Ahead of President Donald J. Trump’s scheduled speech to supporters in Harrisburg on Saturday night, a larger-than-life version of Mr. Trump made an appearance on the streets of Oakland on Saturday morning to berate his opponents.
Sitting on Steve O’Hearn’s shoulders and its movements controlled by a network of strings, Mr. Trump’s puppet likeness blustered its way into a crowd preparing to march against the new president’s environmental policies. “Climate change is a hoax!” yelled Mr. O’Hearn, who was dressed as Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist.
It was all a creative stunt, orchestrated by Mr. O’Hearn, a Pittsburgh-based public artist, that became a highlight of the Peoples Climate March in Pittsburgh, one of dozens of marches held nationwide on Saturday.
Puppet Trump makes an appearance to berate his protestors in Oakland this morning. pic.twitter.com/pzHmHUWOAB
— Daniel Moore (@PGdanielmoore) April 29, 2017
But the puppet — and the rally — underscored the serious political divide in Pennsylvania as Mr. Trump marks 100 days in office.
Of the divergent narratives emerging as the president hits a ceremonial time of reflection, the view on this side of the debate is clear: The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era policies aimed at curbing carbon emissions throws an existential wrench into the climate and inflicts irreparable damage for all people.
“Climate change doesn’t care if you’re black or white, rich or poor,” said Glenn Grayson Jr., an organizer with One PA, a group that advocates for low income and working class people. “When it rains, it rains on all of us. And when the sun shines, it shines on all of us.”
In promising to “bring back” the coal industry, Mr. Trump’s agenda in the first three months has seen perhaps the most advancement in energy and climate policy.
He has begun dismantling the Clean Power Plan, a spate of clean air regulations that critics say hastened the demise of coal-fired power plants. He has opened up federal lands for mining, revoking a moratorium put in place by the Obama administration. He has proposed cutting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by nearly a third.
It remains to be seen whether he pulls the United States from the Paris climate treaty, an historic agreement reached in 2015 that requires nearly 200 countries to make their economies cleaner.
Organizers of the march described Mr. Trump’s actions as an assault on public health. They also targeted Royal Dutch Shell’s planned petrochemical plant in Beaver County as a local example of polluting industry that must be stopped.
“That is our Standing Rock,” said Briget Shields, an organizer with Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, referencing the months of protests in North Dakota last year against the Dakota Access pipeline. “We are all downstream. We all need to come together to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
John Creasy, a pastor at the Open Door Presbyterian Church, said he was at those Standing Rock protests.
“I learned the transition away from fossil fuels will be led by ... those who have been oppressed,” he said. “We have the ability to influence those who have power through our choices, the ways we spend our money, our own personal transitions away from fossil fuels, the letters we write, the banks we choose and the companies we choose to divest from.”
Mr. Creasy held a moment of silence before the march, which he called a “sacred act for the sake of this planet and for the sake of all people.” Then it took off. The crowd, estimated by the organizers as 250 to 300 people and bringing together at least 25 advocacy groups, then marched down Fifth Avenue, made a left on Bouquet, then turned onto Schenley Drive, ending at Flagstaff Hill.
For Mr. O’Hearn’s Trump puppet, Saturday’s march was the first full performance. (He gave the puppet a test run in March during a “Tuesdays with Toomey,” regular protests held outside Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s office Downtown.)
Weighing in at roughly 60 pounds, the puppet was constructed from insulation foam, clothes from Goodwill and an aluminum frame with cables and gears for smooth operation. Mr. O’Hearn wears a back brace to support it.
After he had released it from his shoulders, Mr. O’Hearn said the puppet was full of another material: “delusions of grandeur.”
“It just makes complete sense with the dynamic of the White House today,” he said.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2743 and Twitter @PGdanielmoore.
First Published: April 29, 2017, 6:28 p.m.
Updated: April 29, 2017, 6:28 p.m.
