On a sunny Saturday afternoon, people gathered on each side of 159th Street in Orland Park to yell at each other.
A group led by 70-year-old Tinley Park resident Kathy Freeman came out in front of the Orland Park Tesla dealership to protest the recent actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, a successful businessman who has been given the keys from Trump as a senior adviser.
He is making several controversial cuts and decisions.
Musk is the majority shareholder at Tesla, and some of the Tesla showrooms and lots have been vandalized with gunfire and Molotov cocktails during protests across the country.
There was no such mayhem taking place at the dealership at 8601 W. 159th St. in Orland Park, but there was yelling, chanting, occasional cussing and many cars and trucks honking for a couple of hours on one of Orland Park’s busier streets.
At the start of the rally, Freeman’s group had more than 100 people on the sidewalk chanting and waving signs that were unkind to Trump and Musk.
Across the street, more than 25 Make America Great Again advocates used bullhorns, hurled insults and played music, including the Village People hit “Y.M.C.A.”
Freeman said she never organized a group like this before, but the former teacher and coach has taken part in protests in the Chicago area over the years.
“We were watching the news and watching what other groups are doing, and we said we wanted to do something a little more vocal,” Freeman said. “We saw that they were protesting in other places, and we said ‘OK, we have a Tesla right here — let’s do it.’’’
Freeman has a long list of grievances against Trump and Musk, including their affiliation with Russia.
She was not a fan of the many layoffs and attempts to sell federal buildings, including the FBI building. And then there is Social Security and Medicaid worries.
“Every day there is something,” Freeman said. “We’re in our 70s and it’s big stuff for us.”
Freeman said she agrees the administration should look into misspending and improprieties but not make fast and drastic changes.
“What is the purpose of all of this destruction?” she said “Yeah, sure, you want to look into fraud and stuff. Bring in the accountants and figure out what’s going on. But you don’t just destroy everything.”
On the other side of the street, the MAGA crowd wasn’t buying it.
“We’re out here protesting the protesters,” said Chicago’s Mike Piotrowski, who displayed a flag with Trump’s face. “They are mad at Elon Musk for finding all of the government waste.
“But they aren’t mad at the government for spending all of the money — the taxpayers’ money and their children and their grandchildren’s money.”
Bill Rubel, of La Grange, said the Trump protesters support Hamas, a group that is accused of being responsible for thousands of deaths in the Middle East.
“I don’t like what’s happening and I don’t want millions of people to die,” Rubel said. “They don’t understand that Trump is forcing the parties to the table to bring peace because he doesn’t want to see people die.”
But Barb Landgraf, of Orland Park, said she is upset with how the government is going.
“They are going into health care and I don’t like it,” she said. “People are suffering and they don’t need to suffer more.
“And cutting veterans’ benefits eats away at me.”
Dan Mulhern, of Darien, said he could spend all day talking about the negatives of the Trump and Musk decisions.
“Some people want less government,” he said. “But I think what they really want is better government. The Republicans are good at talking in code. So, when they say they want small government, they really want corporatized government.”
He said the Republicans also want to privatize services such as fire departments and schools and he is not in favor of that.
Mulhern carried a sign that said, “Unplug Elon” while Landgraf displayed one that said “Elon, no one voted for you.”
Musk’s chainsaw approach of cutting funds and employees has rubbed people the wrong way.
Freeman said in her own family, there are people who work in the health care field and steel industry and they are being affected by the slashing.
“I hear farmers are having to sell their farms and even veterans are having services cut,” she said. “You gotta be kidding me.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
