Protestors took to the William Moorhead Federal Building this past Wednesday, Feb. 5, to speak out against President Donald Trump’s recent wide-sweeping executive orders.

The protest on the corner of Liberty and Grant Street was organized under the nationwide “50 Protests, 50 States, One Day,” or “50-50-1,” effort. Flyers spread online encouraged those opposed to the new Trump administration and their swathes of executive orders to demonstrate at their state’s capital.

Harrisburg and Philadelphia also saw demonstrations affiliated with “50-50-1.”

Pittsburghers from all walks of life filled the Moorhead Building’s side courtyard around 11 a.m. amid freezing temperatures to speak out. Cars drove by honking in support.

The most frequent chants opposed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Senator John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) support of Trump’s cabinet nominees and the nationwide mass deportation efforts spurred shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

Protestors did not have a permit, containing Pittsburgh’s “50-50-1” effort within Moorhead’s courtyard, which is public property.

According to the National Lawyers Guild, who advised the group, demonstrators could be arrested for encroaching on private property or for blocking traffic. Police watched from the edge of Martin Luther King Jr. Busway and never encroached on the protest.

Many were unsure if the protests were real or part of a large scale hoax. The protest’s organizer, who provided her name as Sydney, 32, of Mount Washington, said it was her first time setting up a demonstration. She and two other people organized it on Discord.

“No one else was stepping up and we were running out of time,” Sydney said. “So, I decided if no one’s gonna do it, I gotta do it.”

The effort was announced on social media roughly a week before demonstrations were meant to occur. That gave local organizers little time to mobilize.

“I’m flabbergasted at the turnout,” Sydney said. “This is amazing to see, and I’m excited that people are motivated to come out. 

People are angry, they’re sad, lots of emotions are running high right now, and I think people are realizing that democracy could be in danger,” Sydney said.

Trump’s executive order, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” was Sydney’s biggest motivation behind holding the protest.

The order eliminated federal funding to schools that “indoctrinate” based on “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.” 

“I believe trans youth need to be protected,” Sydney said. “There are multiple, well-documented psychological studies that tell us the importance of protecting trans youth and accepting their identities.”

Other local left-leaning organizations also had a presence at the demonstrations. Among them was “Socialist Alternative,” who passed around clipboards for prospective members to sign-up.

One person representing the group, who gave his name as Ellis, 25, of East Liberty, said his biggest current issue was nationwide mass deportation efforts carried out by the Trump administration.

“I think it’s totally unconscionable,” Ellis said, “and a product of pretty deranged government. It’s important that we stop it because [it’s] hurting working people everywhere, including the working people who are being deported.”

Trump signed 10 executive orders pertaining to mass deportations around the time of his inauguration, according to ProPublica.

Plenty of older Pittsburghers rallied, as well. One of them, Nancy Julian, 72, of Spring Hill, referred to Trump as “an idiot.” She also called supporters of his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement “MAGAts,” alluding to the word “maggots.”

Julian is originally from the Pacific Northwest and travelled the country as a theatrical costume designer. She said she believes the U.S. is descending into “fascism.”

“I have history in the country,” Julian said, “and I have expectations for what our country should be. The whole slide into fascism has been long and deliberate, very deliberate. 

There’s a whole portion of the electorate that doesn’t understand what’s going on, and never did and never will because they can’t afford to,” Julian said.

Julian has vocally opposed Republicans since President Ronald Reagan entered office over 40 years ago in 1981.

“I just want to see our country become enlightened and become aware,” Julian said. “I want the people that it’s really going to hurt–the people who actually voted for [Trump]–I want them to be able to have the veil lifted from their eyes, and see that their actions have done great damage, that they’ve done great damage to themselves.”