Roughly 400 Pullman residents of all ages poured into Cougar Plaza Saturday to tell the Trump administration, Hands off!”

The rally was part of the nearly 1,400 nationwide “Hands Off” rallies. Pullman’s rally aimed at encouraging people to more comprehensively protest Trump policies, said Deb McNeill, chair of the Whitman County Democrats.

“We’re all getting a little burnt out,” she said. “We got together and said, ‘how can we streamline this and make it a bigger event with all sorts of people hanging out with us?’ So that’s what we’re doing.”

McNeill worked with Indivisible Palouse, and the Pullman Intersectional Advocacy Coalition to organize the rally. McNeill said she wants to get more students involved in advocacy as well.

Robyn Roche-Paull, a Navy Veteran, is fearful she will no longer have veteran assitance benefits.

“[Trump is] affecting my benefits, affecting my health care,” Roche-Paull said. “I try to get VA health care and I’m not able to get appointments, and I’m worried that my benefits are going be taken away.”

Cara Brauen, a recent WSU graduate, said people are downplaying Trump’s second term.

“I heard a lot after the election of like, ‘We made it through Trump once, we’ll make it through him again.’ Not everyone made it through his first presidency and not everyone will make it through his second,” Brauen said.

Brauen said the Trump administration’s attacks on the queer community are having detrimental effects.

“As a psychologist, I worked with these populations. And the rates of mental health issues, like depression, anxiety, suicidality is incredibly high within the trans community,” Brauen said. “The rhetoric and the attacking that’s going on currently is only going to make that worse. And it makes it even harder for trans people to just be joyous and live their lives.”

Among the rally-goers was a local drummer who played along to the chants.

“That is our local drummer who just comes out on a sunny afternoon and said he was here to support us,” McNeill said.