Public school teachers, welders, roofers, boy scouts, entrepreneurs, and zealous conservatives streamed into Washington, D.C. from around the country this week in hopes of catching a glimpse of the swearing-in of the 45th president.
Trump's America, or "real America" as many of them called it, came to the much-derided swamp wearing bright red "Make America Great Again" hats to celebrate "real change" for ordinary people.
Trump echoed those same words Thursday evening in brief remarks at his Make America Great Again concert at the Lincoln Memorial. "We all got tired of seeing what was happening," he said. "And we wanted change, but we wanted real change"
In two dozen interviews with Trump supporters visiting the nation's capital for the inauguration, a consistent vision of that change began to take shape. More than any other issue, these die-hard supporters expressed their hope that Trump would follow through on his promise to impose term limits on members of Congress. "A lot of politicians come here meager and leave millionaires," said Jamey O'Donnell, a 59-year old roofer from the Denver-area.
That money and power has created a government with an attitude of "you take what we give you," said Darryl Mitchell, a state tax auditor from North Carolina.
In Trump's America, such elite technocracy does not sit well. "The concept that there are only 535 people smart enough to run the federal government is abhorrent," said Danny Shields, a 63-year-old public elementary school teacher from Bloomington, Indiana.
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