With fireworks heralding his big moment, Donald Trump swept into Washington Thursday on the eve of his presidential inauguration and pledged to unify a nation sorely divided and clamouring for change. The capital braced for an onslaught of crowds and demonstrators — with all the attendant hoopla and hand-wringing.
“It’s a movement like we’ve never seen anywhere in the world,” the president-elect declared at a celebratory evening concert Thursday night with the majestic Lincoln Memorial for a backdrop. To the unwavering supporters who were with him from the start, he promised: “You’re not forgotten any more. You’re not forgotten any more.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he called out, and then fireworks exploded into the evening sky.
Trump began taking on more trappings of the presidency during the day, giving a salute to the Air Force officer who welcomed him as he stepped off a military jet with wife Melania at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington. Later, he placed a ceremonial wreath at Arlington National Cemetery.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump addresses the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, on Thursday night. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
At a luncheon in a ballroom at his own hotel, he gave a shout-out to Republican congressional leaders, declaring: “I just want to let the world know we’re doing very well together.” House Speaker Paul Ryan, he said, will finally have someone to sign legislation into law. Then Trump veered into the territory of the unknowable to boast his Cabinet selections had “by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever.”
Just blocks away, the White House was quickly emptying out. President Barack Obama had his final weekly lunch with Vice President Joe Biden and got in a few final official acts, cutting the sentences of 330 inmates and placing a call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Fireworks light the sky at a pre-Inaugural Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Thursday. (David J. Phillip/The Associated Press)
Vice-president-elect Mike Pence, in a tweet, called Inauguration Eve “a momentous day before a historic day,” as security barricades and blockades went up around Washington in preparation for Friday’s swearing-in at the Capitol.
“We are all ready to go to work,” Pence said. “In fact, we can’t wait to get to work for the American people to make it great again.”
Trump’s public schedule for the inaugural celebration began at Arlington, where he and Pence stood at attention as a bugler played taps at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Trump’s wife, children and grandchildren silently looked on.
Protestors gather outside the National Press Club where the Deplorable Ball was being held in Washington, D.C. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)
From there, Trump shuttled to a celebratory welcome concert on the steps of Lincoln Memorial that ended with fireworks filling the sky.
The concert, open to the public, offered headliners including country stars Lee Greenwood and Toby Keith, soul’s Sam Moore and rockers 3 Doors Down. But not singer Jennifer Holliday: She backed out after an outcry from Trump critics.
“This is some day, dear friends,” actor Jon Voight told the crowd, casting Trump’s impending inauguration as evidence of divine intervention after “a parade of propaganda that left us all breathless with anticipation, not knowing if God could reverse all the negative lies against Mr. Trump.”
The crowd sent up a cheer when the giant screens flashed video of Trump singing along as Lee Greenwood delivered his signature God Bless the U.S. A. Trump declared such a concert had a never been done before. In fact, a number of past presidents have staged inaugural concerts among the monuments.
Lee Greenwood performs with the Frontmen of Country during the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on the eve the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump in Washington. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
Tom Barrack, the chief architect of Trump’s inaugural festivities, said Trump would show the world that “we can argue, we can fight and we can debate,” but then the nation unites behind one president.
Trump, though, still had an urge to rehearse particulars of the long, 18-month campaign, from its early days when he claimed “a lot of people didn’t give us much of a chance” to the final weeks when his rallies took him to “state after state after state.”
Spokesman Sean Spicer said the president-elect was still making “edits and additions” to the inaugural address he’ll deliver at Friday’s swearing-in.
Never mind about Trump’s gilded private plane: He made his Washington entrance on a Boeing 757 that is part of the fleet of military planes that become Air Force One whenever the president is aboard. The president-elect, who came to Washington without any press on his plane, was joined on the trip by a gaggle of children, grandchildren and other members of his extended family. Also spotted: bags of dresses and formalwear for the coming days’ festivities.
At the luncheon, Trump made sure to work in a plug for his hotel, saying, “This is a gorgeous room. A total genius must have built this place.” Reporters covering Trump’s remark were removed from the room before the president-elect finished speaking.
Later in the evening, president-elect Donald Trump spoke during a reception and dinner at Union Station in Washington, with, from left to right, vice-president-elect Mike Pence, Karen Pence and Melania Trump. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Events were taking place all across the capital. Some 3,000 people crowded into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for an energetic and enthusiastic evening of alternative inauguration programming.
Among the high-wattage guests at the black-tie Peace Ball, organized by progressive activist Andy Shallal, were actor Danny Glover and actress Fran Drescher. Performing were pop star Solange Knowles and jazz singer Esperanza Spalding.
Most in the room were deeply unhappy with the results of the presidential election, though the event was termed a nonpartisan one. Glover said, “We can’t just sit and lick our wounds” and added: “Our work is cut out for us. We have to make some hard choices.”
A disparate group of liberal activists irked by comments by Trump about women, illegal immigrants and Muslims have planned protests throughout central Washington.
Actor Danny Glover speaks to the gathering at the Busboys and Poets’ Peace Ball: Voices of Hope and Resistance, where the mood was less celebratory, at National Museum Of African American History & Culture in Washington. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Busboys and Poets)
One of the largest anti-Trump protests expected on Friday will be organized by the ANSWER Coalition, a broad-based liberal group, which expects to have thousands at the U.S. Navy Memorial, along the parade route.
“It’s Day One, we’re saying, of a larger era of resistance, and we believe we’re going to send a very powerful message to
Trump and the government,” said Ben Becker, 33, an organizer with the group. “The Trump agenda is very comprehensive. It includes attacks on Muslims, immigrants, on women’s rights, on workers’ rights. So really, no matter what community you’re a part of, you have a stake in this fight.”
At other parties across the city, Trump supporters danced and drank to celebrate an incoming president that they said would shake up a city that they saw as corrupt, complacent and out of touch with the rest of America.
“Washington is freaked out. They’re about to lose power,” said John Workman, a former mayor of Palm Beach Shores, Fla., as a pair of costumed robots danced to Sweet Home Alabama.
Revellers and Trump supporters attend the Texas Black Tie and Boots inaugural ball on January 19, 2017 in National Harbor, Md. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)