Trump’s Inauguration Supporters Elated but Feel the Chill as Events Move Indoors

WASHINGTON D.C. – Undeterred by cancelled inauguration tickets, changing venues and bitter cold, a small crowd gathered on the National Mall and waited for Donald Trump, who was inside the warmth of the Capitol to take the oath of office as the 47th U.S. president.

Dressed like northerners bundled for a harsh winter storm, Trump supporters watched the inauguration ceremony on their cellphones as they stood on the far side of the Reflecting Pool along 3rd St., the closest they could get to the Capitol, which was under tight security. There were no large-screen TVs on the Mall broadcasting the event and not much to see ahead but the stately Capitol building adorned with five hanging flags from its windows.

None of that made a difference to Jason Doran, who came to Washington from Alabama for the ceremony. Doran said he believes that Trump will fix some of the major issues facing the country, including immigration and inflation, as well as what he sees as the wrongs done at the Jan. 6 insurrection to some of the people whom he believes did not deserve the punishment they received.

“It’s liberation day,” he told TheWrap, repeating a phrase that Trump had said moments earlier during his inaugural address. It was a phrase that others in the crowd would frequently repeat afterward.

Doran, like others interviewed, said they were unfazed by the presidential campaign endorsements made by Hollywood stars — either for or against Trump — in the months leading up to the election. Several had harsh words, saying that the stars are out-of-touch with most Americans.

“They’re just actors,” Doran said. “What’s their average experience [going] to a job and coming home and trying to buy groceries?” he said. “They don’t have any concept of [the way] an average American lives.”

Kerry, who drove down from New Jersey and did not want to give his full name, echoed that sentiment. He said the last time he was in Washington was for the Jan. 6 insurrection but that he did not enter the Capitol and was not prosecuted.

“I felt kind of hunted down the last four years,” he said. His vote for Trump “was more a vote for the Constitution of the United States,” especially for First Amendment rights, which he said he believes Biden had trampled on.

When it comes to Hollywood endorsements for one party or the other, he said he does not give any weight to anything celebrities have to say. “They’re all a bunch of bird brains who pretend for a living,” he said.

Leonardo Balcita, a Trump supporter from Minnesota who came to Washington with a friend to see some of the city and witness a bit of history, said it’s strange that celebrities “will turn off a whole side of their fan base” to make political statements. He particularly objected to what he described as the comparisons of Trump to Hitler.

“Trump didn’t kill people like Hitler did,” he said. “Does he say everything perfect? No, but that’s what I kind of like about him, because he’s like a normal person instead of like politicians who tell you what you want to hear but don’t follow through.”

Monday evening, Trump confidante Elon Musk drew scrutiny for giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute from the stage of a post-inauguration event.

James Ferguson, from Minneapolis, said that celebrities on both sides of the political aisle think too much of themselves. He also said it was wonderful to see people on the Mall “supporting their country no matter what side they’re for,” referring to the few anti-Trump protesters in the crowd.

One of those was Derek Hulahan, an international affairs student at George Washington University, who held a sign in Latin reading “Sic semper tyrannis,” meaning “thus always to tyrants,” a line often attributed to Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassination conspirator. Hulahan said he came to the Mall to make sure that the Trump supporters attending know that there is another side.

“I’m strongly concerned that [Trump] is going to make a power grab, and I’m going to be ending up living in something like Viktor Orban’s Hungary, which is a one-party state by the end of the decade,” Hulahan said.

Another protester, Jon Bjornstad from California, remained in one of the main Metro transfer hubs for the day to keep warm.

“I was very disappointed in the election,” he said. “He’s an insurrectionist. He’s a liar. He’s a rapist. He’s a fraudster,” he said.

Bjornstad said he also participated in the People’s March on Jan. 18 to protest Trump. That protest was one of several events over the weekend across Washington, which included the DC Peace Walk and Parade to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. This year the inauguration and the MLK Jr. federal holiday fell on the same day.

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