As Trump hosts billionaires, Pa. Democrats focus on MLK Jr. Day

Progressives and Democrats across Pennsylvania spent Monday focusing on their communities for Martin Luther King Day while Donald Trump hosted some of the country’s most powerful billionaires at his inauguration. 

While some of the country’s most powerful billionaires joined the pomp and circumstance of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in Washington DC on Monday, many Democrats across Pennsylvania focused their efforts on honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

“I choose on this Jan. 20th to honor the legacy of Dr. King and the incomparable Coretta Scott King, who remind us that we need lead leaders who are in love with justice and not leaders who are in love with power and power grabs and injustice,” Kadida Kenner, Executive Director of the New Pennsylvania Project, said in an interview on Monday.

“I believe that folks were hearing the more divisive policies on the horizon, the attempts to utilize executive orders that could harm the lives and endanger the livelihoods of those who need the most help in these times, and Donald Trump continues to act on behalf of the billionaires who put him back into power here in 2025.”

Trump moved Monday’s inauguration inside to the US Capitol building for the first time in 40 years due to the cold weather and delivered a divisive speech targeting some of the country’s most vulnerable communities. 

In it, he promised to roll back LGBTQ rights, deport undocumented immigrants and roll back birthright citizenship, which is protected in the US constitution. He also promised to help some of the country’s most wealthy business owners. 

Tech-billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, Elon Musk, the CEO of X and Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, all had front row seats to today’s events. They have also donated millions of dollars to Trump’s inaugural ball.

Trump has nominated 13 billionaires to serve in his second administration, and following the election, Musk’s net worth has increased more than $170 billion. 

“We’re getting a very clear picture that this is not going to be an administration that’s focused on the needs of the American people and of the American worker. I think that should, for all of us, crystallize the work that we have ahead,” State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta said in an interview.

“This is a moment where we have to keep talking about what our government can be and should be doing, and it shouldn’t be a government by and for the billionaires. It should be a government by and for working people and working families who are just trying to live their damn lives.”

Kenyatta, who is currently running to be Vice Chair of Democratic National Committee, did not pay attention to Trump’s inauguration. Instead he offered advice for how the Democratic Party should move forward over the next four years.  

“We can be a nation where we treat our neighbors with dignity, decency and respect, but we are not going to move into that next stage if we spend the next four years thinking that we have to spend every single moment thinking about [Trump],” Kenyatta said.

“I think as the Democratic Party and as individuals, we have to spend every single moment thinking about us, thinking about our families, thinking about our communities and figuring out how we do what Dr. King talked about. How do we continue to build that beloved community and talk about a version of this nation where nobody is left behind, where everybody’s doing better because everybody’s doing better.”