has shifted toward operating like a business where financial considerations outweigh all else, Spitzberg said, even when it comes to caring for children and the elderly.
“I believe with all my heart and soul that the current administration is ruinous to any human being,” he said.
Only one counterprotester attended the event, an 18-year-old wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and waving a Trump 2024 flag that read “Save America Again” as he engaged in discussion with participants. He declined an interview with The Alligator.
Contact Annie Wang at awang@alligator.org. Follow her on X @wynwg.
Annie Wang is a metro general assignment reporter and a second-year journalism major. She has previously worked on the university desk as the university administration reporter. She enjoys reading and writing book reviews in her spare time.
