On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, President Donald J Trump addressed the nation with a speech over 90 minutes long, touting his Administration’s executive orders, which were met with cheers from Republicans, and were fact-checked by Democrats in attendance in real time. 

Democrats jeered the president throughout his speech, held signs to indicate whenever Trump lied, and wore shirts adorned with the word “Resist.” Some of the women wore pink pantsuits to indicate resistance; some wore white to memorialize the feminist activists of the last century.

Senator Al Green of Texas was, shockingly, almost immediately escorted from the chamber floor for reportedly “heckling” the president. 

77-year-old Green stood and shouted at Trump in retaliation to the president’s claim that “for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than in the wrong direction.”

As Democrats booed the president, Green yelled that Trump had no mandate to cut Medicaid; Republicans replied by chanting “USA!” 

After Vice President JD Vance made a hand gesture to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Johnson ordered the House Sergeant-at-Arms to remove Green from the chamber. House leaders are currently considering censuring Green. 

Trump’s speech on Tuesday was cast in the shadow of unpopular proposed economic policies, including cuts to the federal workforce being made by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, which he enacted on that same day, March 4. 

Immediately following Trump’s announcement that his 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports, and a 20% tariff on Chinese imports, all three targeted nations set retaliatory tariffs.

This retaliation has already begun affecting US farm exports, as well as liquor and chocolate. Mexico is set to soon announce its retaliatory tariffs this Sunday, March 9, having stated that they have prepared for this scenario, which Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many others have called a “trade war.”

The Trump Administration may roll back its tariffs or negotiate on trade deals with these nations as early as Wednesday, March 5. However, Trump stated during his speech on Tuesday that more tariffs will be imposed by April 2. 

DOGE and Musk have continued their efforts to severely cut the federal workforce; yet another mass email to federal employees was sent on Friday, February 28, again asking employees to submit five “bullet points” highlighting their weekly work efforts, and also warning of weekly “check-ins” to be initiated. 

Musk also raised concerns with his comments made on the Joe Rogan Podcast, which was also widely published on Friday. During the three-hour interview, Musk referenced his and DOGE’s goals as revolutionary, stating his belief that this may be the first time in history where the “revolution” succeeds over the “bureaucracy.”

Another of Musk’s sound bites from the interview that has received widespread attention and drawn ire was his statement that “Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” 

This statement comes off the heels of DOGE/Musk’s attempted seizure of social security data; of several layoffs made in the Social Security Administration (SSA), forced by DOGE/Musk; and the greatly inflated, provably false “findings” claiming that “tens of millions” of dead people over 100 years old are receiving benefits.

Reports from inspectors general show, however, that Social Security fraud resulted in the improper pay out of $71.8 billion from 2015 to 2022, with the majority of improper payments being made to living people. 

In January 2025, the US Treasury received more than $31 million in federal payments that were improperly made to deceased individuals as part of a pilot program between the Department of Treasury and the SSA. The program awarded access to the “Full Death Master File,” a federal database that contains more than 142 million personal records going back as far as 1899. 

The Treasury estimates that, with access to the database from 2023 to 2026, they will be able to recover up to $215 million in improperly made payments.  

The Trump Administration and DOGE/Musk’s actions have caused ripples in global and domestic financial markets with their executive orders and policies that directly target these markets, and in how citizens of the world and of America are responding. The US stock market plunged about 1500 points by Tuesday’s close.

Protests are being organized nationally and all over the world, and while some of these protests are conventional calls to action taking place on the steps of the Capitol, there are also protests aimed at exercising individuals’ rights and their power to vote with their dollars. 

The Colorado State Capitol saw a gathering of protestors on Tuesday, March 4; one day prior, many gathered in Boulder to protest the firing of 880 employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. On Saturday, March 1, hundreds of protestors gathered in opposition to DOGE/Musk at the Tesla dealership in Superior.

