Several hundred people holding signs saying “Resist Fascism” and “Idaho is too great for hate” gathered in front of the Idaho Capitol Wednesday to denounce Project 2025, a far right policy handbook from the Heritage Foundation and the Trump administration.
Joining protests nationwide, attendees pushed back against Trump’s many executive orders. Speaker Richard Steven Bryan called the President’s actions a coup.
“The actual systems and institutions through which public authority flows is being captured by private interests operating outside constitutional constraints,” he said at the podium.
“I'm worried about what's happening at, not only at the State House looking to sell off our public lands, but at a national level: the natural resource policies that are subject to change rapidly under this new administration and laying off federal employees that are integral to how our natural resources are preserved in this country,” said retired Idaho Fish And Game employee Steve Nadeau. “I can't do much at my level. And I'm just hoping that as a group of people, maybe we can.”
Attendee Andrea Rane, a paralegal working with immigrants, said she felt angry and afraid.
“I am here in part because I'm standing up for the clients that I represent day in and day out,” she said, adding she wanted to build community and solidarity.
“I'm feeling powerless that the powers that be aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing,” Rane said.
Tech researcher Kylie Castellaw said she had never been to a protest before.
“It's now or never,” she said. “It's go time, if we want to protect our rights. So I'm here against Project 2025. Against somebody who wants to be a dictator.”
Chanting “Do your job”, attendees called upon Idaho’s congressional representatives, like Senators James Risch and Mike Crapo, to intervene.
Attendees expressed concerns over billionaire Elon Musk's power over the federal government and access to Americans’ personal data attacks on LGBTQ+ and women’s rights and the Trump administration’s rapid attempts to dismantle federal social programs.
President Trump won Idaho by 67% of votes.
