This is your host, Suki Wessling. On April 5, 2025, people across the United States took to the streets for rallies branded “Hands Off.” I particularly appreciated that theme once I arrived at our local rally in Santa Cruz, CA. Why? Because we’ve got to stop this us and them thing. All of us depend on a stable, effective federal government, and right now, just a tiny percentage of us are going to benefit from what’s being done at the federal level. Although, I have to admit, I can hardly think of who will actually benefit. I mean, the financial guys clearly aren’t liking this, given how the stock market is going. The courts have been rebuffing almost every move (though not all, unfortunately). Republican lawmakers outside of the executive branch have been hiding from their constituents—I can’t imagine they’re happy about how things are going. Moving outward to solidly conservative interest groups, there’s general unhappiness almost everywhere, from farmers to the country club set. I mean, who likes an airport that has only one meteorologist (San Francisco)? Who is comfortable with treating a measles epidemic with cod liver oil (Texas)? Who just loves seeing their 401K melt down to nothingness (um, everyone)?
So “hands off” is pretty darn ecumenical as a slogan right now. Here in liberal Santa Cruz, we do have a conservative contingent. 1 out of 5 voters chose the Republican ticket. But they didn’t show up at the rally to protest us. I mean, how could they? Some of them rely on Medicare. Many of them probably have seen their savings dissolving. And besides, as one of my interviewees told me, they’re actually embarrassed right now to let it be known how they voted. (She told me that she’s happily outing her MAGA friends on Facebook.)
I asked people in the crowd why they had come out to the rally. Their answers were a snapshot of America. [Click for transcript]
Photos by Marcia Quackenbush
