Protesters rallied Thursday in Waterville against the efforts of President Trump and Elon Musk to dismantle government programs and cut the federal workforce. “They are showing cruelty in everything they’re doing, with no thought of the people that are being hurt,” said one protester, Joan Beckerman of Sidney. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

WATERVILLE — More than 50 people stood in a snowstorm downtown Thursday, protesting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle government programs and cut the federal workforce.

The “Dump Trump” rally was organized by Elizabeth Leonard, an author, historian, and professor emeritus of history at Colby College, who on Feb. 5 led a rally at a Tesla charging station less than a mile away.

Elayne Richard holds a sign Thursday at a rally in Waterville protesting President Trump and Elon Musk. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

News of that protest went viral, prompting dozens of similar protests across the country at Telsa dealerships and charging stations. A Morning Sentinel story about that rally was featured on at least one national television show and in the Boston Globe as part of a subsequent interview with Leonard.

She said she never thought the Tesla event would have such an impact.

“It’s just proof of the fact that a small group of people can make a huge difference, or you could say, where a butterfly flaps its wings, a breeze goes around the world,” Leonard, 68, said. “We didn’t expect so many people to pay attention.”

It was a chilly 29 degrees on Main Street Thursday as motorists beeped their horns in support of the protesters. Someone in a white car yelled “Go home!” to the group.

Some protesters held trash bags with signs attached that read “Dump Trump.” Leonard said she agrees with scholars who say the world is re-living history as it witnesses fascists rise to power and destroy democratic governments.

“This is all how it happens,” she said.

Protester Peter Beckerman, 76, of Sidney, said no one should be surprised by what is happening because Trump warned everyone before he was elected that he would be a dictator.

What is shameful, he said, “are the ethically and morally corrupt Republicans in Congress” who are not standing up to Trump and defending the country.

Beckerman’s wife, Joan, 77, agreed.

“They are showing cruelty in everything they’re doing, with no thought of the people that are being hurt,” she said. “There’s no empathy left.”

Peter Beckerman said people should recognize and understand the path Trump is taking toward dictatorship, referring to Joseph Goebbels, a close associate of Adolf Hitler who served as his minister for public engagement and propaganda.

“If you can keep people in fear and ignorance, you can control them, just like Hitler and Goebbels did,” he said. “It’s time for Americans to wake up. This is really bad.”

Kevin James, 73, of Smithfield, was wearing a sign Thursday on his chest that read “Jail Trump, Deport Musk.”

“I came here because I’m outraged with what’s going on,” James said, adding that Trump gave Musk power “simply because he is rich and Trump is greedy and wants some of that.”

Lassandra Von Appen, 53, of Winslow, was holding a sign depicting a trash can with the face of Kash Patel, recently confirmed as director of the FBI, peeking over the top.

Von Appen said she came to protest because she is horrified with what the administration is doing.

“It’s just heartbreaking,” she said. “I understand they’re trying to cut waste, but they’re not doing it in any kind of responsible way. They’re just doing it — cutting jobs and benefits and aid for people who really need it. I never imagined it would be this bad.”

She said Patel is “one of the worst that President Trump appointed. He just exemplifies everything that Trump is. He lies and he comes up with conspiracy theories that have absolutely no basis in fact.”

A painted “Dump Trump” sign is propped up in a metal frame around a tree during a protest Thursday in downtown Waterville. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Walking on his way to work, Jeffrey Fortier, 63, of Waterville, said it is a shame people have to get out on the streets to defend democracy.

“I didn’t vote for this, I don’t think people voted for this,” Fortier said. “The folks that are out here represent how the rest of us feel. I think people who either voted for Trump or didn’t vote for Trump did not expect this, and this is what we are stuck with. I’m not a political person, but this is not what America is supposed to be.”

Fortier called it “bizarre” that people have to come out on a snowy morning to defend the country, which the Congress they elected to represent them is not doing.

“The fact that this is happening shows Americans are not happy, and this is our only recourse,” he said.

Mikolha Rusch, 50, held a sign that read “Dear Trump and Musk, keep your dirty little hands out of our Treasury.”

“There’s definitely fraud and waste, but this is not the way we do it,” Rusch said. “We have two branches of government.”

Protesters put garbage bags with signs next to a trash can as a display during a protest Thursday in downtown Waterville. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Linda Woods, 73, and Beth Schiller, 68, both of Waterville, protested at the Tesla charging station rally Feb. 5 and were on the street again Thursday. They praised Leonard for starting the Tesla protest, which was widely mimicked.

“I’m just sad that we have to do this,” Woods said. “I’m tired of standing in the cold.”

Schiller said she is horrified that people have been brainwashed into believing the government is “bad.”

“They’re going to miss all the good things that government does for all of us when it’s been burned to the ground from Project 2025,” she said, referring to a conservative plan for restructuring government.

Leonard said she is trying to contact federal workers in Maine who have been fired from jobs in areas such as the Transportation Safety Administration, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Social Security Administration to bring them together and let them talk and know they are supported. Ruining people’s lives in that way is unacceptable, Leonard said.

“They’ll all be at the soup kitchen, but there won’t be any money for that because the Medicaid is gone,” she said.