‘Disappointed’: Trump supporters frustrated after tickets cancelled for outdoor inauguration
An army of the MAGA faithful has trooped into the US capital but with a major change to the inauguration many are now wandering the streets in frustration.
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“We were on the way to the airport when we found out,” said Republican Lisa Bird on the chilly streets of Washington DC.
She had travelled from Arkansas for the inauguration of Donald Trump and with the cancelling of the outdoor event her tickets to the spectacle now counted for nothing.
“And we were in the orange zone too. Real close to the front,” she told news.com.au.
“Sad, upset, frustrated. I’m feeling all those things.
“When you’re on that winning team, you want to have the celebratory moment.”
Like hundreds and thousands of the MAGA faithful, Ms Bird has been left out in the cold by, well, the cold.
Mr Trump’s second inauguration, on Monday (early Tuesday, Australia time), had been planned as a grand affair. He would take the oath of office outside a stars and stripes bedecked Capitol building while jubilant crowds filled the National Mall.
But a winter storm, which could see Washington DC sink to temperatures of minus 14C has stopped that plan.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country,” Mr Trump wrote on Friday as he cancelled the outdoor inauguration and moved it indoors to the Capitol Rotunda.
“I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way”
It’s not the first time the presidential inauguration has been disrupted by weather.
In 1985, Ronald Reagan has to move his ceremony to the Capitol Rotunda after a wind chill factor meant temperatures could fall as low as -32C on inauguration day.
In 2017, the first Trump administration insisted he had the largest inauguration crowd in history despite estimates putting it lower than either of Barack Obama’s.
This year was a chance for him to prove once and for all that he could muster the numbers.
That he won’t be able too will be a disappointment for the incoming president. But at least he’ll have a warm place to stand and several thousand of his closest supporters to cheer him on.
‘I’m disappointed’
Sam, from Ohio, rugged up against the cold and with a red MAGA cap, won’t have that privilege.
“I’m a little disappointed,” he told news.com.au in the shadow of the Capitol Building.
He found out his tickets to the National Mall had been cancelled as he made the six hour drive from his home state to Washington DC.
“This was going to be a heck of an historical event so it was going to be cool to be part of it.”
Many Trump supporters are resigned to the reorganising of inauguration day. They get it, it is going to be cold.
But they might also not have come at all if they were not going to get a chance to see the inauguration in person.
Hotels alone in Washington are astronomically expensive with some rooms three or four times the usual price at around $1000 a night. A good proportion of those stays will now be non-refundable.
Mr Trump has announced that an event will be held on Monday at a CBD sports arena where the inauguration will be shown live. He’s promised to make an appearance after he’s been sworn in.
But the Capital One Arena can only hold 20,000 people, a small proportion of the Trump fans.
Much of the MAGA faithful will have paid a lot of money to end up just wandering the streets of DC.
Frustration
Online, the frustration was palpable. Even those with tickets to the arena were questioning if that was any better of a solution given how long the lines would be to get in.
“My thing is this. We can stand for hours outside Capital One Arena to see it on a screen but we can’t stand outside for a couple of hours with tickets?” on write,
Jeff was milling around Washington DC on Saturday sporting a red hat and a T-shirt which featured the now famous image of Mr Trump dodging a bullet with the phase “missed me!”.
He and his wife had inauguration tickets and were planning to make the short hop from Baltimore on Monday to see Mr Trump become president. Now they won’t be coming.
“We were looking forward to it” he told news.com.au.
The cold wouldn’t have put him off,
“We would have dressed for the occasion, just like everybody else”.
Instead, he’d come down for a few hours, to see the spectacle, and then head back to Baltimore.
“I’m just trying to make the best of it”.
Security palpable
And there is a spectacle to see. All over DC heavy anti-climb temporary fencing is being put in police anywhere Mr Trump might drop by.
Police are on every corner while National Guard troops, some with their faces covered by balaclavas, wander the streets.
Parked on the side of wide boulevards are small armoured vehicles. Some are painted a sandy beige. They might blend into the dusty deserts of the Middle East, not so much on the snow covered streets of Washington under grey skies.
Incongruously, people dolled up to the nines – women in long shimmering gowns, men in immaculate tuxedos – pass by these armoured vehicles on their way to inauguration balls.
Just about every spare large indoor space in DC is being transformed into a space for a ritzy ball.
Even the concourse at Union Station, one of the busiest transport hubs in the US, isn’t immune. Where benches stood, stages are being erected and a cafe turned into cloak rooms for the “Peachtree Ball”.
There’s almost as many merchandise sellers as police. The classic red MAGA caps are always popular, one seller tells news.com.au, but they’re also doing a roaring trade in woolly hats emblazoned with Mr Trump’s signature.
One stand sells a T-shirt which has dispensed with the names of Trump and JD Vance, the vice president elect, and replaced them with “Felon” and “Hillbilly,” leaning into the barbs.
US flags are everywhere, but most are hanging at half-mast to mark the death of former president Jimmy Carter. Bars have special inauguration cocktails, one Italian restaurant is opening at 7.30am on Monday for an “Inauguration breakfast buffet”.
Nonetheless, it feels like the wind been taken out the inauguration sails a touch.
In the National Mall chairs have been packed away and concrete blocks and fences removed. It’s just an empty space again.
“I’m feeling disappointed,” said Ms Bird.
“One of me favourite things I’ve done – aside from having my children and marrying my husband – was when I was here for the last inauguration and all of us were singing the national anthem at the same time.
“That’s why I wanted to come again. To get that feeling of community and patriotism and that we all had each other’s back.
“I don’t think we have that any more”.
Ms Bird had an inauguration plan B however.
“We’re going to find a bar,” she confided to news.com.au.
“And we’re going to say ‘are you going to show the inauguration’ and hopefully they will and then I’m going to get on Reddit and Twitter and I’m going to say ‘we’re going to be at this bar, if you want to be there too, come on down.’”
It’s not the orange zone near the front of the National Mall singing the national anthem while watching Donald Trump becomes president – but it’ll just have to do.
Originally published as ‘Disappointed’: Trump supporters frustrated after tickets cancelled for outdoor inauguration
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