Protests echoed through downtown Santa Fe all Monday afternoon as people took to the streets to voice their displeasure over the country's ongoing authoritarian lean. Members of Pres. Donald Trump's administration are currently in town for the Western Governors' Association and were stirring controversy before the week even started.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon, whose preparation for the job came from running World Wrestling Entertainment, joined former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez for propaganda and fundraising event on Monday that was originally scheduled for the Farmers' Market Institute at The Railyards. The event, titled "Her Game. Her Legacy," is a bus tour selfdescribed as a celebration and tribute to 53 years of Title IX "and the unstoppable spirit of women and girls in sports."
Farmers' Market officials canceled the partisan nonprofit's contract late last week and posted the news early Saturday. That gave the right-wing organization's attorney an ideal opportunity to do what the MAGA-centric do best: play the victim, crying "discrimination, misinformation, and coordinated activist intimidation."
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Once the MAGA dog-and-pony-show found a new home at the Inn and Spa at Loretto downtown, that property became the target of local protest. A couple hundred local carried signs and chanted "Trans rights are human rights," and "Stand up, fight back." Some protesters broke off from the crowd at the main entrance and marched around the property with their signs and a guitar player to keep everyone in rhythm.
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By 3:30 on Monday, most of the protesters at the Loretto joined with the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance at De Vargas Park to protest the proposed sale of public lands. As the United States Congress wrestles to push Trump's agenda into fruition, plans to sale of more than 250 million acres of public lands has emerged in the Senate reconciliation plan.
“This land is sacred, this land belongs to all of us, the water belongs to all of us,” Santa Clara Pueblo Gov. James Naranjo told protesters. “They don’t belong to rich millionaires, they belong to the people of New Mexico and our visitors that come a long way to see our beautiful state, our beautiful culture, our beautiful ways of life.”
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Not long after, the crowd marched on the Eldorado Hotel, chanting "Not for sale." New Mexicans who cherish the great outdoors, whether to hunt, fish, ski, hike or photograph the high desert to oppose the GOP tax and spend proposal that could make tens of thousands of acres of public property in New Mexico for sale.
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To add fuel to the fire, another of Trump's henchfolk in town, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, announced intentions to roll back a 2001 rule prohibiting road construction and timber harvesting on millions of acres in the U.S. The announcement was met with immediate promises to appeal, but further illustrated the mounting conflict over the Trump administration's interest in selling off federal public property.
The conflict manifested on Monday in a throng the New Mexico State Police couldn't dissuade from creating a human dam at West San Francisco Street and forcing guests of the Eldorado, which included governors from the region and Trump cabinet members, to enter through the side.
At least 2,000 loud, proud protesters stopped traffic at Guadalupe and Alameda and kept the entrance of the Eldorado clogged for a couple of hours and SFR captured the event in pictures.
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