READY TO LEAD: Surrogates vow ‘a switch from candidate to president’
WASHINGTON — Just before noon Friday, Presidentelect Donald J. Trump will place his hand on a stack of Bibles, one of them his own, the other the same book that was used to swear in presidents Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.
Same Bible, different agendas.
The peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of American democracy, will be the overarching theme on what is forecast to be a rainy day on the National Mall, where cheers will mix with the strains of protest, echoes of the polarized nation that elected the populist business tycoon.
Trump, in a tweet on the eve of his presidency, anticipated what millions of Americans are thinking on both sides of the ideological divide. “‘It wasn’t Donald Trump who divided this country,’ ” he wrote Thursday, quoting evangelist Franklin Graham. “‘This
country has been divided for a long time!’ ”
The inauguration of the nation’s 45th president, counter-programmed the next day by what is being billed as the “Women’s March of Washington,” will mark the end of an eightyear Obama administration whose signature achievement — “Obamacare” — already is in the process of being dismantled by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress.
Rarely have two more dramatically different political agendas come in symbolic contact as they will on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol, where Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to a brash political outsider claiming a mandate to “drain the swamp” and overhaul the federal city’s institutions.
Scheduled to be the closest witnesses to the muchanticipated transition will be former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with Trump’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The oldest former president, 92-year-old George H.W. Bush — an enduring symbol of stability — remains hospitalized with pneumonia in Houston and will not be present.
2 Texans join boycott
The usual bipartisan inaugural pageantry, followed by a pre-parade luncheon of beef, lobster and Gulf shrimp, will be reduced by the unprecedented absence of more than 50 House Democrats — almost a third of their caucus — including at least five of the 11 Texans in Congress.
Two who originally had planned to take part — Texas U.S. Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez — decided to join the boycott Thursday after learning that Trump’s pick to head the Agriculture Department would be former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, meaning the Trump cabinet will not include a single Hispanic.
The boycott, intended initially as a protest against the excesses of Trump’s rhetorical barbs on Twitter, have been dismissed by top Republicans as an attack on the legitimacy of the Nov. 8 election.
“My hope is that our Democratic colleagues will get over their denial and anger and realize that the American people were sending us an important message, and that we have a smooth transition from one leader to another,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the upper chamber’s No. 2 Republican.
To some observers, the boycott challenging Trump’s legitimacy — started by civil rights legend John Lewis — is a mirror image of Trump’s “birther” attacks on Obama, which Democrats saw as a denial of the nation’s first black president.
Among those staying away is Houston Congressman Al Green, a former head of the Houston NAACP, who called it a matter of “conscience.”
If the hard feelings are noticed Friday by the VIP coterie surrounding Trump and his incoming vice president, Mike Pence, they hardly will be smoothed by the Capitol luncheon’s California wine pairings of J. Lohr 2013 Arroyo Vista Chardonnay and Delicate Black Stallion 2012 Limited Release Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
The festival atmosphere of the past two Obama inaugurations — both featuring the Lincoln Bible — also is being dialed back by the 70-year-old Trump, who has scheduled only three inaugural balls, compared with 10 when Obama became president in 2009. The event’s modern day glitz also has been dulled by a pervasive cold shoulder from Hollywood, notwithstanding Trump’s own celebrity status as a reality TV star.
The Rockettes dance troupe will be one of the biggest-name performers, with 16-year-old soprano Jackie Evancho singing the national anthem. Among some 8,000 parade participants will be members of the acclaimed Texas State University dance team, whose San Marcos campus was riven with racial conflict after Trump’s surprise election.
There was plenty of Texas swagger in the capital Thursday, starting with former Gov. Rick Perry’s Senate confirmation hearings for energy secretary, and ending with the Texas State Society’s Black Tie and Boots Ball, an elegant affair that brought together Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a host of other luminaries.
‘We go on offense’
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, a Republican from The Woodlands, hosted a Capitol Hill reception Thursday, where he noted that for the past eight years Republicans have been playing defense against the Obama administration.
“Now, we go on offense,” Brady said, “and it’s going to be really exciting.”
Patrick, the Trump campaign’s state chairman, said in an interview that the Trump era will occasion a fundamental shift in Austin.
“For the last eight years, we’ve had a target on our back,” he said. “Literally from the president himself and the White House, their executive orders, the EPA, the education agency. On the border we’ve had no support and no help. We’ve had to sue them 46 times … If you look back on that, the energy, the time, the money that we’ve had to spend to fight our own government was inexcusable. Not that we shouldn’t have done it, but we shouldn’t have to be fighting our own government.”
Amid the political divisions, Trump surrogates have promised a unifying inaugural address. Tom Barrack, a longtime Trump business partner who is running the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said the speech will focus on “the issues that unite us.” Speaking on “CBS This Morning,” Barrack said the brassy tone of Trump’s campaign will “vanish.”
“What you’ll hear,” he said, “is a switch from candidate to president.”
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, briefing reporters Thursday in Washington, described it as a “philosophical document, a vision of where he sees the country, the proper role of government, the role of citizens.”
To conservatives who flocked to Washington for the inaugural, including more than 7,000 Texans who got tickets through their congressional representatives, the occasion will mark the culmination of a long and bitter campaign season which few thought would end in victory.
“I haven’t come to grips with it yet,” said Carlin Mothersbaugh, a retired Houston-area banking executive who came to the inauguration with a group from the Republican Women’s Club of Katy. “It’s like Christmas. You know it’s here, but you haven’t opened your presents yet.”
Many Trump supporters were drawn to the blunt pronouncements of his politically incorrect campaign speeches, what they saw as a refreshing change from the carefully parsed, often canned remarks of traditional politicians.
House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, a Houston-area Republican, said Thursday that the new president is “probably the most unique politician in American history.”
It remains to be seen if Trump the President remains as outspoken as Trump the candidate.
“I think the more he is in office, the more he gets the briefings that I’ve had, the intelligence briefings and that sort of thing, he will develop more of a maturity, if you will, in office, and be responsible in his rhetoric,” McCaul said.
Words matter less
To some, the transition already is underway.
“I think we’ve already seen him dial it back a little,” said Noel Norwood II, who co-owns a locksmith company in The Woodlands with his wife Elizabeth, who accompanied him to the inauguration. “The Twitter thing is still flying, but people want to see Trump be Trump.”
To other Trump acolytes who made the trip from Texas, words matter less than deeds. “I’m worried about what he does,” said Holly Frost, a retired computer company owner from Houston who showed up at a Texas gathering in a trademark “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. “I don’t care what he says.”
For Cornyn, who will be one of the key GOP figures pushing Trump’s agenda through Congress, the expectation is that Americans will get what they see.
“I understand that President-elect Donald Trump is an unconventional candidate, and he will be an unconventional president, along with his Twitter account,” he said. “But that’s what the American people selected, and it’s our responsibility to do our part to try and make our country successful.”