Shortly after the “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump began Friday on the Porter County Courthouse lawn, two people began to argue with the crowd.
Organizer Lisa Nicole, of Valparaiso, said the man began yelling pro-Nazi statements. “We didn’t escalate anything,” she said.
Instead, the protesters pointed out the man and woman to police while continuing to chant, “Love, not hate, make America great.”
Police contacted the two, who left the scene. “Love did conquer that one,” Nicole said.
Fellow organizer Deb McLeod, of Valparaiso, offered thanks to the Valparaiso and Porter County officers as well as the police chief and sheriff for their presence. “They have to stand outside and be on duty, really keeping their eyes open,” she said.
More than 225 people attended, with more than 1,600 books donated for local organizations.
“People are bringing in bags and boxes full,” Nicole said.
Julie Keen, of Chesterton, was one of the people sorting the books under tarps to protect them from the rain. “Once you go under the tarp, we call it the book club,” she said.
“It kind of worked out that we could do banned books,” a separate sorting area, she said.
Books were sorted by readers’ age group to give appropriate material to the various recipients.
McLeod said protesters were encouraged to support local businesses downtown following the protest.
Friday’s protest was about many actions by the Trump administration, not just one.
“I think we have a fascist regime in the White House now,” Nicole said. “We’re done tolerating it.”
“People are being kidnapped off the streets,” McLeod said. “Nothing the Trump administration is doing is benefiting our country.”
“I think 90% of what the president has done is illegal,” McLeod said.
Retired nurse Susan Anduskey, 73, of Valparaiso, held a sign protesting actions by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. “I was worried about getting polio” as a child, she said, and was grateful for the vaccine.
Kennedy’s appointment dismayed her. “Who carries around a dead bear in his car,” she asked. “Most of Trump’s cabinet don’t have the qualifications they need.”
“I was a lifelong Republican. I once belonged to a Young Republican Club,” Anduskey said. She even met Bob Dole in Lexington, Kentucky. But no more.
“I have even considered leaving the country,” she said. “I googled how to immigrate to Canada.”
That was during Trump’s first term. She learned that because she didn’t have a job and lots of money, Canada wouldn’t want her.
“He’s been a million times worse than I ever anticipated he would be,” she said. “He’s just ruined it all, everything he touches.”
Her vitriol toward Trump was clear: “He’s immoral, he’s corrupt, he’s a convicted felon, he’s mean-spirited, he has no compassion.”
Anduskey isn’t the only one at Friday’s protest who thought that.
“He doesn’t care about us. He’s a draft dodger,” said Alan Dault, of DeMotte. “He’s a one-man wrecking ball for the Constitution.”
Dault is a Navy veteran who served in the Far East during the Vietnam era.
Linda Justman, of DeMotte, stood beside him. “There are children who depend on these free lunches and breakfasts in schools. He’s taking them away,” she said. “I’m old. I’ll survive.” But she worries about children,
Dault worries about the disruption caused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers’ aggressive actions.
“These are farm workers, 20 years on the same farm,” he said.
“A lot of those are in our kitchens, they’re in our street departments, they’re in our fields picking crops,” Justman said.
Kids are being left behind on the street when their parents are arrested by ICE, Dault said.
Justman is upset about the federal actions against protesters in Los Angeles despite Trump granting pardons to January 6 rioters. “And take your damn masks off your face,” she said.
“We’ve never had this kind of president happen before,” McLeod said.
“I want to be able to say to my grandchildren I did everything I could do,” she said.
“People are terrified. They’re scared to go out,” she said. “People are afraid to go to the grocery store.”
Natalie Winters, of Valparaiso, said her husband was a federal worker. “There’s neighbors who are losing their jobs in September,” including people who don’t work for the federal government.
People are losing their jobs or afraid that might happen, she said.
Trump’s parade on Saturday wasn’t a good look for the nation, Winters said. “It feels like something you would see in a fascist nation.”
Making it worse is spending up to $45 million on the parade despite the many cuts to social services and health insurance, slashing at lifelines, Winters said.
Dault was equally upset. “I think it’s disgusting. He’s spending that kind of money for what? Tearing up the streets,” he said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
