Some Washington, D.C. residents are taking their Airbnbs off the market for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in protest.
Residents are calling on Airbnb hosts to either blackout the dates around Trump’s inauguration or increase the prices and donate the proceeds to liberal causes, The Washington Post reports. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president on January 20.
Resident Stacy Kane, an Airbnb host who has led the charge, is circulating a letter among community groups and local government officials explaining the cause.
The blackout will “show Trump supporters who are coming into the DMV that we do not welcome hate, misogyny, or intentions to take over D.C.,” Kane’s letter reads.
Kane told the Post she wants to “try to make any kind of difference that we can in the situation we find ourselves in as D.C. residents and just as human beings right now.”
So far four people have signed up, Kate said, and only two provided their email addresses, according to the Post.
Others are skeptical of how widespread Kane’s initiative will be.
“Stuff like that always happens,” Elliott Ferguson, CEO of Destination DC, told the Post.
“People will stay ‘let’s protest’ and some will, but most won’t,” he added. “They’ll try to find a way to maximize revenue.”
For many DC residents, Trump’s second inauguration is especially personal after he made his dislike for the nation’s capital clear, once calling it “filthy and crime-ridden,” and threatening a “federal takeover” of the District.
“CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT I HAD TO FLY TO A FILTHY, DIRTY, FALLING APART, & VERY UNSAFE WASHINGTON, D.C., TODAY, & THAT I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY MY POLITICAL OPPONENT, WHO IS LOSING BADLY TO ME IN THE POLLS, CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!” he wrote on Truth Social last August.
Trump once faced charges in Washington D.C. for crimes connected to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, including his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
However, all charges were dismissed after Trump won a second term in the White House.
The president-elect also faced off against Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2020, when protests broke out over the murder of George Floyd. Trump said Bowser had lost control of the city, and declared a multi-agency lockdown.
Then, Trump and several staffers walked by St John’s Church — which was vandalized — after riot police cleared largely peaceful demonstrators in nearby Lafayette Square using tear gas. There, Trump stood silently and was photographed holding up a Bible, which some speculated was upside down.
Bowser subsequently ordered “Black Lives Matter” to be painted on a street near the White House in giant yellow letters.
