©  Greg Nash

DEMOCRATS STAGED A DAY OF PROTESTS against President Trump and Elon Musk on Monday, even as the federal workforce cutbacks continued apace.

NewsNation’s Jackie Koppell reports that several thousand people gathered around the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington to protest the gutting of federal agencies.

Protesters carried homemade signs and chanted: “Where is Congress? Do your job!”

Organizers dubbed the gathering a "No Kings Day" protest.

Additional protests are planned this week at Tesla dealerships and outside lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill.

Musk has been a ubiquitous presence since Trump returned to office, defending his actions to reporters in the Oval Office and battling critics on his social media platform X, as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has burrowed into a growing number of federal agencies to implement sweeping workforce cuts.

Democrats are scrambling to coalesce around an opposition strategy after Trump thundered into office and completely reshaped the federal government in the first month of his second term.

There has been frustration on the left over the Democrats’ inability to settle on an effective plan of opposition or consistent message, even as the courts have stepped in to postpone some of Trump’s executive actions.

Democrats don’t have a true leader on the national stage after former President Biden and former Vice President Harris were relegated to one term in office.

Ken Martin, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will embark this week on a multistate tour aimed at getting the national party “out of D.C.” as it seeks to reconnect with the working class voters and racial minorities that moved to the right in the 2024 election.

Republicans are divided when it comes to Musk. 

Some in the party, like Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have defended Musk and his role as an outsider reforming federal agencies.

But others are less keen on Musk's growing influence, with some privately saying his approach is "flawed" and accusing the billionaire of wreaking havoc, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. They also have concerns about his brazen online presence.

Among their concerns:

• Musk's call to impeach federal judges that go against Trump, with one senator calling it, "Wrong, wrong, wrong," and said

"Get him out of the White House. Get him out, the sooner the better ... Every day that he’s there, he seems more destructive.”

• Dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is causing problems for the farmers who sell their products all over the world. 

• Several Head Start programs across the country have been shuttered and funding for nonprofits that provide employment and community services has been threatened.

• The Trump administration began firing hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the weekend, just weeks after a deadly crash outside of Washington, D.C. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is working with DOGE to scale back federal spending and upgrade the FAA’s antiquated systems.

• Democrats are seeking answers on DOGE’s plans for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after multiple outlets reported the unit sought access to sensitive internal systems. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who has been open to working with the Trump administration, blasted DOGE's IRS moves and declared: "A party of chaos loses - always."

• Musk says DOGE will conduct an audit of all the gold at Fort Knox. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and other Republicans are backing the effort.

• The Trump administration is recalling hundreds of federal employees tasked with oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons after they were fired.

• More than 400 employees were fired from the Department of Homeland Security.

Some Republicans are alarmed by what they view as belligerent and indiscriminate cuts to the federal workforce.

“Many of these abrupt terminations will do more harm than good,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) posted on X.