Warsaw was one of over 1,000 nationwide Hands Off! protest sites Saturday.
Nationwide, more than 500,000 people RSVP'd to attend one of 1,000 rallies, marches or protests organized by grassroots groups, according to a news article from USA Today.
Don Guthrie, vice chair of the Kosciusko County Democrats, said Warsaw’s rally at the county courthouse was organized separately from the county’s Democratic Party, but something they supported.
Rally goers cited several issues under the Trump administration for attending the rally Saturday, including tariffs that have been put in place under his administration.
The markets are responding to the tariffs the president has put in place, Guthrie said.

    Protesters hold signs about what they’re protesting about during the Hands Off! rally Saturday. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union
  

“I mean, just think of all the wealth in this county alone that has been lost by people who have been saving their hard-earned money ... it’s crazy, it makes no sense. We just want some more oversight, particularly local oversight, you know our Congressman to be monitoring. And (U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym) has clearly said he is 100% behind Trump. And so we just want some oversight from him to kinda be more decerning about what’s going on,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie said Trump said he was going to make the economy stronger, but the business community has lost confidence in him and “they show that in the stock market.”
The Down Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,231.07, or 5.5%, to 38,314.86 on Friday, the biggest decline since June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It followed a 1,679-point decline on Thursday and marks the first ever it has shed more than 1,500 points on back-to-back days, according to a news article from CNBC. The S&P 500 nosedived 5.9% to 5,074.08 on Friday and 4.84% on Thursday. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 5.8% on Friday and nearly 6% on Thursday.
Robert Osbun, treasurer of the Kosciusko County Democrats, said the tariffs do not make American companies more competitive and they are an attack on all Americans. “We’re all going to be paying for them in the long run ... so that’s why we’re protesting the tariffs,” he said.
Guthrie said he hopes the people in Kosciusko County are more aware of how the Trump administration’s policies are affecting them.
He said at recent district staff mobile office hours for Yakym, people showed up. A gentleman that spoke at the office hours said he was a Republican all his life and the Republicans in Kosciusko County are really mad.
“What I found interesting is the polls don’t really show that, but in that meeting, only 20% of the people were Democrats. Eighty percent were either Independents or Republicans ... so there’s a lot of people out who aren’t necessarily Democrats who aren’t happy about what’s going on, too,” Guthrie said. “We don’t necessarily see it in the national polls, but, you know, you’re definitely hearing it from people.”
Osbun also brought up rallygoers standing up to tax cuts for billionaires and healthcare cuts because everyone is “eventually going to depend on Social Security and Medicare and we have worked hard for those things.”
He said, “We’re here to stand up for people who don’t have a voice,” for people and students who have “disappeared” to El Salvador “for speaking their voices.” He hoped the event showed people diversity is a strength and not a weakness.

    Protestors hold up signs during the Hands Off! rally Saturday. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union
  

Osbun said he hopes, through Saturday’s rally, people in the area are able to see there are people, no matter their ideology, “who care about what’s going on, who are not going to put up with it and we’re going to protest.”
Marj Knotts said she was at Saturday’s event because she thought it was important the community knows there’s a lot people who are uncomfortable “with this government now (under the Trump administration), and what’s happening to our democracy, to our schools, to our medicine, to our scientists and we just need to speak out and let people know who we feel.”
She also said everyone has to do something if they feel strongly about it and it’s important for them to show up in different ways. Knotts has contacted her congressman and senator, as well as shown up at the rally.
“We all have to do our part if we’re upset,” she said.
For the people passing the old courthouse during the rally Saturday, Knotss said they realize they’re not alone, noting the protestors received several honks and waves “and we want people to know they’re not the only ones feeling this way and they can do something about it.”
Katie Kalinowski said she came out because people need a better future for the next generation.
“With all the cuts, things should be going forward. We shouldn’t be fighting for things our grandmothers all ready fought for,” she said, noting her daughter should have more rights than even Knotts had.
She said she hoped the rally gathers people together and allows people to say “this isn’t OK because I think a lot of people have been quiet and I hope now they feel like they don’t have to be quiet and we can say and maybe make some changes.”