Wyandotte — Over 300 people gathered outside Wyandotte's City Hall for a rally against the Trump administration Saturday afternoon, filling the sidewalks and drawing honks from passing cars responding to hundreds of colorful signs. Local and national elected officials addressed the angry but hopeful crowd and promised to continue fighting the Trump administration's funding cuts, while activists encouraged those in attendance to become more involved in politics. "Do we need to look at waste and fraud in the government? Yes, but where do we start? How about the Defense Department?" U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, said. "It is the strength of us united and joining with other communities across the country that are going to send a very, very strong message: hands off our constitution." Wyandotte's was one of several Hands Off! rallies organized across the state Saturday in places like Detroit, Lansing, Ferndale, Traverse City. The rally follows several funding cuts and freezes throughout the president's first two and a half months in office, as well as executive orders that Trump claims will curb government fraud and waste. State Sen. Jim Runestead and Chairman of the Michigan GOP called Saturday's rallies a "fake grassroots operation," critiquing efforts by Democrats to protect programs like diversity, equity and inclusion in the face of Trump's attacks. "It's their woke leftist ideology, and they're just going like crazy to keep it going," Runestead said. Runestead also criticized Democrats for overspending and said the Trump administration's funding cuts would help save programs like Social Security and Medicaid. "What Donald Trump... and DOGE is saying, no, let's go look at these programs for the first time and see, are they working?" Runestead said. "Are these people accomplishing the goals that they ostensibly were charged with doing? And the answer categorically, in most cases: no." Downriver resident Leigh Krauss, of Grosse Ile, thinks the country is in a "horrible situation" and said it was wonderful to be with like-minded people at Saturday's event who were similarly concerned. "Science, library, museums, our pillars of our culture are just being destroyed," Krauss, 58, said. "(I'm) terrified and frustrated, and we write our congress people and call them daily to express our opinions ... to say, 'please, help us do something.'" Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. From the National Mall and Midtown Manhattan to Boston Common and multiple state capitols, thousands of protesters assailed President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk 's actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights. Musk, a Trump adviser who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars. Last month, Trump signed an executive order calling for an end to the Department of Education and announced it would cut $11 billion in federal funds administered by the Department of Health and Human Services and plans to lay off around 10,000 employees of the department. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will bear the brunt of the Health and Human Services cuts. A new Trump administration policy for the National Institutes of Health would also cut federal funding for indirect expenses of research studying illnesses like cancer and heart disease, although several states, universities and hospitals are suing to prevent this. Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, has also taken an axe to the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Recently, administrators of Head Start, a federally funded early education program for low-income children, have been put on leave. Several executive orders also aim to withhold federal grant funding and contracts from organizations with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and practices. Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, was one of hundreds who rallied at the Statehouse in Columbus. He said he used to be a Reagan Republican but has been turned off by Trump. “He’s tearing this country apart,” Broom said. “It’s just an administration of grievances.” Hundreds of people also demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles from Trump's golf course in Jupiter, where he spent the morning at the club's Senior Club Championship. People lined both sides of PGA Drive, encouraging cars to honk and chanting slogans against Trump. “They need to keep their hands off of our Social Security,” said Archer Moran of Port St. Lucie, Florida. “The list of what they need to keep their hands off of is too long,” Moran said. “And it's amazing how soon these protests are happening since he’s taken office.” The president planned to go golfing again Sunday, according to the White House. Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.” Associated Press contributed. This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Protesters unite against Trump administration cuts at Hands Off! rally in Wyandotte

Our unofficial estimate is that around 4-6 million people attended a protest event yesterday. Anti-Trump resistance is outpacing 2017.