Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to skip the barbecue and spend their Labor Day protesting President Donald Trump and the billionaires who support him.
“We’re excited to see a lot of folks turning out and really turning up the heat on the administration and on the billionaires that are really driving the agenda, especially as we’re seeing increased attacks on our communities,” Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Action Center on Race and the Economy, told USA TODAY.
More than a thousand "Workers Over Billionaires” events are planned nationwide on Labor Day and the surrounding days.
Taking place in small and large cities in nearly every state, the events are designed to build on the momentum of other large-scale protests including No Kings Day in June and Good Trouble Lives On in July. They are led by labor organizations, including the AFL-CIO, and other advocacy groups such as May Day Strong, Public Citizen and IndivisibleThe White House did not respond to a request for comment on the protests. Instead, it provided a quote from Vice President JD Vance about Democrats not voting for the GOP tax and spending bill and a quote from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about Labor Day.
"We finally have a President who fights and delivers for the American worker every single day. President Trump believes that American workers are the heart and soul of our economy and our national identity, which is why he’s championed an agenda that puts them first always," she saidBhatti, whose group is focused on racial and economic activism, said many Americans don't see Trump's actions that way.
Organizers are expecting "a big show of force on Monday that we’re not going to take it sitting down, that working class people across the country are ready to fight back and to make sure that we don’t just let billionaires run roughshod over our communities," Bhatti saidOrganizers are expecting "a big show of force on Monday that we’re not going to take it sitting down, that working class people across the country are ready to fight back and to make sure that we don’t just let billionaires run roughshod over our communities," Bhatti said.