Thousands gather in Everett to say ‘Hands Off!’ to Trump

EVERETT — Thousands of residents gathered at the Snohomish County campus Saturday in downtown Everett to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Saturday’s event in Everett was among more than 1,400 other ‘Hands Off!’ demonstrations across the nation. Organized by Snohomish County Indivisible, a local chapter of a worldwide democracy movement, the protest was in response to what they say is an attack on democracy in America.

While car horns sounded in the background, members of the community took the stage starting at noon to give personal testimonies before a long list of local representatives and leaders spoke to the large crowd.

Among the elected officials who spoke at the Everett rally were Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, Snohomish County Council member Megan Dunn and Everett City Council members Paula Rhyne and Mary Fosse.

Dunn, who is also the chair of the Snohomish County Board of Health, cited a recently lost $3.5 million grant that the health board had been administering each year as an example of the policy decisions and widespread cuts made by the Trump administration that “Hands Off!” demonstrations were protesting.

“Those are the direct services that your local government provides that you may not even know we were out there doing until it falls apart and is intentionally broken, right,” Dunn said. “Because I don’t think it’s an accident. They are trying to do this. Everything is working exactly how they want it to. So, in times like this, I try to remember three things: It’s time to either step back, step forward or stand together.”

Fosse, who also represents the 38th District as a state lawmaker, told the crowd that she is saddened by the level of greed she sees in the actions of the Trump administration and believes that the nation is being “sold off part by part.”

“But we can’t give into despair because that is how they win,” Fosse said. “And the fight that we fight is not because we hate. We hate what they’re doing to our neighbors. We hate that they are hurting our LGBTQ neighbors. We hate that they are hurting our children’s future. … We hate what they are doing to our veterans that have served our country. We hate what they are doing to our public servants that have put in their time and their heart and soul into the work that they do for us.”

“But we do the work that we do because of our love,” she continued. “We love our neighbors, we love this nation, we love our democracy. So don’t lose that.”

Among the community leaders and activists who spoke on the county campus were veterans, federal workers, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Everett “Hands Off!” demonstration was organized by Snohomish County Indivisible.

Paula Townsell, co-leader and community liaison for the local activist group, estimated roughly 4,000 people showed up to the county campus for the Everett demonstration, and she was also pleased with the large turnout of guest speakers.

“Their message was spot on,” Townsell said. “If every one of these events across the nation doubled like ours did, beyond expectation, we easily hit over a million people today.

“There were over 650,000 people on [mobilize.us] registered late last night when I was loading up the van with all the goodies. So, with those that didn’t register with all the towns across the country, I have high hopes because we are going to build on this and get the millions we need to stop Washington D.C., stop Trump and stop Musk.”

This story will be updated.

Aaron Kennedy: 425-257-7444; aaron.kennedy@heraldnet.com