An Inauguration Story

It was not what we expected...

The day was wet, cloudy and sandwich was spelled “sanwich” with no d, at dozens of concession stands.

It was the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump.

Our small crew from Full Frontal assumed we’d be met with a vibe of in your face and we were fully prepared to feel the sting of defeat mixed with a good amount of personal, Oh Lord, what have you done? While we waited countless hours for Trump victors to eventually show up, we instead absorbed the unexpected: solo supporters aimlessly wandering, small groups of friends looking for a party to materialize that never did and one woman, fully asleep under a tree.

Okay fine. You don’t feel like having a huge party? How about at least an Irish wake? A coffin in the middle of a living room, perhaps jaunty Irish music and of course, loads of booze? But the reality was, it was just a sad funeral with mourners who didn’t get the address wrong. Where was the party? Where was the rousing speeches and raised pints? Honestly…wtf is happening?

People were sad at Donald Trump’s first inauguration and I’m not just saying that because I’m drinking tears out of my Lib mug or whatever. Nobody was celebrating the win and I have to say, I was disappointed. Like Donald Trump, this was my first inauguration and despite the fact that I thought he was vile I at least expected something, at minimum a cake? After spending a few hours attempting to get people excited about Nosferatu taking office I started to feel my soul escape my body. I was exhibiting more enthusiasm than they were. How was this possible?

Our field producer then suggested we make the next most logical move and find a restaurant that was serving alcohol. We then sat around a table with our breakfast cocktails attempting to unpack what we were not expecting: a crowd who was still in shock that he’d won. They loved the ride to get him here - the rallies of 99.99% white people! The Hillary is a Whore t-shirt game! The chants of LOCK HER UP sung to the tune of U S A! But this? This hanging out at the Capital like adults with zero misogyny and/or racism? BORING! So what now? What would they do now that they got what they wanted? Trump fans were collectively as confused as we were.

We had to change our tactic to be sad to give them an opportunity to cheer us up and even that barely worked.

And so here we are again. In fact, this time Trump doesn’t even care if they show up. He’s moved his inauguration indoors because it’s cold, but he *might make an appearance afterwards so he still wants this supporters to risk hypothermia. There will however be lots of indoor parties that traveling supporters won’t be able to access. Heck, even the Canadian Embassy is having a We Are Going to Pretend You Didn’t Call Us The 51st State Because We Are Afraid Of The Backlash party. It’s also indoors because despite what Americans think most places in Canada don’t get as cold as Minnesota.

There’s no cause for celebration today. Unless you are a billionaire in the front row. Then yes, this is YOUR day! I imagine you all giggling to yourself about the average American worried about the price of groceries. What peasants!

But for the average democracy loving American please don’t forget to bottle that anger into something more productive. You are not done. We are not done. We’ve met this guy before, you’ve known him all your life. It’s not enough for him to be rich and have his children like him on his death bed. He needs to drive out the needy and hurt the marginalized. If they could just make him richer, he’d keep them around. But he doesn’t even care if sandwich is spelled wrong.

So vote, and encourage others to vote. The midterms are just around the corner and don’t forget what you did in 2018.

A look of kinship

xoAllana