BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — On Monday, about 100 Kern County residents joined thousands of protestors from around the world, to protest the Trump Administration and DOGE policies.
- Protests against the Trump administration's policies, particularly regarding DOGE, took place nationwide under the 50-50-1 movement, a grassroots movement that started online and works, 'to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach.'
- California's Attorney General and others are suing to stop DOGE's actions concerning IRS data access.
- 23ABC spoke to protestors in Bakersfield who said they have concerns over government transparency and fairness.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In downtown Bakersfield on Monday about 100 people gathered to protest recent policy changes under the Trump administration. I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter, specifically the recent actions taken by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
The protests, locally and around the nation, seem to be falling under the 50-50-1 movement, but what is it? According to its website, the grassroots movement started online and the message is to 'fight to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach.'
For Kevin Mullins, they say they came to protest on Monday because they're worried about what's going on in Washington.
"He's got Elon Musk into our social security business where he has a conflict of interest because he has government contracts. We just want fairness. We want a president who's going to be bound by checks and balances, and it's the government of the people, for the people."
The protests on Monday, coming on the heels of 14 state attorneys general including Rob Bonta here in California suing the federal government to stop Elon Musk and Department of Government Efficiency actions like attempting to access IRS data.
"He's not a government official at all. It's getting into our personal business, I mean, now I guess he's going after the tax return information. And, I mean, I don't know who he is. I mean, I didn't expect him to just go in there and destroy things without first thinking about what he was disturbing. You go, you do it slowly with your one agency. You look at it. You don't just fire people," said Jackie Black.
And for Mullins, he's concerned for the future. "I think young people have to be -- it's going to be their future and if things change for the worse, we've lived our lives most and we've got young people who need to know what's going on and let's get back to real government for the people," said Kevin Mullins.
A ruling on DOGE's ability to access tax data is expected to come down by the end of Monday.
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