Dozens of protesters lined the Sagadahoc Bridge and filled street corners near Bath Iron Works in anticipation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s visit Monday.
Protesters from a number of progressive groups such as chapters of Indivisible and the Maine People’s Alliance were out in force, as was a smaller group of pro-Trump demonstrators..
Whether they were there to protest President Donald Trump or support him, many people waved American flags as they chanted on both sides of the street and on several street corners and medians near the Bath post office. At the protest’s peak, there were around 250 people protesting Hegseth’s visit. Roughly 30 Hegseth supporters were there to show their support for the defense secretary, though their numbers had dwindled to just a handful by early afternoon.
Hegseth is in Maine as part of his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, aiming to “revitalize America’s manufacturing might and re-energize the nation’s workforce.”
At BIW he met with workers and toured the facility Monday before giving a speech at 2:30 p.m.
Standing on a median strip and holding the edge of a banner, Sue Ellen Monaghan of South Portland said, “I feel it is our responsibility to protest an administration that is committing war crimes against humanity. They’re killing people and not giving evidence as to why they’re doing it.”
She said her grandparents worked at the shipyard during the war and she supports BIW. But she does not support the U.S. bombing other countries without approval from Congress.
“This is not what we do,” she said.
On the Sagadahoc Bridge, Liliana Thelander of Bristol was waving a Trump flag. “We support what Pete Hegseth is doing,” she said. “He’s strengthening our military.”
Beside her Craig Caffrey of Bowdoinham said he spent 21 years serving in the military. “I support Trump. I’m glad he’s removing the woke crap from the ranks,” he said.
Trump in September signed an executive order authorizing the Department of War as an alternate title for the Pentagon. But Congress would have to approve the name change for it to be official, the Associated Press has reported. Still, Hegseth routinely uses the title Secretary of War.
Hegseth does not appear to have passed through where the protesters massed near the post office, near Bath Iron Works, in the early afternoon.
There, anti-Trump protesters chanted, blew whistles, played music and largely drowned out the four or five Trump supporters.
One Trump supporter, Nicholas Blanchard, wore red, white and blue pants and heckled and anti-Trump protesters, yelling, “We won, you lost!” and shouting at one woman that she smelled like cat urine.
At one point, anti-Trump protesters gleefully chanted, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss,” to Blanchard and another male activist who was with him, and also wearing star-spangled pants.
There were also a couple of heated confrontations and near-scuffles between the pair and anti-Trump protesters. But the protest was overwhelmingly peaceful with little direct engagement between the opposing groups, and even some apparently civil conversations.
Nigel Calder of Newcastle said he was pleased with the size of the crowd that turned out on a cold weekday.
“I think it reflects a growing unease – even amongst Trump’s own voters – about what’s going on,” Calder said. “People are beginning to wake up to the fact that we’re in some pretty dangerous times here and our democracy is at stake.”