Washington, D.C.– In cased you missed it, as millions gathered today at rallies across the country, incoming President of the League of Conservation Voters Pete Maysmith spoke at the Hands Off! rally in Washington, D.C. to reject of the corruption, lawlessness, and predatory politics of the Trump-Musk administration, including the attacks on the clean air, clean water, and public lands.

LCV and our state partners in the broader Conservation Voter Movement participated in Hands Off! events in at least 20 states today.

Below are the full remarks of Pete Maysmith’s speech:

Good afternoon Washington, DC! I’m Pete Maysmith, the incoming President of the League of Conservation Voters.

I’m here today because like you – I’m pissed off…and today we are saying enough is enough.

People are hurting because of Donald Trump

He’s making life more expensive for all of us. 

He’s gutting basic clean air and clean water protections for every…single…one…of…us. 

He’s stopping us from tackling climate change WHILE our communities are hit by extreme weather – from wildfires to flooding to tornadoes.

He’s selling off the public lands that belong to all of us 

He’s trying to ban clean energy and making electric vehicles more expensive – except for Teslas. He likes those now…

The simple fact is Donald Trump broke his promise and he is HURTING us.

He PROMISED to lower costs. Instead he’s trying to ban cheaper clean energy and jacking up our energy bills. 

He PROMISED to give us the “cleanest air” and “cleanest water.” Under Donald Trump, pollution is making a comeback. 

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are setting us back decades and hurting us, our families, and our communities while their rich buddies make out just fine.

Well, enough is enough. 

Trump is telling us we have to accept these hardships, this uncertainty that he has created. He has the audacity to say “tough luck I’ve made your life harder. Deal with it.”

WE won’t bow down to that cynicism. I’m here to say – things don’t have to be like this.

What if instead of banning clean energy … we tackled the climate crisis head on, creating jobs and lowering YOUR energy bills.

What if instead of selling off our public lands … we protected them for generations to come WHILE boosting local economies.

What if instead of letting polluters do whatever they want … we made THEM pay to clean up the messes they make?

What if instead of destroying our democracy … we made sure that EVERY eligible vote is counted and communities have a voice in decisions that impact them. 

Hundreds of thousands of us gathering today around the country is just the beginning. We are going to take this energy and build on it. We need YOUR help to keep it going. It will take ALL of us.

Because our earth is worth fighting for, our democracy is worth fighting for, and our families are worth fighting for. 

Today, we say

HANDS OFF our clean air.

HANDS OFF our clean water.

HANDS OFF our clean energy.

HANDS OFF our public lands.

HANDS OFF democracy.

THANK YOU! 

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