MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the massive “Hands Off” protests across the United States and the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the 'Hands Off' protests about?
Americans are fed up. The hands off protests on Saturday took the nation by storm. Thousands of protests in cities and towns in states across the United States of America and internationally as well. Millions of people in the aggregate were out there protesting in different cities. We saw hundreds of thousands of people, and these numbers are only going to grow as we head into democracy summer.
Chapter 2: Who organized the 'Hands Off' protests?
Now, the Midas Touch Network was there broadcasting all of it. We partnered with MoveOn and some of the other grassroots organizations who were leading the protests. What you saw at the beginning of this video was part of our coverage. That was from the New York protests. What I want to do now on this video is highlight some of the protests that were taking place across the country and the world.
I also want to share with you what our correspondent Aaron Parnas was seeing on the ground in Washington, D.C., as he was interviewing some of the top Democratic leaders for the Midas Touch Network. All right, let's take a look at Boston where there were over 100,000 people protesting. I want to show you what that scene looked like. Let's play it.
Thank you for being part of the resistance.
Now I want to show you the massive, massive protest that was taking place in downtown Chicago as part of the Hands Off movement. Let's play the clip.
Now, just so you see here as well, and credit to Marco Foster for putting a lot of these together and aggregating it from groups like Our Revolution, this is an aerial view of the massive protest taking place in New York City yesterday as part of the hands-off rally against Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Just look at how massive it actually was in size. Play this clip.
And here is the massive crowd that continued to grow yesterday at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the hands-off rally against Musk and Trump. Let's play the clip. We had Midas Touch correspondent and TikTok superstar Aaron Parnas in Washington, D.C., embedded in the protests yesterday. Here's what he had to say earlier on as the numbers continued to grow.
When he was there, it was 50,000, 100,000. I think the full count in D.C. is going to be significantly higher, but this was yesterday when Parnas was there. Let's play it.
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Chapter 3: What was the scene like at the Washington, D.C. protest?
Massive anti-Trump, anti-Musk protests happening right behind me. We're at the National Monument. Look at this. Let me show you the scenes right now. Folks, it's only about 11.15. There are several thousand people here. They're expecting a lot more. And they're covering most of the National Monument, the Washington Monument, on National Mall. People go far, far back over there.
Now, allegedly, we're expecting a number of speakers from Congressman Jamie Raskin, Congressman Maxwell Frost, and many more. So I'll see what I can cover. But right now, it's just several thousand people across the DMV area protesting Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Let me know if you want to see something specific. I'm happy to interview anyone. I'm happy to talk to anyone.
So we'll see what happens. But I'm out here. If you're out here, let me know and follow along. I'll do a full breakdown on my sub stack like I always do on my link in bio at the top of the link.
Parnas then had the opportunity to interview Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin. Let me show you what went down. Let's play it.
I'm here with Congressman Jamie Raskin from Maryland. Now, Congressman, why did you choose to come to this protest and why is it so impactful in this moment right now?
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Chapter 4: What was Congressman Jamie Raskin's message at the protest?
Well, my congressional district is in Maryland, and it borders Washington, D.C., so we have tens of thousands of people from Maryland who've come down here. So this is the one I did, even though I was in Florida, actually, with Maxwell Frost for the rest of the weekend. So this demonstration across the country, with more than a thousand different protests, is going to...
is going to further catalyze popular resistance and opposition to this deranged program that they're imposing on the country.
Now, a lot of folks are concerned, right? A lot of people have told me that they're being fired, especially at the IRS right now. What's your message to those who have been terminated at the federal government? And how can they fight back? What can they do in this moment right now?
I'm sorry, I missed the trigger.
Yeah, yeah, no worries. A lot of folks are worried. They're being terminated right now at the federal government, and they want to know what they can do. What's their future?
So what's your message to them? We are winning in the courts. Like, for example, they fired tens of thousands of probationary employees, which was completely lawless. And so they've been restored theoretically to their jobs, but they're not letting them go back to work. They are giving them pay, but they're not having them do their jobs, which is absurd.
But we're going to fight for them to get their jobs back. And then we are going to make sure that people who've lost their jobs, who can't get their jobs back, are part of this movement against authoritarianism in the country. Congressman, thank you so much.
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Chapter 5: What did Senator Cory Booker say at the Montclair protest?
Now, I just want to also go back and share with you the massive scope of that Boston event. Take a look right here, the aerial view of the massive protest in Boston yesterday. This was incredible. You see how many people were there. The official count was around 100,000. I think it's actually more than that. I think that's a conservative estimate. Let me show you this right here.
This was also from the hands-off protest. Senator Cory Booker joining a hands-off protest in Montclair, New Jersey, with a message for us all. We achieved great things in this country because average citizens stood up and said enough is enough. And this is one of those moments. Play this clip.
We achieved every great thing in this country because average citizens
stood up and said enough is enough they banded together and bonded together across differences across gender race and even party and said it's time we invite to bend the arc of the moral universe more towards justice and so what i'm seeing now is outrageous and i hope we all are outraged but it's time to turn our anger into action our worry into work. It's time to turn our fear into fight.
Chapter 6: Where else did large 'Hands Off' protests take place?
Because we have seen these kind of fights before and we won.
Take a look at another one of these huge protests taking place in Kansas City, Missouri yesterday. Play the clip. Also, massive protests in Salt Lake City, Utah. Let's play it. Now, here was a huge crowd that gathered in Denver, Colorado yesterday. Let's play it.
Children who were segregated into schools.
USA!
USA!
USA!
In Washington, D.C., Congress member Eric Swalwell delivered a speech in front of the huge crowd right there. Let me show you what went down. Let's play it.
As you stand here right now, we have gone from a Trump slump to a Trump train wreck. We are going into a red recession. Our 401Ks are 201Ks. Our costs at Walmart and Home Depot and Target, where four out of five of the things we buy are from overseas, are going up. And where is Donald Trump? He's golfing! So to Donald Trump, I say, get your ass off the golf course and face the people.
And here's Congress member Eric Swalwell again. Let's play it.
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