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- Demonstrators in Salt Lake City protested Elon Musk's mass firings of federal workers.
- The "Musk or Us" protest was organized Wednesday by Salt Lake Indivisible, drawing an estimated 50 attendees.
- Concerns include Musk's authority and potential conflicts of interest in firing decisions.
SALT LAKE CITY — Chants of "No Musk, no Trump, no fascist USA" rang out from the steps of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building Wednesday as a group of Utahns protested against Elon Musk's mass firings of federal workers across the country.
The protest comes after Musk — the world's richest man and head of President Donald Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency — posted on the social media site X that not responding to an email sent to U.S. federal government employees telling them to detail their work accomplishments from the previous week by Monday would be viewed as a resignation.
It is unclear what legal basis Musk has to terminate federal workers if they fail to respond to his request and what would happen to employees who cannot detail confidential work.
The protest, dubbed "Musk or Us," was organized by Salt Lake Indivisible.
Sarah Buck, a representative of the group who spoke to KSL.com at the protest, said it was formed under Trump's first administration and has been active since.
"Elon Musk is not a person who has the authority to do what he's doing," Buck said. "He's actually firing people who have had impacts on his businesses or who will, so there's this huge conflict of interest that overlays it."
On Feb. 3, the Trump administration designated Musk as a "special government employee," according to the White House.
The designation allows Musk to work for the federal government but potentially avoid disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances that apply to regular government employees.
Wednesday's protest, which was attended by over 50 people, comes on the heels of national protests against Trump and Musk, including one in Salt Lake City in February that brought out hundreds of Utahns.
Buck said she hopes federal workers feel supported, but the firings and threats of firing "should never have happened."
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'We are the real patriots': Utahns protest Donald Trump, Elon Musk outside Capitol
Hundreds of Utahns joined nationwide protests in opposition to President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump's top benefactors who has sought to gut federal agencies as a "special government employee.""I hope that they are reinstated with full benefits and full back pay, and that's what we should be fighting for. I have a daughter who's a federal employee who could've taken any job. She was a Truman Scholar. She chose to work in public service and be paid less, and today she's become the enemy of the people, according to Elon Musk. It's really unsettling," Buck said.
Leigh Maier is a recently retired federal worker and says she's in daily contact with people who still work in federal roles.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with increasing efficiency. People are spending hours trying to figure out how to deal with the mercurial whims of Elon Musk and his goon squad," Maier said. "They're cutting people, and then they realize, 'Oh no, they're important. We better hire them back.'"
When asked what her message to Musk would be, Buck answered bluntly.
"Go back to South Africa. We don't need your hate. We don't need anything you provide. Go back to some place where you might know a little bit about their history and their government, because clearly you don't know anything about ours," Buck said.
