Mr. President Trump is Official!!!

Hundreds of Thousands of American citizens line up outside the Capitol for the Inauguration.  Taken from nick v on Flickr.

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Hundreds of Thousands of American citizens line up outside the Capitol for the Inauguration. Taken from nick v on Flickr.

Annie Ackerman, Ranger Review Editor

A journey that began almost two years ago finally came to a closing on Friday, January 20, 2017,  in the inauguration of the new President, Donald Trump. Almost no other recent political figure has been as reprimanded as President Trump has, but America has finally crossed over the finish line in a race that has not been the most pleasant for some. However, the reactions to the inauguration have been almost as conflicted and hostile as they were during the actual race.

 

Trumps presidency has been so contested that multiple artists actually turned down the opportunity to perform at the inauguration, one of the biggest events America experiences every four years. Some of the A-listers that refused to perform at the Lincoln Memorial that Friday were Elton John, Kiss, and Garth Brooks. Those who did end up performing included Radio City Rockettes, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (who have both performed at previous inaugurations), and Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old America’s Got Talent runner-up who performed the National Anthem at the swearing-in ceremony on Friday.

 

Ever since Trump won the Presidential Election in November, people all over the nation have been rallying under social media slogans such as “#notmypresident”. The reaction to the Inauguration is no different. Some have gone as far as to tweet these slights about the Inauguration on social media: “Happy Inauguration Day…  May your odds be forever in your favor!”; “I will not be watching the inauguration today. This is one piece of history I do not care to be a part of. #notmypresident”; and “Aside from the women’s march this Saturday, I will be living in a dark cave for the next four years #RIPAmerica”.

 

Another backlash to the Inauguration was the extremely low attendance rate, which Trump has denied and reported to actually be much larger than the stats had stated.  According to Vox.com “The unnamed television network, he noted, estimated a turnout of 250,000 people — a figure he argued was way too low.” Trump actually put the numbers at much higher– at around 1.5 million in attendance.

 

However, the social media hate and a relatively tiny crowd aren’t even close to the worst that happened on Inauguration Day. All over the Capitol of Washington DC, protesters have vandalized stores and shops in reaction to the Inauguration. The Washington Free Beacon reported “Newspaper boxes were torn away and scattered on the streets while one was reportedly burned. Storefronts were destroyed by protesters who smashed windows to banks and restaurants just blocks from the Capitol and the White House.” Eyewitnesses have even reported seeing an elderly man being carried away on a stretcher in response to injuries that protesters inflicted.
Although a good portion of Americans is still attacking President Trump, as of Friday, January 20th, 2017, President Donald J. Trump has been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.