On Saturday, at least half a million Americans are estimated to have joined nationwide “Hands Off” rallies. In Culpeper, more than 200 residents took to the street, waving signs and calling for change. WMRA’s Sara Prince was there and has this report.
[Sound of chanting and honking horns]
Main street was buzzing… or rather honking… in Culpeper on Saturday as over 200 people gathered as part of the Hands Off Rally organized by MoveON - the political activist platform that got its start during the Clinton impeachment hearings in 1999.
ATTENDEE: I’m concerned that the V-A is being defunded and understaffed.
ATTENDEE: I have stock market investments and they’ve gone into the toilet.
The rally was organized in Culpeper, in part by Dan Else, who is the Vice Chair for Intra Party Coordination for Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Greene, and Orange counties.
DAN ELSE: When Trump was elected, the very next meeting of the Culpeper County Democratic Committee, I signed up, and I’ve stayed with it ever since.
Dan says that membership quickly grew after that.
ELSE: The Culpeper County Democratic Committee has seen an explosion in its membership, and we’ve gone from about 50 or 60 members and we’re more that tripling in size from what we were eight months ago.
The overarching theme at the meeting and the rally was concern about the leadership of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. A common thread was the welfare of others. Dan shared that concern.
ELSE: A number of members of my family were working on various government contracts, and during the first Trump Administration, they would see contracts come and get canceled, and come back again.
But Dan was also a Navy man for twenty years. His views on civil service are clear.
ELSE: It made me appreciate the effort that generations of Americans put into building the United States. My father was a World War II vet. My grandfather was a World War I vet. And they did not fight for what we're seeing today. So it's personal. Very personal.
