Far from madding crowd

The chanting and cheering could be heard from the White House lawn.

And, if one craned their neck over a shrub or two, the protest signs, in pink and yellow and white, could be seen barely a block away from the West Wing driveway — bobbing along with a slow-moving mass of human bodies, encircling 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as close as they could get.

But inside the “bubble,” as reporters refer to secure perimeter around the president of the United States, the massive women’s march on Washington might as well have been in another Zip code. Neither President Donald Trump nor his staff gave any indication they had seen anything.

Instead, the President and his aides went about their first full day by getting to know their new workplace and the responsibilities that come with it. Staff members began slowly staking claims to offices. Technicians helped activate phones and computers. Press secretary Sean Spicer huddled with staff behind closed doors that less than two days before had belonged to his predecessor, Josh Earnest.

Trump’s aides did not appear to venture out for a look at the marchers beyond the gates. The President busied himself with a mix of tradition — a postinaugural morning prayer service at Washington National Cathedral — and with business. Trump travelled by motorcade to Langley, Virginia, to meet CIA leaders and deliver remarks to 400 employees.

Trump also spoke by phone to the leaders of Canada and Mexico. Aides put the finishing touches on Trump’s first bilateral summit with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday.

“A fantastic day and evening in Washington D.C.,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to his inauguration and the balls that followed. “Thank you to @FoxNews and so many other news outlets for the GREAT reviews of the speech!”

The first days of any administration are a mix of trying to get up to speed and to hit the ground running in what must be a surreal new environment — thrust into the epicentre of political power, but confined at an artificial remove from the public that you represent.

Rarely, however, has an opening day produced this kind of jarring juxtaposition.