The protest at the Superior Tesla dealership was just one part of a nationwide protest, #TeslaTakedown, which took place at over 50 Tesla dealerships across the country; this movement is just one of many social media-organized campaigns that are targeting the bottom lines of corporations who support Trump and DOGE/Musk’s policies. 

With celebrities like singer Sheryl Crow going viral online for selling her Tesla, it highlights a trend of “buyer’s remorse” that is cascading among Tesla owners, some of whom are being verbally accosted in public for driving Teslas—what some activists are calling “swastikars.”

The anti-Musk fervor has even resulted in vandalism, with Lyons resident Lucy Grace Nelson facing federal charges for causing up to $20,000 in damages to the Tesla dealership in Loveland. The vandalism reportedly took place over several days and the damage was caused by spray paint and Molotov cocktails. 

After rising in influence to sell over one million vehicles in 2021, recent Tesla reports show that they are averaging 50,000 vehicles sold each month in the US. Following the company’s first reported annual sales drop in 2024, shares of Tesla have dropped by 13% just in the last week of February. The shares closed at $284.65 on Monday, March 3, bringing the company’s total market value under $1 trillion.

Additionally, according to Karl Brauer, Executive Analyst for iSeeCars.com, trends show that of the 20 used-car models that saw the largest drop in value in January, four of those models were Tesla vehicles.  

The #TeslaTakedown movement is just one of several protests targeting corporations that either fund the Trump Administration and DOGE/Musk’s policies through general donations to the Republican Party; or who actively acquiesce to Republicans’ campaigns against labor unions, against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and against LGBTQIA+ protections. 

After Reverend Al Sharpton and @NationalActionNetwork members organized a local “buy-in” in Harlem, bringing over 100 community members to Costco as a show of support and appreciation for the company’s refusing to cut their DEI policies, activist John Schwarz of People’s Union USA co-opted the movement and organized a general Economic Blackout Day for Friday, February 28. 

The Economic Blackout Day was meant to affect the foot traffic and sales for larger corporations who donate large amounts to the Republican Party, including Kroger, Target, Walmart, and Amazon. 

While the broad reach of the protest was ultimately a detriment to yielding any impactful results—with Amazon even showing a 1% increase in average sales that day over the previous Friday’s sales—more focused social media campaigns have proven that “voting with your dollar” can be successful. 

Civil Rights leaders, including members of Black Lives Matter, have organized a boycott of Target which has lasted through Black History Month and will continue indefinitely due to the company’s rollback of their DEI policies.

Target’s rollback of these policies has doubly impacted black-owned businesses who entered into exclusivity agreements with the corporation to sell and promote their products. 

The decisions being made at an executive level at Target are greatly affecting the company’s bottom line, with their Finance Chief Jim Lee blaming the rapid decline in consumer spending in January and February on “uncharacteristically cold weather” and “declining consumer confidence.”

Target's shares fell 5% in morning trading just this past Tuesday. The company’s net income was $1.10 billion, or $2.41 per share, for the period that ended February 1, which is down from last year’s $1.38 billion net income, or $2.98 per share.

Their sales also dropped 3% from last year’s $31.92 billion, and the company expects those sales to grow only by 1% during the fiscal year. 

All of this coincides with a class action lawsuit filed this year against Target by their own shareholders, who claim that Target’s CEO, Brian Cornell, and board members intentionally defrauded them by misrepresenting the impact to stock prices following customer boycotts of Target’s LGBT-Pride Campaign.  

Another grassroots campaign to boycott Target for 40 days began on Wednesday, March 5; a boycott focusing on Amazon is planned for March 7 through 14; a boycott of Nestle is planned for March 21 to 28; the Walmart boycott will take place on April 7 to 14; and a second Economic Blackout Day is scheduled for April 18. 

To stay informed on what government policies, executive orders, and initiatives major corporations are supporting through their donations of your dollars, free business-tracker apps such as Goods Unite Us (https://www.goodsuniteus.com/app/?amp=1) streamline this information and provide the political affiliation of thousands of businesses. 

Know where YOUR dollars are going as we continue into this fraught new world the last election has created.