Protestors endure the cold to rally against Trump's agenda on Inauguration Day
Around 50 protestors met in the cold outside the Florida Capitol on Inauguration Day to counter the Republican agenda as Trump assumed office for his second term.
The protest began at 6 p.m., with many dressed in warm clothing to handle the winter storm that brought a historic amount of snow to Tallahassee the day after the rally.
“It's freezing cold. I can see the white of my breath coming out as I talk,” Tallahassee local Tito Leadon said. “It's still important to be out here. This is the site where a lot of the regressive legislation is going to pass. This is where they are going to try to fight against reproductive freedom and immigrants... We are the people that are going to do something about it.”
The crowd stood facing Monroe St. holding cardboard signs with messages such as “FIGHT FOR MLK’S DREAM” and “NO TO MASS DEPORTATION.”
Throughout the protest, many cars honked their horns as they passed, some yelling out their windows expressing support or criticism. One group of men in a vehicle looped around the Capitol several times shouting “Trump 2025.”
The event was hosted by Tallahassee Community Action Committee (CAC) and co-sponsored by Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Freedom Road Socialist Organization Tallahassee (FRSO) and Food Not Bombs Tallahassee (FNB).
Speakers from each organization took turns criticizing Trump’s rhetoric and plans for his term. The main focus of the night was Trump’s policy regarding immigration, transgender rights and the 15-month Israel-Hamas conflict that recently led to a ceasefire.
During his campaign, Trump often claimed that he would carry out a mass deportation initiative within the first few days of his presidency. Since then, his administration announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made at least 1,417 arrests between Jan. 23 and Jan. 25.
Trump also signed an executive order banning birthright citizenship, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked this order days after it was signed.
“I think the anti-immigration and anti-trans stuff is very divisive and harmful,” Leadon said. “I think he specifically targets refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants… Who are the workers that get treated the worst? It’s the immigrant workers who don’t have a lot of ways to fight back… because they are seen as replaceable.”
During his inauguration, Trump announced that the government would only recognize two genders and that people identifying as nonbinary and intersex would not have official documents, such as passports, reflecting that identity. He later signed an executive order stating that the U.S. government does not recognize the identifying gender of transgender people.
“I think that sort of rhetoric is especially damaging because people will see the people who describe themselves as [non-binary] as ‘others’,” FSU student Jose Collantes said. “I think that’s very harmful because it's almost confirmation for treating these people [poorly]."
While the protest centered around the Republican Party, many discussed their opinions on the failures of the Democratic Party that allowed Trump to claim his second term.
“It made sense that people support [Trump] because they believe that he is going to solve their problems,” FRSO member Regina Joseph said. “We have to tell people to reach the correct conclusion, which is that the Republican Party and Democratic Party are both failures at providing solutions for everyday working people.”
Billionaire Elon Musk’s appearance at the inauguration sparked outrage among the protestors, as he appeared to make a hand gesture many claim is similar to that of a Nazi salute. An array of other billionaires also attended.
One protestor, FSU Law School alum and Tallahassee local Bill Davis, said he was disgusted by the prominence of the billionaires at the inauguration.
“It’s a very ugly time in America and in the world,” he said. “To me, I thought it was a very ugly thing to see all the billionaires up there on the dais with the cabinet people… It was just a gloating kind of affair that the oligarchs are there and they’re in charge.”
Two police officers monitored the protest, while a few other officers watched from inside the Capitol building.
Hallisi Africa, a restaurant located in Railroad Square, set up a tent to provide hot food for the protestors.
Protestors took a photo in front of the Capitol, then began to disperse about two hours after the protest began.
“I admire their gumption and courage that you must have to take any action at all,” Davis said. “You have to have a certain level of optimism to take action… I think that coming out and seeing other people is a healthy exercise and is very much in the American tradition.”