Approximately 150 people showed up on the Coudersport Courthouse Square on the afternoon of Oct. 18, with signs, posters, flags, and other regalia to join some 7 million other Americans in the nationwide “No Kings” protest. This protest  was held in all 50 states.

Some wore yellow, because the color was chosen by organizers to symbolize unity and opposition to authoritarianism. Others said that wearing yellow wasn’t well publicised to accentuate their protestation.

Some protesters wore inflatable costumes, including clown suits, during the rally as a tactic to undermine authority, de-escalate tensions, and peacefully attract media attention. This method is a form of political theater known as “tactical frivolity”. 

About this, Potter County Commissioner Nancy Grupp said in a Facebook post, “Notice the clowns! They get fewer and fewer every protest!” When contacted for a public comment on the matter, Grupp said, “I believe there was a picture of 3 dressed as clowns protesting, and I said it looks like the clowns showed up……nothing to reflect that I thought those protesting were clowns, just a statement of fact.”

According to Time Magazine, protests against Donald Trump and his presidency are thought by “some experts” to be the largest mobilization to date in the United States of America in recorded history.

What is obvious and most apparent to this reporter upon arriving at the protest are two counterprotesters across the street, which is both Route 6 and Main Street in the County Seat.

One man was screaming obscenities at the peaceful protestors while waving a MAGA hat, and another was racing around the courthouse square in a pickup truck that was belching exhaust fumes. He once stopped near the protestors and revved his engine at the stoplight, all the while waving a large American Flag in the bed of the truck. He was yelling things like, ‘Go Trump!,” and “Trump forever.”  Many other vehicles going by were honking their horns in solidarity with the cause.

When this reporter approached the line that densely covered the two sides of the square block, most people jumped at the chance to speak out and have their voices heard. 

A woman who didn’t want her last name in the news, but could be called “Missy,” said about why she was there with some force, “Democracy. We gotta keep our democracy, and we gotta keep our Constitution the way it was and the way it should be, [and keep] our American values.” 

Another protestor, Margaret Shenck, said, “I have been a staunch Democrat since I was this high,” She gestures with her hand downward and out, flat, and bends her body down to demonstrate that she was very young when she decided to be a Democrat. This woman remembers all of her past, she said, and when asked if our Democracy was at risk, she said, in a quiet, scratchy voice, “I remember hearing my Dad listening to Franklin Roosevelt on the radio. You know, when they had blackouts, they would have to pull the shades down [for fear of being bombed].” 

Abby McCabe, from Pittsburgh, was a little further down the line, and when asked if she thought that our Democracy, our country, was at risk, she said, “Absolutely.”

McCabe originally came to Potter County from Pittsburgh to hike in the woods, but, “I have family here,” she said, and she then decided that, “I’ll go hiking after the protest, because this is more important. I didn’t know that Coudersport was having a protest.”

McCabe is a social worker who works with adults, helping them with Medicaid and Medicare in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania, including Potter County. About what she’s seeing in the people that she brings help to, and how Medicaid and Medicare cuts have affected them, she said, “It’s trickling down, it’s happening.” 

Barry Hayman, former teacher of Social Studies in the Coudersport High School, when asked how he felt about our democracy, said, “It’s wonderful. I think democracy is the most wonderful form of government one could provide. But we’re in peril. So we are exercising our First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom to assemble, and to petition the government for our regressive grievances. So this is a peaceful demonstration…I’m just happy to be here.” 

Hayman mentioned that Dr. Pete Ryan, who was standing next to him, was his inspiration. 

Further down the line on Main St., Dolores Weiss, standing next to her husband Phil, exclaimed, “This is a ‘No Kings’ rally, we want our democracy back. We want to keep it! 

“What democracy?” added Mike Fowler, a Vietnam veteran standing next to her. He continued, “We’re losing it. We don’t have [a] democracy now, there’s no checks and balances, [President Donald Trump] is dictating where the money goes, the Republican House and Senate will not do their jobs. They just passed on their jobs to Trump.”

When asked if The United States is now a dictatorship, Fowler said, “Oh yes, absolutely. It’s an authoritarian government as we speak right now…He just employed mafia tactics. You know, the ones who are against him in the Republican Party, they threaten your family…My biggest fear…is that if he deploys martial law to stop the 2026 election, or not recognize it…He’s in his own imaginary world, he keeps talking about the price of everything going down…while food is higher in price and in smaller packages. He’s just disregarding the Constitution. And it’s not him, he’s just they’re mouthpiece. Yes, the 2025 committee with that Russell Vought and Miller.” 

Russel Vought, as of October 2025, is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in this Trump administration. He is a conservative political official and commentator, he previously held the same position in the first Trump administration.

The Miller who was mentioned served in Donald Trump’s first presidency, is Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser and speechwriter. He is known for his hard-line conservative views on immigration, and he is one of the most influential and controversial figures in the administration. 

When asked about the Vice President, J.D. Vance, Fowler said, “He’s disgusting. He’s sold his soul…His mother was a nurse who was a drug addict and got fired for stealing drugs from the hospital she was working at…All of these people, who are supposedly educated and pillars of the community, how they turned…they’re misogynist, and they’re racist, and they’re easily led. They’re persuaded followers. They’ve watched Fox News…people who I’ve known for my entire life, now, they’re anti-immigration because of the constant push against the immigrants. I know I changed my mind. I saw it firsthand.”

Fowler had been on construction jobs down in Texas many years ago, on the Aberdeen Proving Ground, which is an army base out of Maryland, which had a “tremendous expansion,” according to Fowler, with corporations building on government property. Fowler was a security technician who had to approve people coming into the base, and many of them were Hispanic workers. 

He said, “The more you get to know these people, and the companies they worked for–they did it right…Then, three weeks before their crew was to begin, they brought in their papers, which had their picture and background on it, and we would copy [them]. And we got to know these guys that were the lead people. They are hard-working people…good family people, and they would drive two hours to work to feed their families.”

Fowler went on to say that his cousin had taken him once to the place where the Hispanic workers lived, and they lived in “huts.” 

Fowler continued, “Every week, the immigrant workers would come into the convenience store and send money back to their families…At that point, I was anti-immigration, but I changed my mind when I saw how hard these people worked and the lengths that they’ll go through to get a job. 

And of course something has to be done on the illegals coming in, but there’s only a small percentage of them that are criminals–look at all the pedophiles in the Republican Party. MAGA pastors and MAGA councilmen…It’s disgusting. Look at the lengths they’re going to to keep from publishing [the Epstein Files].”

Fowler had served in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Coral Sea, an aircraft carrier that is no longer in force. At the time, the massive aircraft carrier was referred to as “The Ageless Wonder.” 

Fowler ended the interview with conviction, in a clear voice and with a straight back as he held his sign, and said, “And that is how I earned the right to be an American.”

Neither of the counter-protestors could be reached for comment.