Peggy Bernardi got into political activism in 2017 after the first election of Donald Trump. Following his second inauguration, eight years later and fearing what Trump’s legislative agenda means for the future, Bernardi and others in Woodland gathered at the Heritage Plaza in downtown on Saturday morning to protest the actions taken by Trump and his fellow Republicans.

“Since the inauguration, people are just outraged and disgusted by what the Trump administration is daring to do,” Bernardi said. “The answer is in the people standing up, and here we are standing up. We’ve been here on April 5. We’re gonna be here today. We’re gonna be back on May 1.”

This isn’t the first protest in Woodland since the president took office again in January. On April 5, hundreds of Yolo County residents packed the sidewalks on Main Street in front of Heritage Plaza and the Opera House to protest against Trump, Elon Musk and the administration’s recent actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues.

Heritage Plaza has recently held two other sizeable anti-administration protests or gatherings. The first gathering took place on Monday, Feb. 3, centered around the theme “Day without Immigrants,” and the second, organized by Brown Issues in support of undocumented immigrants, on Saturday, March 8.

Faye Smith-Gee — a co-membership chair for the Yolo County chapter of League of Women Voters — stood on the sidewalks along Main Street Saturday morning, a homemade sign in hand. She said that the government’s handling of issues such as immigration is nothing but “cruel, not well thought out methods.”

“There have been instances when they’ve taken people who have green cards, people who are naturalized citizens, are citizens, and so [I’m upset] that there’s just lack of respect and regard for due process, for the justice that America has typically stood for,” Smith-Gee explained. “Even the Guantanamo detainees, the people who were terrorists, they had lawyers and they had due process, so just the immigrants are being deported and just marginalized so much. That’s really upsetting.”

Smith-Gee also said she was troubled by what she called the “administration’s blatant disregard for the rule of law,” particularly regarding First Amendment rights. She cited the Associated Press’ access to the White House being cut off by the president as a cause for concern.

“The hypocrisy of the whole administration with blaming judges and people who protest, saying they’re traitors, that we’re treasonous because people don’t want to take a loyalty oath to Trump … So that’s also very troubling,” Smith-Gee said. “We have to wait till the next election cycle to at least try and change the Congress … But in between that time, you still have to register your discontent with what the government is doing.”

Smith-Gee said that if the administration is going to continue the course of action it has taken, she and others will continue to stand up and peacefully advocate for the version of the United States they want to see.

“The government has attacked so many institutions — the legal system, the justice of Department of Justice, the media … they’re attacking so many institutions that I feel the only way before the next election cycle, in the 500 or 600 days left, that protests like this have to register with the administration,” she said.

There will be another protest at Heritage Plaza on May 1, according to Bernardi, and she hopes that others who are upset with the current state of U.S. politics will feel encouraged to attend.

“They’re stealing our American way of life. It’s not American to take from other people, and it’s all for the billionaires to get the tax cut,” Bernardi said. “It’s all about power and oppression, and we are very distressed about all of that. But with the people rising up, it is not going to continue.”