Sizable crowds (est. 2,500+) spilled into the streets during anti-Trump/Musk protest in downtown Walnut Creek on Saturday.
Parking was described as sparse as the largest crowd to participate in what has become a regular protest against the current administration flooded the downtown area.
Aerial view of scene linked below:
4-5-25
The sheer size of the demonstration made travel through the area difficult, with at least one driver reportedly driving in the direction of participants.
Police closed S. Main Street to all traffic from Botelho to Mt. Diablo Boulevard due to the number of pedestrians in the area. They advised using alternate routes and to avoid the area.
The protest was scheduled to last until 1:30 p.m.
PS: let’s please have this rally in Lafayette next week. Give Walnut Creek a rest. I hear there’s a lot of Lafayette residents participating.
Believe Orinda had one scheduled, as well…
A rally over lies about Security Security LIES go look up HR Bill the democrats turned down by 213 votes HR904! You people/immigrants are ridiculous
WE refuse to be used!!!
Exactly!
Where is the vote for H.R.904?
@Rosa – This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced into Congress on January 31, 2025. It will typically be considered by committee next before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate as a whole. Democrats did not turn down the bill. In addition, only 11% of bills made it past committee and only about 2% were enacted in 2021–2023.
@Maria – That’s what I saw, no vote yet, that’s why I asked. Troubling that some people feel the need to lie. I guess we need to fact-check our fellow commenters.
Lafayette has one every Tuesday evening.
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/758677/?force_banner=true&share_context=event_details&share_medium=copy_link
Today’s organizers have an event planned at Concord BART in TWO weeks, so you may get your wish.
This makes my heart so happy.
I genuinely do not understand why people are protesting Trump’s efforts to negotiate trade and tariff imbalances. It really makes no sense, unless your position is that America should subsidize the economies of its trading partners. And, why are they protesting the elimination of government waste, granted, it has been handled poorly as far as communication. Folks, this country is in serious financial peril. Something must be done and I applaud the administration for its efforts.
We had the best economy in the world 3 months ago, even 3 weeks ago; I agree, the country is in serious financial peril—it’s because of Trump’s actions.
Please pay closer attention to the details of what is taking place. Then please look at “The end result of what it could be.”
Canada charges as much as 85% & more Tariffs on US products we we sell them. We have been subsidizing their economy for a long time. We are just trying to get them to a level playing field. All countries that he imposed Tariffs on were charging us two to three times the amount in Tariffs on our products. If we can get the Tariffs to equal out to what they are placing on our products then we can “Lower Income Taxes” or even get rid of an Income Tax if we can sell our products at prices other countries consumers would find attractive! Our Country “Was” in big Trouble under the Democratic Control. Their “Only Option” was to “Raise Taxes” to get us out of the inevitable Bankruptcy we would have to declare. I personally do not wish for my Taxes to subsidize all the countries we are taking care of. If it was going to our citizens then it would be a more responsible reason that I could get on board with. I’m sorry we can’t agree on how to fix our crumbling nation.
Spot on Marcia. We’re subsidizing nearly every other country on the planet.
Just like your dear leader, you are conflating trade deficits with tariffs. A trade deficit just means we buy more from them than they buy from us. But it’s not a bad thing….we get what we need, and we pay them for it. Just like I have a personal trade deficit with Trader Joe’s — I get what i want and I give them money (aka “subsidizing” them). It’s that simple. Trade deficits are not inherently bad. But anything that blocks the natural flow of the economy (yes, like these tariffs) is an inherently stupid idea.
Before the tariffs recently imposed by the US, Canada imposed Tariffs on only 2% of goods coming from the US. This was part of the CUSMA agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada. Get your facts right and turn off FOX news.
They seemed to have a pretty good idea of what they were doing out there today.
@Daniel
It’s clear you don’t understand a lot of things-especially how tariffs impact economic growth, employment etc. We’re preparing for another recession. I do agree that the country is in serious peril but not for the reasons you mentioned. They’re deliberately trying to bring down the US and we’re taking a stand. Sorry you voted wrong.
