Thousands of red-capped Donald Trump die-hards lined up early to get into the inauguration Friday morning. They waved Trump merchandise and grinned broadly in plastic rain ponchos.
I wanted to know: Now that Trump is officially the 45th president of the United States, what do they want him to do first? Securing the country’s borders and repealing Obamacare were among their top choices. Less so: grappling with the swampiness of Washington, DC. “Drain the swamp—it’s not as literal as it sounds,” said Evan Jarman from North Carolina, who urged people to trust the incoming president and his Cabinet picks.
I also wanted to know about voters’ reactions to Trump’s relationship with Russia. “I’m not 100 percent comfortable with that, but I don’t think Vladimir Putin is the worst person on Earth,” said Kenneth Dempsey, who drove up from West Palm Beach, Florida, for the day. “Maybe he can get a Cabinet post, I don’t know.”
“Him and Putin, there are similarities there, and a lot of people see that as a bad thing,” said Jordan Horan, a 22-year-old salesman from Lincoln, Nebraska. “But I mean, I don’t know, I’m pretty excited for it.”
