Rally attendees protest Trump administration in Cody

Park County may staunchly be Trump country, but there was some loud dissent voiced on Saturday in Cody.

An estimated 250 to 300 people gathered at Cody City Park to protest President Donald Trump’s actions, including the broad cuts to the federal government overseen by adviser Elon Musk.

Attendees listened to a lineup of speakers and rallied in front of the Park County Courthouse while a smaller group of counter-protesters gathered to show support for the president.

The “Hands Off!” rally was part of a series of protests held across the nation and organized locally by the nonprofit group Wyoming Rising.

“The most important takeaway is that you aren’t alone in your concern about this administration’s chaos, incompetence and corruption,” Wyoming Rising wrote in a later Facebook post, calling the gathering a success.

Speakers touched on topics ranging from opposing the sale or closure of federal public lands to combatting climate change to protecting reproductive rights, with each generally tying back to recent actions of the Trump administration or lawmakers.

‘Destroying the federal government’

Retired circuit court judge Tom Harrington of Shell expressed specific concern with the administration deporting people without due process.

“If we don’t uphold it (the rule of law) for the people who are less than admirable, shall we say, … then they can come for each one of us, too, can’t they?” Harrington told the crowd, adding that, “We have to make sure that we uphold democracy, decency and due process.”

David Bryan, who moved to Powell from California four years ago, said he’d attended dozens of demonstrations, protests, marches and rallies over the past half century. But Bryan said Saturday marked the first time he felt moved to speak, citing “the callous treatment of human beings, of institutions, of norms, of laws, of so many of the things that actually has made America as great as it is.”

One of the most notable changes made during Trump’s second term has been his overhaul of the federal workforce — firing tens of thousands of employees and slashing agencies like the Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Olga Troxel, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, described herself as “appalled” by what Trump and “his minion Musk” are doing.

“The Trump administration is explicitly targeting and undermining all of the offices and the laws that have been set up to prevent corruption and abuse of power,” Troxel said, mentioning the dismissals of numerous inspectors general and the director of the Office of Government Ethics.

She encouraged attendees to look up the “Night of the Long Knives,” a multi-day period in 1934 in which then-German Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered the executions of some of his political opponents.

“If you think Trump isn’t capable of that, let me remind you about January 6, 2021, and how he treated his own vice president,” Troxel told the crowd.

She also contrasted the current cuts with those done under Democratic President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, saying Clinton improved efficiency while Musk is “destroying the federal government.”

Troxel said her friends and former coworkers still working for federal agencies — people she described as patriots and civil servants — “are being traumatized daily.” The Forest Service, she added, won’t be able to meet its mission with the current cuts.

Like other speakers, Troxel encouraged attendees to run for office and get involved.

Verbal sparring

As the program passed the halfway mark, dozens of attendees peeled off from the main group at the park bandshell to stage along Sheridan Avenue — just up the street from where the counter-protests were encouraging honks for Trump. Some members of the groups exchanged words.

One of the counter-protesters, Chuck Costello, drove his motorcycle around the event a couple times with a Trump flag in tow, revving his engine and briefly drowning out the speakers; Costello later wrote on social media that he’d “never been flipped off and yelled at by so many people at one time.”

He wasn’t the only one to drive past the “Hands Off!” rally with a message. Shortly after it got underway, a man driving past slowed down to scream at the group, holding out his extended middle finger.

“F— you!” he yelled at the attendees before continuing on his way.

After the speakers wrapped up their remarks, the protesters marched around the back of the Park County Courthouse and gathered in front of the building, chanting that they loved and would protect the Constitution.

A few counter-protesters wandered over, mostly to silently observe or hold up their own flags and signs, while a couple outdoor diners across the street yelled back at the protesters. Diners later said on social media that they took issue with foul language from the group, including a sign that read “F— Putin,” that was used in front of their children and grandchildren.

The vast majority of the signs did not invoke profanity, though another protester’s sign read, “Tuck Frump” and a counter-protester sported one reading, “FAFO! DIMWIT DEMENIACRATS.”

Earlier, Cody resident Melissa Maier encouraged the “Hands Off!” attendees to emulate former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, who was laid to rest last week. Maier praised the senator’s humor, humility and willingness to reach across the political aisle. She urged the group to “choose to be bridge builders.”

“We must return to the table even when it feels like it’s been burned down. We must listen — not to argue, but to understand,” she said. “We must lead with love, because that is the only thing that will outlast hate.”