Social media fuels anti-Trump and Musk demonstration at Pennsylvania capitol

Over 400 demonstrators descended upon the Pennsylvania capitol to protest Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Wednesday. The rally, mostly driven by social media, was part of the “50501” movement, which helped spur thousands of rallies across the country.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the front steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg on Wednesday to protest President Donald Trump and mega billionaire, Elon Musk. 

With Democratic Party leaders largely absent from the public eye since Trump’s victory in November, Wednesday’s rally was part of the “50501 Movement,” which called for 50 demonstrations at 50 state capitols on one day, and was largely driven by grassroots support on various social media platforms such as Reddit and TikTok. 

“I found out about this happening from a random TikTok video on Sunday. I saw someone post a random TikTok with just a poster of 50-50-1. It was just in their state capitol there was going to be a march, a protest, on February 5th,” Cristin, a rally organizer, said in an interview. 

Cristin, a social worker from Luzerne County, wished to not share her last name for personal reasons. This was the first political event she ever participated in. 

“The concerns I’ve had is I can see how all of the little things that are occurring are starting to slowly erode the democracy in our country, and are heading in a direction that I think might be very hard to come back from,” she said. 

Over 400 people from all age groups and backgrounds attended the event holding signs and shouting colorful chants directed at Trump and the influence and power Musk, the CEO of X, is exerting throughout the federal government. 

A lot of the signs in the crowd chided Musk. One sign included Musks’ face with an X drawn through it and said “not my president.” 

Philadelphia City Councilmember, and Working Families Party member, Kendra Brooks offered words of encouragement to the hundreds of rally-goers, saying, “Our next political leaders could be in this crowd.”

Brooks was first elected in 2019 after defeating a Republican city councilmember for an at-large seat that is reserved for the minority party. 

“I want you guys to all know the most important thing that you could do right now for your town, for your county, for your city, for this state and for this country is to get involved,” Brooks said.

“We have so many rights that are on the line, and there are multiple organizations around this commonwealth and around this country that need you. They need bodies. They need folks on the phones. They need people coming together in this moment, because if we do not come together in this moment, we can lose it all.”