Dozens protest Musk, Trump at Guthrie office
Published 2:27 pm Friday, February 14, 2025
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Michael Gramling of SOKY Indivisible joins dozens of other protesters to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Cathy Severns, one of the SOKY Indivisible coordinators, leads chants as she gathers with dozens of other protesters to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Margaret Townsend carries a message to U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, in the form of a Valentine’s Day card as she joins other protesters in seeking a word with his aides during a protest outside his Bowling Green office to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Elizabeth Sheppard and Margaret Townsend enter the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, to speak to his aides as they gather with other protesters to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters with the group SOKY Indivisible gather to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens of protesters take turns calling the office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, to voice their complaints as they protest against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk outside Guthrie’s Bowling Green office on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Dozens gathered at the local office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, on a chilly Valentine’s Day to demonstrate against recent mass layoffs of federal employees and what they perceive as a coup within the federal government by President Donald Trump advisor Elon Musk.
The protest was led by the group SOKY Indivisible, who led a similar protest outside the William H. Natcher Federal Building in Bowling Green last week. Cathy Severns, one of the coordinators of the protest, spoke on the focus of the protest.
“We’re concerned about (cuts to) USAID. We’re concerned that congress is not doing their job of accountability … and we’re concerned about the federal workers being let go,” she said.
Protesters also called into Guthrie’s office, voicing their concerns and urging Guthrie to take action against Trump and Musk.
Speaking on the phone with Guthrie staffers, one demonstrator, Tom Morris, urged Guthrie to “take a stand.
“We are protesting the state of our nation,” Morris said during the phone call. “We are asking Representative Guthrie to obey his oath and to do his job, to call Trump out, and defend the Constitution.”
Speaking with the Daily News after the call, Morris said he sees the Constitution of the United States under threat.
“If we lose our Constitution, our whole way of life is gone,” he said. “Trump could declare himself president for life, and I don’t think it’s too outlandish to think that’s possible.”
Some demonstrators headed inside Guthrie’s office to speak with aides, going in two at a time. Margaret Townsend carried with her a message in the shape of a Valentine’s heart.
Following a deadly air crash in Washington, Trump cast blame for the crash on diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Townsend, who said her daughter is a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, called this “disrespectful.”
“A responsible government mobilizes behind that accident, decomposes it and figures out what happens,” Townsend told the Daily News. “What an irresponsible government does is stand in front of the nation and say ‘this would never have happened had it not been for DEI hires.’ ”
Asked for a response to the protests, Guthrie’s office issued a statement to the Daily News: “In November, the American people, and voters from across Kentucky’s Second District gave President Trump a mandate to govern and to fix the problems created over the last four years. I am confident that my work in Congress, and as Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, will help to deliver President Trump’s America First agenda and restore fiscal responsibility to the government.”
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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