Protests outside of North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis’ Greensboro office continued on Monday. Close to 200 people gathered around the Senator’s offices, calling for him to push back against President Donald Trump’s policies and cabinet decisions.
The chants varied during the Monday morning protest. Whether it was ‘do your job, deport Musk,’ or ‘stop the coup,’ dozens of protesters lined the corners of the intersection at Northline Avenue and Pembroke Road expressing disappointment in their elected officials.
Lynn Dorfman, former chair of the Catawba County Democratic Party, helped organize the event. She argues Trump doesn’t have the power to go ahead with his proposed federal grant and loan funding freezes.
Dorfman says it’s up to members of Congress, like Republican Sen. Tillis, to reign Trump in and maintain the nation’s system of checks and balances.
“The Congress has the power of the purse, they’re abdicating that,” she said. “They’re not stepping up, they’re not saying ‘no we have the power of the purse, you cannot do that.’ They’re rolling over and they need to hear that we’re watching and we have eyes on them and we want him to honor his oath.”
Other attendees, like Greensboro resident Margaret Villani, say they want representatives to fight against the management of federal funds by billionaire Elon Musk who’s leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
“There’s just too much going on that I can’t abide. I think that Congress should be taking care of our country and not allowing a few billionaires to control everything,” she said.
Organizers held a similar event on February 5th asking for Tillis to vote against Trump’s nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. Tillis voted in support of the nominee the next day. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.