Protesters dressed as characters in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a dystopian novel about life under a totalitarian regime. They were protesting President Donald Trump at the Ohio Capitol on April 19. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)

By: Marty Schladen – Ohio Capital Journal

A larger-than-expected crowd went to the Ohio capitol on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump and the many controversial actions of his young administration. It was one of at least 47 across Ohio and more than 700 across the United States.

Columbus police said that the crowd appeared to approach 3,000. That was smaller than the roughly 5,000 who turned out on April 5, when millions protested nationwide. But with the Easter holiday and fewer sponsoring organizations, smaller crowds were expected on Saturday.

Large crowds also gathered in Cincinnati, rainy Akron, and other cities across the Buckeye State. They were sponsored by the group 50501.

Organizers chose April 19 to protest in part for its symbolic value. On that day in 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War were fought in Lexington and Concord, Mass.

Playing off of that theme, many carried signs Saturday denouncing Trump and accusing him of trying to be a king.

Trump has been raising such concerns in several ways. They include by trying to gut the independent federal antitrust watchdog, and by empowering the world’s richest man to fire tens of thousands from the Social Security and Veterans administrations, the National Park Service, and numerous other agencies.

But perhaps more concerning is that his administration has been invoking a law not used in 80 years, accusing some migrants of membership in gangs, and deporting them to a notorious Salvadorean prison. He has defied court orders — including one to bring back a man whom the administration admitted was deported in error.

The U.S. Supreme Court early Saturday morning ordered a temporary halt to the deportations. So the stage seems to be setting for a confrontation between the judiciary — which has no army to enforce its orders — and an executive who sometimes has been disinclined to heed them.

That was on the minds of many at the Columbus protest. Chuck Ardo of Lancaster said that his family migrated to the United States from Slovakia when he was a child, and that his parents survived the Holocaust.

“Fascism is something I’ve always been aware of,” he said. “Due process and the Constitution, that’s what matters. I don’t know if these people are deportable or not. But they all deserve due process and that’s what’s missing here. They’ve labeled them ‘terrorists,’ but on what grounds? What proof have they shown?”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., last week visited the wrongly deported man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, at the Salvadorean prison. He said that if Trump has evidence that Abrego Garcia is in a gang, he needs to present it court — not just claim it on social media.

For Ardo, Trump’s actions have a disturbing historical echo.

“Donald Trump is doing many of the things Hitler did as he rose to power,” he said. “Hitler attacked the courts. He attacked the universities. I’m not accusing anybody of being a Nazi here, but while history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.”

Debbie Wood of Powell said the president has been acting like a king in other ways as well.

“Trump did not win in a landslide,” she said. “More people voted for someone else than for him. He does not have a mandate. Even the people who voted for him did not vote to ruin the VA. They didn’t vote to fire people who do cancer research. They didn’t vote to take food out of the mouths of hungry people. Ruining the national parks. Nobody voted for any of that stuff.”

She added, “People are getting more and more angry. He’s sending people away to concentration camps without due process. Ignoring court orders. Who does that? We would be in jail.”

Gary Bennett of St. Clairsville stood at the base of a monument to former President William McKinley holding a sign that mocked Trump and slammed him for gutting the staff at the National Park Service. He said that’s just one problem among many he has with the new administration.

“We could make signs every day of the week and there would still be signs to make,” he said. “Me and my wife just retired, and we don’t want him to take away our Social Security. That’s just one thing.”

Chris Glass of Delaware said she’s also upset about many things Trump is doing, and that protesting helps.

“There is something very nice about the camaraderie,” she said. “It’s a sense that people do care. I think we represent the country better than our current government does.”

Last updated 5:03 a.m., Apr. 21, 2025