Lexington joins nationwide protests to say ‘Hands Off’ to Trump/Musk administration
During an afternoon break in Saturday’s torrential rain storms, more than 1,000 people filled the courthouse square in downtown Lexington to protest the Trump administration.
The Hands Off rally here joined other ones Saturday held in Danville, Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green and hundreds of cities around the nation.
Speakers included a host of Democratic politicians like Lexington Representative Adrielle Camuel, who stuck to the day’s theme.
“Take your hands off our free speech, take your hands off our elections, take your hands off our public schools and public universities, take your hands off our libraries, take your hands off our clean water,” she shouted to big cheers. “Take your hands off our Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security — these are benefits we paid for.
“It’s going to take all of us together to bring about change.”
A smorgasbord of different outrages about Trump, Musk and various others in his administration was reflected in a variety of signs, everything from “Seriously, Stop Abducting People,” to “Honk If You Never Drunk Texted War Plans.”
That one was held by Brooke Young, 25, who drove from Mount Sterling to attend.
“Why am I here?” she asked. “I guess I’d start with the fact that Elon Musk cut the grant that pays for my mom’s job (an infectious control nurse),” she said. “Then human rights, trans rights, gay rights, so many things, there’s too many to list. I’m hoping Congress gets the hint.”
Anthony Justin carried a sign that said “Combat Veterans Against Billionaires.”
A National Guard member who served in Syria, Justin said he was at the protest to ‘fulfill my oath to protect the Constitution.”
Kristen East of Lexington said it was hard for her to focus on just one thing she’s mad about. Today, maybe it was Trump watching golf when dead soldiers were brought home from Lithuania.
“We’ve just got to do better,” she said.
As someone who’s covered a fair number of protests, it was striking how many people in the crowd did not want to share their full name to a reporter, after various students on legal visas have been arrested over free speech issues.
Elon Musk came in for his share of disgust. A woman named Lori carried a sign of Musk with a Wisconsin cheesehead hat that said, “Nobody voted for this weasel.”
“No kings, no Nazis, no racists,” she said.
A woman driving by in a white Tesla honked her horn in solidarity, then shouted through the open window, “I’m sorry about this car!”
Lexington Urban County Council Member Emma Curtis, the first openly transgender council member, spoke about the war on LGBTQ+ people happening at the federal level and in Frankfort.
She pointed out trans people make up 1 percent of the population. But that’s what Republicans want folks to focus on.
“They don’t want you focused on the 1 percent hoarding more than 50 percent of wealth in our country,” she said. “This is about the haves versus the have-nots.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM.
