Rally at U.S. Rep. Strickland’s Lacey office urges her to stand strong against Trump

OLYMPIA – The voices opposed to the Trump administration were heard again Tuesday morning when about 100 people gathered outside the Lacey City Hall-based offices of Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland.

It was not a protest against Strickland. Instead, the members of Olympia Indivisible, a group of progressive activists, urged the Democrat to stand strong against Trump and the controversial steps the president has taken since being sworn into office.

As part of the rally, Olympia Indivisible co-founder Lisa Ornstein read aloud a letter that was later hand-delivered to Strickland staffers at the scene.

“Democrats must take matters into their own hands and hold shadow hearings to expose how MAGA elites are trying to loot the government and rig the system for billionaires,” Ornstein read. “We are here in person as constituents standing outside your office today in Lacey to express the importance and urgency of these issues to you and your staff.”

Ornstein later continued by saying: “We hope that the letter we deliver to you today will strengthen your resolve to follow up your words with actions, to fight courageously for your constituents in defense of our constitutional democracy and to be the leader we need at this crisis in our nation’s history. We will be there to support you and your every effort to do so.”

Ornstein acknowledged that the rally was partly prompted by a meeting with Strickland’s chief of staff they found disappointing.

“What we heard was an extremely disheartening defeatist viewpoint that what was happening was less urgent than we or her constituents perceived it, and that somehow this situation could be addressed with the usual ‘business as usual’ approaches and mechanisms, and that with Democrats being in the minority, there was little that could be done,” Ornstein said. “And so we felt that it was very important that we respond.”

At the same time, Ornstein was encouraged by Strickland’s recent appearance on the cable TV news network MSNBC.

“Trump knows that he is poor at his job and is so incompetent that there’s no way he could work with House Republicans to get these things done,” Strickland said Sunday on MSNBC.

“So he’s bypassing the system. It’s illegal, it’s unconstitutional, and he’s given the keys to the White House to Elon Musk, someone who basically has no idea how these agencies work. And you see them having to walk things back because they’re hearing from farmers. They’re hearing from folks who are very, very concerned about nuclear safety. So many things that they’ve done make no damn sense.”

Others who showed up Tuesday said they needed to take action.

“I think our government is being torn apart by these billionaires,” said Joe Scott of Shelton. “And I just want to be a voice in it. Staying at home and saying nothing is not gonna solve the problem.”

Suzanne Beatty of Olympia said, “I wanted to be here because I wanted to support Olympia Indivisible and our Congresswoman in their democratic efforts. I feel that it’s so important right now. Democracy is under siege, and I want to keep our democracy.”

Uli Johnson of Olympia added, “I just want to support our democracy in whatever way I can and learn.”