Economists around the world were marveling about the progress in economic health of the country recovering from COVID, under the efforts of the Biden administration. 4 days ago, economists said we had a zero % chance of a recession. Yesterday, according to JP Morgan’s polling of economists, we have a 60% chance of a recession. Setting up tariffs -one of the stupidest decisions Trump’s made.
If the Trump Admin was serious about reducing waste and fraud they wouldn’t be using a chain saw and wreaking havoc on the world economy by keeping the plan secret and then dropping it on all of us in what was essentially a day. They wouldn’t be threatening to shut down social security because of some ambiguity in a court order. They would seek clarity. They wouldn’t be slashing huge numbers of employees without some methodology beside who is easiest to fire. This a clown show making reality TV.
Read Milton Freedman.
You might learn something.
Read Hayak and then you’ll understand Friedman.
Firestone 11R
Yes, I agree that finding a path to reduce America’s deficits is important—but not at the expense of the well-being of everyday Americans, even in the short term. The American people should not be treated as sacrificial lambs for the sake of fulfilling political promises or advancing election agendas. Responsible leadership means finding solutions that balance fiscal responsibility with compassion and common sense.
Do we truly see light at the end of the tunnel when the administration constantly flips the switch on tariff policies from one day to the next? There seems to be a lack of consistency and transparency in how these tariffs are being implemented, leaving businesses and consumers in a state of uncertainty. Without a clear, strategic approach, it’s difficult to plan, invest, or move forward with confidence.
“…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
I get what you are saying. What is your Idea of an alternative to fix this monstrosity of a problem? Bankruptcy is not far off for us, the US, I mean. Then all expenditure’s by the government would come to a halt .
Per capita an average Canadian buys about $8500 of US goods and the average American buys about $1400 of Canadian goods – they were totally buying their share…or at least they were before we started attacking them. Kiss that money good bye.
You’ve fallen for numerous fallacies. First, the US economy was in excellent share. Best in the world. Second, there is no widespread government waste and every example cited so far turns out to be either just a slash and burn or outright lie. Third, tariffs have always – always – caused economic destruction. Last time in 1930, it caused the recession to become a full scale global depression.
You really need to get better informed.
Also, Orinda’s protest today had approximately 300 people.
Trade
Mr. Daniel Loomis, please note the first 5 words of your post. Everything after that is irrelevant.
There is a trade “imbalance” between most economic partners, that’s literally how the global economy has worked for more then a hundred years. In a global economic system the MAJORITY of a trade imbalance is because country A wants to buy stuff that country B produces (for example the USA buying bananas from Guatemala). Just because country A does not produce physical goods that country B wants in a quantity to “balance out” the things that country A wants and buys from that country does not mean that country A is getting “ripped off”. In our example, the USA CANNOT GROW BANANAS but people in the US wants them so we are free to buy them just as you are free to try to grow a banana tree in your backyard, unfortunately now with these asinine tariffs Trump just raised everyone’s banana prices by at least 10% because even they show that they buy a crap load MORE stuff like refined petroleum and corn products from the USA then we buy from them. It’s free trade! And even if you took their own premise seriously (which is stupid because the economy does not work like that) this is not going to result in a “rebalancing” it’s going to increase the US consumers prices on EVERY GOOD (both domestically produced due to supply pressures and foreign cause of this dumb ass tax), ALL
of our trading partners to say “F U 2 Buddy” at any future trade deals, and so many other long term consequences for the US debt, the stability of the dollar and our future standing in the world. This is econ 101 stuff and if you think this is good for the country as a whole and your life and community in particular, I have a bridge to sell you!
I get what you’re trying to say.
It’s beyond me why there are still people that believe Mr Drump, and don’t see who he works for (example: new tariffs on basically all countries in the world, but not Russia. Huh?!).
I had no idea a human could lie so much.
And yet, many people think he’s the savior?!?!
Oy!
Great drone footage – thanks for posting.
Yes indeed.
Elon and Trump, keep your hands off government bloat and don’t you dare stop me and friends from benefiting from waste, fraud and abuse!
Do they really know what they protest about.
Yes
Nope
Obviously, you didn’t attend. We went through a long list of grievances, calls and responses, if you will. You speak without knowledge.
They know.
