Thousands of visitors flock to Yosemite National Park in California each February, hoping to catch a glimpse of “firefall” — a natural phenomenon that causes the falling water of El Capitan’s Horsetail Fall to light up and look like a ribbon of molten lava cascading down the sheer rockface.
But this year, crowds took in a different spectacle in the form of an upside-down American flag hung at the top of the El Capitan summit, in protest of President Donald Trump‘s administration’s layoffs in the National Park Service.
According to NBC News, Saturday evening’s act of resistance came from a group of unhappy Yosemite employees, and photographer Brittany Colt captured the moment the flag was unfurled.
“This hit so close to home for me. I witnessed several of my friends lose their jobs overnight while leaving our public lands vulnerable. These people had very valuable jobs, such as Search and Rescue and keeping the restrooms and park clean for visitors. If we lose the public servants, the park experience will get only harder and potentially more dangerous for visitors,” she wrote on her Instagram story.
Colt, who was in the area to capture a surprise proposal for her wedding photography business, told SFGate.com she happened to be in the right place at the right time and knew immediately what the upside-down flag represented.
“Little did we know we would get to witness history in the making,” she said. “I knew instinctively right away that it must be a desperate plea for the American people to help protect our public lands. Protected lands that are at huge risk of being taken away and exploited.”
Traditionally, hanging the American flag upside-down symbolizes a distress call and, according to the American Legion’s Flag Code, is intended to be a signal of “dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
In a move to clamp down on federal bureaucracy and spending, the Trump administration cut 1,000 jobs at the National Park Service earlier this month, CNN reports. Impacted employees warn that a diminished staff will lead to impacted safety on hiking trails and campgrounds, washrooms will not be maintained properly and tourists can expect longer lines.
“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties. It’s super important we take care of them, and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,” Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic at Yosemite who supplied the flag and helped hang it, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Trump administration said last week it would restore at least 50 jobs to maintain and clean parks, and would hire nearly 3,000 additional seasonal workers following backlash over the cuts, The Associated Press reported.
Growing acts of resistance
Saturday’s unfurling of the flag is just one in a number of growing acts of resistance to Trump and his so-called “first buddy” Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn efforts to rejig the U.S. government.
In the weeks following Trump’s January inauguration, it appeared as though Americans were shell-shocked at the intense pace of Trump’s dozens of executive orders. But as the effects of Trump and Musk’s actions begin to become more apparent, citizens and activists are starting to energize and a reinvigorated resistance is bubbling.
And while thousands of Americans have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights, they’ve begun channelling their frustration and despair into more strategic action that is sure to cause headaches for the Trump administration.
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Pushback over emails to federal employees
On Saturday, Musk sent an email to federal employees asking them to respond with a summary of what they accomplished in the past week.
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager,” the message said. Later, on X, the social platform Musk owns, he said that failure to respond would be treated as a resignation.
Democrats and even some Republicans were critical of Musk’s ultimatum, which came just hours after Trump encouraged him on social media to “get more aggressive” in reducing the size of the government through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The day before, Musk celebrated his new position by waving a chainsaw during an appearance at a conservative conference.
On social media, government employees and concerned citizens discussed ways to subvert Musk’s campaign after the email, and the address it was sent from, was circulated on Saturday.
With some social media users suspecting they now had a direct line to DOGE, they shared trolling messages and bogus emails they said they had sent in reply to the ominous email.
And while some Trump appointees, like Robert F. Kennedy, who is now leading the Department of Health and Human Services, instructed his employees to comply and reply to the email, others pushed back, marking a new level of chaos and confusion.
Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, an outspoken Trump ally, instructed bureau employees to ignore Musk’s request, at least for now.
“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” Patel wrote in an email confirmed by The Associated Press. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”
Tulsi Gabbard, the new director of national intelligence, also sent a blunt message to her department.
“Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, I.C. employees should not respond to the OPM email,” she wrote.
Pushing back with legal action
A flood of lawsuits, brought by Democratic attorneys general as well as unions and legal groups that formed during Trump’s first administration, have had some success in stalling some of the actions taken by the administration and DOGE.
At a bipartisan event as part of the National Governors Association’s winter summit on Friday evening, Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills stood up to Trump’s efforts to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
After the state was singled out by Trump during his remarks at a Republican Governors Association dinner last Thursday night, where the president said, “We’re not going to give [Maine] any federal funding until they clean that up,” she shot back while in the same room as Trump on Friday.
“I understand Maine, is Maine here, the governor of Maine?” Trump said addressing Republican and Democratic governors in the State Dining Room.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Mills said.
“Are you not going to comply with it?” Trump said, asking about the state’s vow to provide equal opportunities to all students, including transgender athletes.
“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” Mills said.
“Well, we are the federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Trump added: “And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So … you better comply, because otherwise you’re not getting any, any federal funding.”
Mills responded: “See you in court.”
“Good, I’ll see you in court, I look forward to that,” Trump said. “That should be a real easy one, and enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
Hours after the spat, the federal Department of Education announced it was initiating an investigation into the Maine Department of Education over the inclusion of trans athletes.
What the polls say
New polling suggests many Americans aren’t as pleased with the swift and heavy-handed approach taken by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that twice as many respondents disapproved as approved of Musk shutting down federal agencies that he deems unnecessary.
Meanwhile, a CNN survey found that 62 per cent of respondents — including 47 per cent of Republicans — believe Trump has so far failed to address many Americans’ top concern: the high cost of food and everyday supplies.
