MANSFIELD — Linda McFarland thought of her father as she stood on the sidewalk in front of the Taco Bell on Park Avenue West.
“My dad fought fascism in World War II — the Battle the Bulge — a horrible, horrible conflict,” she said.
McFarland was one of several hundred people protesting President Donald Trump and his administration Saturday morning.
Protesters gathered along Park Avenue West in Mansfield and near Black Fork Commons in Shelby on Saturday as part of a nationwide day of protests, organized under the anti-Trump No Kings movement.
McFarland said she believes fascism is making a resurgence — this time in the United States.
“This would just break (my father’s) heart because he fought for this – our democracy,” she said. “I need to continue that fight.”
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Mark Schneider stood beside her. He said the methods and actions of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) make him worry for the country’s future.
“How are people sitting at home watching masked, nameless people taking people off the streets?” he said. “If in fact they are doing it with some kind of legality, why are they masked and unnamed?”
“We have to act,” he added. “I’ve never done anything very political as far as demonstrate like this, but I cannot stay at home anymore.”
Schneider carried a handmade sign that read, “United we stand a chance. Divided not so much.”
He said he believes America is moving towards fascism.
In his mind, unity is the only way to stop it.
“We don’t have to put up with this — but we have to be we,” he said. “That means right talking to left, neighbors talking to neighbors, family talking to family, and just saying, ‘Why are we doing this?’”
Greg Jevnikar said he didn’t understand why people think Trump is a fascist.
“He’s encouraging free speech and they don’t like that,” Jevnikar said.
A supporter of the president, Jevnikar attended the Mansfield protest with his own sign. He stood on the sidewalk alone, a portable CD player playing bluegrass music at his feet.
He referred to the No Kings protest as a “disgusting event.”
“President Trump has done so much in less than a year to overcome some of the things that the previous president did, such as closing the border, declaring that there’s only two genders … you could go on and on,” he said.
‘I feel like our democracy is in a very delicate place’
Ellie Lillo stood on the sidewalk in downtown Shelby as long as she could. During the final minutes of the protest, she retreated to a folding chair in the shade.
“I can shout from here,” the 82-year-old said with a smile.
Her throat hurt from chanting, but Lillo said she was proud to be out protesting for the very first time.
“I am very discouraged about what’s going on in our democracy, and I think we need to speak out loud and clear about how much we don’t like that and how much we think it needs to change,” she said.
Lillo said she was concerned about the detention and treatment of immigrants by law enforcement.
“Trump said it was going to be the criminals and that’s not what’s happening,” she said. “That concerns me a lot because if he can do that to anybody, he can do that to me.”
Colton Stidam walked back and forth with a megaphone, leading chants and encouraging the crowd.
“I feel like our democracy is in a very delicate place. I feel like we are right at the precipice of seeing an immediate collapse into authoritarianism,” he said.
Stidam said he’s concerned Trump is pressuring officials to go after his political enemies. He cited John Bolton and James Comey as examples.
“When you see a weaponization of the judicial system, I think that we truly need to come together and say, ‘This is not what America was founded on,’” Stidam said.
Colton Conley attended both Mansfield and Shelby’s protests wearing a goldfish hat. He was one of a handful of people wearing an animal costume.
Conley said it was a reference to people wearing frog costumes to protests in Portland, Oregon.
“It’s to be visible. It’s supposed to be ridiculous,” he explained. “It’s to combat all of them saying we are violent, Antifa terrorists.
“They want military soldiers. We’re gonna give them clowns,” he added.
Stidam, who served as the protest’s safety operations coordinator, ended the Shelby protest by asking a local veteran to lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.
He said he was encouraged by the number of people who came out to the Shelby protest, calling them a “pale blue dot in a deep red sea.”
He said he wants people with opposing political views to know they’re just ordinary people who also care about the country.
“We are your neighbors. We’re the average members of your community,” Stidam said. “We’re not some weirdos the media is making us out to be, especially the right wing media. We’re just people.”
John Makley, president of the Shelby Area Democrat Club, shared similar thoughts.
“It seems like Republican leadership in Washington D.C. wants to portray Democrats as bad people and we’re not,” he said. “We have the same values as everybody. We want to live a good life. We’re worried about prices. We go to work every day. We want things to be fair.
“We hope there will be a change in 2026,” he added. “We are not going away, and we will continually continue to peacefully protest this administration as long as they continue with their policies.”