Hundreds protest Trump and Musk in downtown Wichita

Harrison Bateman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, braved the cold Saturday with his 2-and-a-half-year-old son, Ronan, and several hundred others in a protest at Sedgwick County’s Historic County Courthouse against the Trump administration and his policies as well as his affiliation with Tesla owner Elon Musk.

It appeared to be the largest protest in Wichita since the July 2022 “Vote No” march downtown. The group that organized the event said 1,800 registered to attend but the cold kept a chunk of that away.

People chanted and held signs while drivers passing by honked.

A similar scene played out across the country.

More than 1,200 “Hands Off” protests organized by more than 150 groups took place nationwide on Saturday, The Associated Press said.

Bateman, of Wichita, said he lost his contractor job with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in March as part of the cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I have this guy I got to fight for,” he said, pointing to his son, “And I can’t imagine him growing up in a world where fascism is just allowed.”

When asked who he is protesting, he said: “It’s Trump. It’s Elon. It’s the GOP, hell, it’s the Democrats at this point, they’re controlled opposition. Can’t stand bullies. Can’t stand people that dictate what other people’s lives are.”

He said things will be tight for a little while in their home after losing his job.

“Just going to do what we can in the meantime to keep food on the table,” he said.

Signs people held in Wichita hit on a variety of topics: the firing of thousands of federal workers, the deportation of immigrants, reducing protections for trans people, tariffs, and handling of the war in Ukraine.

Leading Kansas, an organization formed roughly a month ago, organized the Wichita version of the nationwide “Hands Off!” protest.

The organization was founded by Jess Frieze and Katy Tyndell.

“Everybody wants to talk about waste and fraud and abuse, but when you come right into it, the stuff that he’s cutting, Congress has already authorized,” said Tyndell, of Wichita, who manages multiple small businesses. “Those funds have been appropriated, and now there are elected officials who are just capitulating their power to Trump or to Elon Musk to make those decisions. And so that’s really where I think the rubber hits the road, is they need to answer for why they’re capitulating their power of the purse.”

There were no threats to the Wichita event, she said. But several officers were in attendance just in case.

Frieze said people came from Pratt and other parts of the state to attend.

There was also a protest at the Kansas Statehouse, where thousands of people gathered, The Topeka Capital Journal reported.

The temperature was 43 degrees when the protest started at 1 p.m. but the wind chill made it about 10 degrees colder, according to the National Weather Service

This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM with the headline "Hundreds protest Trump and Musk in downtown Wichita."