Crowd gathers in Sterling to protest Trump administration for a second time

STERLING — Nearly 300 people gathered in front of Sterling’s Grandon Civic Center and post office Friday to protest President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk for a second time.

The protest was organized by several members of the Action for a Better Tomorrow (ABT) Sauk Valley political group, some of whom are associated with the Whiteside and Lee County Democrats political organizations. The group was there to share frustrations over the Trump administration’s actions and views concerning immigration, federal workforce cuts, the war in Ukraine and more.

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Clinton Kilepstein shows his support for President Donald Trump at a Sterling protest on Friday, March 7, 2025. (Brandon Clark)

“It’s outrageous,” Linda Robertson said. “When I start thinking about how many veterans are getting fired after they served our country, it absolutely infuriates me. I disagree with them selling off those buildings and trying to dismantle the Department of Education. My daughter is a professor, who knows what’s going to happen to her job.”

However, not everyone at the protest disagreed with Trump’s policies.

Clinton Kilepstein manned the corner across from the crowd as the only Trump supporter at the protest. Armed with a megaphone, a Trump 2024 flag and his convictions, he did not hold back from sharing his beliefs during an interview with Shaw Local.

“I think he’s trying to make America great again,” Kilepstein said. “We can’t have massive amounts of illegal immigration. We can’t have reckless spending. We’ve already spent $115 billion on Ukraine. The war has been going on for three years, I’m over it. USAID has given foreign countries tons of money. That’s got to stop. That’s why I voted for him. I see him taking a stand against that.”

Kilepstein also agrees with Trump’s recent decision to impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico, Canada and China.

“That’s going to bring jobs back,” Kilepstein said. “Just like Honda is bringing back their manufacturing from Mexico to the United States to make their Civics, that’s good for America. I’m all for trying to bring manufacturing back, and that’s why I support Trump. We can’t have a service-run economy.”

Protestor Scott Heern disagrees.

“I’ve never been a fan of tariffs,” Heern said. “It always leads to John Q. Public paying extra for the products that are being tariffed.”

On Thursday, March 6, Trump paused tariffs on many goods from China and some from Canada for a month. However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently announced that despite those pauses, the Ontario government is imposing a 25% surcharge on all electricity exports to the United States as part of its initial suite of retaliatory measures to U.S. tariffs on Canada.

Despite uncertainties, Kilepstein said he believes Musk and DOGE are already saving Americans billions of dollars in cuts to “reckless spending” by the federal government.

“They’ve found like $1.5 billion to Afghanistan for a dam, billions of dollars to Africa, and money for various programs in Asia, like DEI programs,” Kilepstein said. “Those things don’t pertain to American interests. I’ve been to Asia. They can run their stuff themselves. They don’t need our support.”

However, many people do not believe DOGE’s claims of reported economic fraud and waste.

“They haven’t shown any real proof of that yet,” Heern said. “I think we’re all for fighting waste and fraud, but you have to show some proof. Sometimes they say numbers, and then those numbers change, and then they change again. So, until they get some proof, I don’t know what they’re finding.”

Others argue that Musk, who owns SpaceX, uses his role within the administration to further his interests. SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell has said the company has about $22 billion in government contracts.

“He supposed to be some sort of an advisor but it seems like he’s taken control of things,” Heern said. “He’s Trump’s millionaire buddy. He’s going around and claiming to save all this money with these cuts, meanwhile, he’s making money from government contracts. I wonder if he’ll cut any of those.”

Kilepstein partially agrees.

“He’s tied to the administration, and that is a conflict of interest,” Kilepstein said. “We wouldn’t want someone on the board of a medical company getting into the government and passing laws that benefit them. That’s one thing I disagree on. I like what Musk is doing with DOGE, but I don’t agree with awarding him those contracts.”

Kilepstein said he also disagrees with some of the reported ways Trump has talked about using the funds that DOGE has reportedly recovered.

“I don’t think we should be handing out checks to everyone,” Kilepstein said. “That money should be used to tackle inflation.”

Another point of contention is the war in Ukraine and Trump’s relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t consider Russia a threat, I just want them to be at peace with Ukraine,” Kilepstein said. “I don’t see the Russians as my mortal enemy. The Cold War has ended. Is Putin not a good person? Yeah, but if we can have a status quo where we’re not at war with him and he’s not trying to take over Europe, that’s what I want. I just don’t want any more war.”

Drake Allen, who came dressed as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, disagrees.

“I don’t understand why Trump is taking away our help from the people of Ukraine,” Allen said. “It’s terrible. Our kids are going to be growing up in a country like Russia, where they only learn what the government and the media want them to learn. We need to stop Elon. We didn’t vote for Elon. We need to deport him, just like he’s deporting all the Latinos in this country. Latinos make this country great.”

The ABT has planned a We Stand With Ukraine silent vigil from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at the Old Lee County Courthouse, 200 S. Galena Ave. in Dixon. Event organizers said there should be no chanting, and all signs should indicate support for Ukraine.