Few swearings- in stir tension
But Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, Nixon faced hostility in taking office
On possibly the most politically polarized Inauguration Day since the Civil War, Americans celebrated, mourned or simply marveled at what had come to pass. Roughly half the populace was happy and excited, the other half sad or even scared.
The most famously angry people in U. S. politics – Donald Trump voters – were filled with hope. Democrats, so hopeful eight years ago, were now the angry ones.
“This seems like a dream coming true,’’ said A. D. Amar, a Seton Hall University business professor born and raised in India who gathered near the Capitol with other Trump supporters. He called it “the start of the end of a period of American decline.”
Deborah Billoni, who came to the capital from Buffalo, said Trump’s inauguration was the first she cared enough about to see. His presidency, she said, “will come with a good job, being able to support your family, health care and not wondering, ‘ How am I going to pay the bills?’”
But a continent away on Puget Sound, Cheryll Greenwood Kinsley couldn’t bear to watch – the first inaugural since 1960 she didn’t follow on TV or radio. She said she cried with joy during Barack Obama’s inaugurations, but “now I feel quite the opposite.”
“Often I’ve disagreed with presidents elect. Still, I’ve watched their inaugurations and listened to what they had to say. I’ve always been prepared to give them a chance,” she said. “But it’s different with this one. I believe he’s totally unqualified, in terms of knowledge, comprehension, and temperament.”
In his populist speech, Trump was less concerned with healing than his campaign theme: “make America great again.” But he said unity would come through a revival of patriotism and nationalism, and “a new vision” that “will govern our land. It’s going to be only America first! America first!”
“A new national pride,” he said, “will heal our divisions.” But he did not mention those he defeated; he lambasted the Washington establishment; he offered no specifics, besides a promise to rebuild infrastructure.
The contrast with the last change of administrations could not have been starker. In 2009, Obama was elected with a solid margin, and many Republicans and conservatives took pride in what an African- American’s election said about the American Dream.
But this year hope belonged mostly to the victors – and inveterate optimists like William Elizondo, a Korean War veteran and former Oscar De La Hoya corner man whose met six presidents. He came to Washington from San Antonio. “It’s quite an honor to be part of history,” he said.
There were many reasons for the national cleft. The inflammatory campaign traded on voters’ fears. Trump won despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton and despite historically low approval ratings.
He continued to spar with Democrats and critics through the transition, traditionally a period for a president- elect to mend fences.
Many members of Congress boycotted the inauguration and some prominent performers refused to entertain. Singer Jennifer Holiday backed out of her commitment to appear at Thursday’s inaugural concert after many of her fans objected.
“We used to be able to say, ‘ This is for America,’” she told The Washington Post. “But this is a different time, and this is a different president.”
Protesters got to work early Friday, criticizing Trump on climate change, race, his treatment of women and the Middle East. A women’s rally Saturday is expected to attract 200,000 participants.
For those yearning for unity, there were a few grace notes. None was more poignant than the presence of Clinton, her dreams crushed, at the elevation of theman who had led cheers of “Lock her up!”
Give Trump a chance, said Omar Marquez, a college student from Sioux City, Iowa. “I’m very optimistic for the future.”
But few if any inauguration days had been so contentious since 1861, when president- elect Abraham Lincoln had to sneak into Washington for fear of Confederate assassins.
The nearest modern precedent was Richard Nixon’s second inauguration in the Vietnam War year of 1973. Tens of thousands of demonstrators besieged Washington. But Nixon, unlike Trump, had been re- elected in a landslide.
Historians grasp for comparisons. Other presidents were elected without winning the popular vote. But George W. Bush worked assiduously to court the opposition during his transition after the 2000 election.
Other presidents clashed with their predecessors. But despite the stony silence in which Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt rode to the Capitol in 1933, it was clear the country was behind the Democrat.
Andrew Jackson’s victory in 1828 was so decisive it hardly mattered that President John Quincy Adams was so bitter over losing he didn’t attend the inauguration.
“We used to be able to say, ‘ This is for America.’ But this is a different time, and this is a different president.” Singer Jennifer Holiday