“I wanted to see history unfold before my eyes”: like Alan McNeeley, thousands of Donald Trump supporters braved the cold and snow on Sunday in Washington to go to one last rally of the president-elect before his inauguration, Monday.
In the crowd, near this 21-year-old student, we also find Loren Stephenson, who showed up at six in the morning in front of the room where the event was held to ensure a place during this final meeting public.
“It’s been a long day,” admitted this teacher from Pennsylvania, “but people are in a pretty good mood.”
The forty-year-old wrapped her head with an American flag to protect herself from the snow, which fell heavily for several tens of minutes.
Cold
Long lines stretched around several blocks of the Chinatown district, in this part of the federal capital patrolled by police and soldiers.
Several supporters of the adopted Floridian also planned to attend the inauguration ceremony, but they were excluded due to the transfer of the festivities planned for Monday indoors, which was caused by a cold snap.
Some 220,000 tickets had been distributed for the outdoor inauguration, but the public was finally invited to gather on Monday in this hall, the Capital One Arena, which has only 20,000 seats.
“I wanted to come anyway” to Sunday’s gathering, said Kim Matthews, a nurse from Kentucky, “but even more so because there won’t be a ceremony outside [lundi]even though we had tickets.”
“I’m really excited about some of the things he plans to do,” she described, “especially [pour réduire] completely crazy public spending.”
“He’s not a career politician, he’s a businessman,” insisted this fifty-year-old who came with his family, “and government is a business.”
-Donald Trump promised to issue, from the first hours of his mandate, a series of decrees affecting a wide range of subjects, from energy to immigration.
“He needs to get us back on track!” exclaimed Christina Overby, who works in the aviation sector.
“He does this for us”
On the sidewalk, street vendors were doing good business, selling many Trump scarves and hats to sympathizers frozen by subzero temperatures.
Thomas Zacher came to see first-hand “the charisma” and “energy” of the Republican tribune, who has held several hundred rallies since the announcement of his first candidacy in 2015.
“To be honest,” said the maintenance technician from Wisconsin, “if it wasn’t for Trump, no one would be interested in politics.”
“He doesn’t have to be there. He’s a rich man,” added Jen, administrative manager, who also arrived before dawn. “He does this for us.”
A 23-year-old researcher, Sam Tecotzky did not hesitate to brave this surge of the MAGA movement – Make America Great Again or “Make America Great Again,” the Trumpist slogan – with a sign encouraging people not to be “tricked by a career crook.”
The opponent had several conversations on Sunday with supporters of Donald Trump, whom he sees as “probably fundamentally good people”.
“I feel compelled to get out of my left-wing bubble,” he says, “and I would like to help some people get out of their conservative bubble.”
