Posts on various social media platforms called for demonstrators to show up at all 50 U.S. state capitols.
Amelia Clarke
Published Feb. 4, 2025 (Snopes.com)
Image courtesy of Threads user @micd8869
In late January 2025, social media users on multiple platforms began calling for people to join nationwide protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration (archived). The posts claimed that the demonstrations were set to be held in all 50 U.S. states on Feb. 5, 2025.
For example, one Facebook user shared an image (archived) that read: “50 protests, 50 states, 1 day.” It also included the date and listed the location as “your state capitol.”
(Facebook user Caitilin Seidensticker Ashley)
Another user called for people to join “50 peaceful protests in 50 oppressed states for one day at your state capitol” (archived).
A sentence at the bottom of that post said the protests were taking place due to Trump being “in the White House illegally according to section three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” This section of the 14th Amendment disqualifies individuals from holding office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the Constitution. The post is likely referring to Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots.
Snopes readers also emailed us to ask if marches were being planned across the U.S. on Feb. 5.
The posts include details about when and where the demonstrations were taking place but did not mention a singular and unifying organization behind the protests. Instead, the movement appeared to be a decentralized effort urging protesters to congregate in their local area.
Who’s organizing the protests?
The social media posts spreading information about the planned demonstrations on Feb. 5 did not credit any one organization.
Instead, some posts on Facebook and Reddit suggested a subreddit (archived) created on Jan. 25, 2025, started circulating information about the planned demonstrations. Around 59,000 members had joined the group as of this writing. There was also a Discord server linked to the movement; however, people need to be invited to the server to join it.
One of the moderators of the subreddit, u/honeydoulemon, said via email that the original idea came from another moderator, the Reddit user u/Evolved_Fungi. Evolved Fungi’s original post was deleted, but screenshots (viewable below) provided by u/honeydoulemon show Evolved Fungi discussing the idea of 50 protests across all 50 states. The deleted post states that the goal was to give people a “simple instruction set” to increase participation “exponentially.”
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(Reddit user u/honeydoulemon)
The idea for 50 protests in all 50 states on one given day then formed the basis for the name of the subreddit r/50501.
U/honeydoulemon also said the planning of the “50501” protests was “completely decentralized” and that they were not an official organization. The moderator said:
50501 was an idea that was created by Evolved_Fungi and then was implemented entirely by regular people across the U.S. As such, there are moderators that are collecting information at the national level, but there is not central “leadership.” By which I mean, the mods that run the Discord and Reddit do not direct the state organizers in any way on how to organize their events beyond the location and the day.
Similarly, one of the posts on the subreddit outlining the 50501 demonstrations’ purpose states that “this isn’t going to run like a professional protest because we are not professionals.”
Therefore, it was unclear how widespread the protests might be, how many people might show up for them or if they will actually take place in all 50 U.S. states.
What are the demonstrations’ aims?
The r/50501 subreddit states no official aim of the protests, instead suggesting that those attending “prove that we can and will come together for a common cause” and show “how MANY of us oppose the direction our country is going” (archived).
U/honeydoulemon also confirmed that the movement had no official stated focus at this time, but the “consensus” was largely that the protests were in opposition to “fascism, oligarchy and the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for our laws and established checks and balances,” as well as the raft of executive orders Trump began signing in January 2025.
The moderator also emphasized the aim was not to “exclude Republicans and conservatives” from 50501, as they saw the movement as a fight “for the rights and livelihoods of all Americans, including those we disagree with.”
However, other users organizing at the grassroots level and publicizing localized events stated their own aims. Posts on a different subreddit (archived and viewable in the screenshot below) and on Threads said the aim of the protests was to “reject Project 2025,” which is a conservative group’s proposal to reshape the government under a Republican presidential administration.
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(Reddit user Tinawebmom)
Some other posts said the planned demonstrations would “demand representation” on subjects including freedom of speech, racial equality, election integrity, women’s rights, LGBTQ+, public health and safety, gun violence, climate change and wealth inequality.
Stand-up comedian Cliff Cash also publicized the protests in a YouTube video titled “FEB 5 protests in EVERY STATE. ALL FIFTY STATE CAPITOLS.” He encouraged viewers to “speak up” and attend demonstrations on Feb. 5 and suggested the events should aim to protest against Trump’s administration, Project 2025 and political inaction by the Democrats, saying: “If they won’t stop this, the American people are going to have to.”
Sources
By Amelia Clarke
Amelia Clarke is a journalist from London, England. Before joining Snopes as a reporter, she worked for BBC News as a producer.