They don’t want their rights abolished.
They don’t want their savings wiped out.
They don’t want their social security stolen.
They don’t want Greenland and Canada. Instead they want to keep NPR, PBS and the Smithsonian.
They don’t want another DEPRESSION.
They don’t want the rest of the world hating them because of the greed of their top people.
They don’t want their president mocking a disabled reporter. Or mocking women.
They want to KEEP the separation of powers.
They want a decent human for president, not a Liar-in-chief.
Wow. It must be horrible to be this terrified of our Republic returning to the ways it became the greatest nation on earth. Relax. It’ll be OK.
When was the United States the greatest nation on earth? When was this magical time period? Who was it great for?
You mean the Great Depression? Yes that is a terrifying thought.
Any counter protesters???
Firestone 11R
I wasn’t aware of a single one, Jeff. Surprising, I thought.
A beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Nice crowd.
Nice drone footage.
Trade imbalances result from U.S. corporations transfering manufacturing offshore to increase profits.
DOGE is not about government efficiency, it is about rolling back (breaking) all “new deal” federal services to the gilded age circa 1913 (before women and black suffrage, 40 hour work week, during the Jim Crow South, child labor, extreme income inequality, the Klan, business in control of a corrupt government, etc).
Banning books, restricting voting, censoring speech, censoring law firms, universities, and judges is not about improving government, it is about the ruling class (captains of industry, oligarchs, the 1%) cementing control of the government (fascism).
Considering government efficiency, federal employee salaries are about 5% of the budget, military spending (war, foreign bases (180 in 70 countries) , etc) is more than 25% of the budget (55% of discretionary spending). Firing government employees does not save much. Look to the Pentagon to save money.
Why are we funding a foreign country to conduct a real time genocide and ethnic cleansing that we can watch on television?
What is the current government doing about climate change, the real existential crisis of our time?
Meh. Waste of everyone’s time. The protesting does nothing and makes no sense. Move along folks.
I think you need to read history books to tell you what protests promote!
The funny thing is in parts of the U.S. there are literally no protests going on and it’s not even being reported on local news. I was in Scottsdale all that week and saw very little about it and relatives in DFW have seen little to no coverage on it. Friends in both the Twin Cities and Denver area said protests were going on there. Just depends on where you live.
We are a completely divided nation…
Dallas. Boise. Everyone buys groceries.
Such a funny word, “groceries”, “gro sur eez”, said the diminished old man pondering a prominent vein on his club hand. I digress.
Omaha. Terre Haute. Most everyone working for a living has retirement savings, savings diminished this week by an old man pondering diminishing returns.
Declined by about 5% TYD. While this is news, the sky is hardly falling…
Don… the numbers are still going in the wrong direction. If social security and Medicare go away, that number will greatly increase.
Do the math. The S&P is down 13% YTD.
The Grim Reaper did make an appearance, but I can’t say what his position on Trump or Musk was. He didn’t speak. He just kept waving a scythe and seemed to be having fun which is disconcerting to say the least. Ron Vara was nowhere to be found today.
Where is Ron Vara?
Trump fiddles (golfs) while Rome (US) burns.
America is slowly coming to its senses. It remains to be seen if it will be in time.
If Trump and his administration are so smart about the newly announced tariff policies, why are they imposing tariffs on islands entirely populated by penguins, seals, and sea birds?
These people are running our government? This doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that these people know what they’re doing.
Also, the methodology used to justify each countries new tariffs is highly suspect, and apparently, the new tariffs are straight from the Project 2025 playbook.
Lastly, Trump wants manufacturing to return to levels from many years/decades ago. It will never happen.
Fake News. Trump is doing EXACTLY what he was elected to do, to benefit ALL of America, and the fake Bolshevik media has thrown their useful idiots into a rage!
I saw and heard no evidence of rage out there… Unlike maga on Jan 6th.
What rock are you under?
It’s all ok folks, ’cause according to Trump all it needs is “medicine” and soon we will have “Greenland and Greenland has chickens and then we will have lots of eggs.” God help us!
Billionaires could start paying some taxes. Let’s try that.
MAGGOTs in charge of the government….what could possibly go wrong?