I Was There, MAGAJ20

Intro: For anyone who followed the Trump campaign and rallies since June 2015 and were waving your arms in the air. I was.

 

Sorry, didn’t have a camera (smacking myself in the head) but did sleep at the Red Lion Hotel on L Street (which I gave 5 stars for keeping the pussy hats from jumping the MAGA hats in the lobby, and great free coffee).

 

Freedom Concert:  AM arrival at DC Union Station and hotel check in. Met up with my friend from The Crawdad Hole, Mt Laurel, we headed for the Freedom Concert at the Lincoln Memorial end of the National Mall. It was fantastic. Well, Jumbotron fantastic, but we were with like minds having a great time, but I had to cut out early (DAMN, missed the fireworks!) to head back to the hotel to clean up for the Deploraball at 8pm.  Mind you, I’ve been up since 3 am that day and still smelled Eau Du La Train lavatory.

Deploraball:  It was walkaball. Down L Street to 14th, then down another few blocks. It got interesting when I took a hard left on F right into the belly of the protester beast. Thank goodness for the DCPD  escorting me into the National Press Club entrance. Safely. Then another few layers of security to get to the 13th floor. After a wristband was slapped on my wrist, I never saw the bottom on my wine glass again. A few hours later,  my walk back to the hotel was ..*hic*.. was memorable (I think it included hugging a lamp post, such a drunk cliche,eh?)  Whew. It was a Trump Miracle I even found my hotel that night. 😉

The party was spread out over the entire 13th floor of the National Press Club, though most of the livestreaming was done in the main ballroom where the speakers podium was located. It was a great mingle crowd, the deplorable family are the nicest people I’ve met since the Trump rally.  Oh wait, it was a Trump rally, with cocktails, so much more friendly!   Very diverse crowd of all colors and nationalities, I’m bringing that up since the protesters outside were upset at us for attending a Nazi/Klan rally. Poor clueless lambs, RBNtv was also livestreaming the realFascists outside for us to point and laugh at on a big screen.

Live entertainment kept the party mood going.  Dress was anything goes, from tuxes and formal gowns to strolling-the-mall wear.  I was somewhere in the middle. Kudos to the organizers for throwing this together in less than two months, despite the setbacks of the first venue cancelling, prom committee bickering and other chaos.  It was perfect and happy for the experience.

Inauguration Day:  Gates opened at 6:30 a.m.but there was no way I was moving that fast the morning after.  Just a 20 minute walk to the Mall, gave myself plenty of time for coffee and a breakfast sandwich, left about 10am and directed to the checkpoint next to the Washington Monument since the Mall was full to that point. Thanks to the protesters, security was slow, 2 hours in line!  Why on earth the DCPD didn’t pen them in their own “free speech” zone, I’ll never know. Like everything else anti-Trump protesty, these guys were just bullies and loud.  None of it made sense, I get it, “Fuck Trump”, but didn’t Hillary want us to think of the children?  Many families with young kids were exposed to that hatey-hate nonsense that made no sense.  Many families were just there to experience the Inauguration and celebration of peaceful transfer of USA power and other feelgood goosebumps of being there *live*, sorta, yay for Jumbotrons !

Not all Women’s Marchers were disgusting. Spent that two hours in the security line chatting with a nice lady named Karen from Seattle. She was in town for the march to support women and wanted to attend the Inauguration too, because it’s history. We chit-chatted the time away and neither of us threw a punch 😛

Arrived at the Monument Jumbotron with 5 minutes to spare for the Oath. Several thousand people were tucked back there and were never seen on the tv shots. What was powerful, being with them when Trump was finally declared President. Pure joy and happy tears for all.  Ding Dong the Boy King era was officially over!  Like New Year’s Eve and 4th of July rolled into one. ‘Murica !

 

The Parade: As I left my Inaugural viewing area, still had over 3 hours til the parade started, on a normal DC visiting day, that would have given me time to grab lunch, take a nap and stroll back to Penn Ave.  Thank goodness my instinct kicked in, this is not a normal day in DC.  So I followed the crowd of MAGA red hats, they always seem to know where to go next.  Eureka!  It was to the 14th St. checkpoint charlie for access to the parade. No thugly protesters!  Yada, yada, yada….2 and 1/2 hours later, I exited security. I had no feeling from my waist down at this point, standing 10 minutes, moving 2 steps forward, standing 10 minutes, rinse, repeat for all that time. Passed the time chatting up peeps from everywhere, all happy to be there.  My favorites were a couple of  Tar Heel guys who had their umbrellas fitted with hidden flasks. Simple twist of the handle, voila, a slug of Jack. Loved them! And the guy from California who was livestreaming Fox News on his device of the I Street riots smashing Starbucks and Bank of America windows (outside the security perimeter, whew). Many of our fellow Trumpkins commented, wow, those businesses were Hillary supporters, she’s still losing!

Found a great perch at the end of 14th overlooking Penn Ave. Lovely lady from ICE guarding the stoop to that building let me sit there. I had a better view from there than if I stood behind the “street people” lining up.  Several other exhausted and bitchy ladies eventually joined me with Ms.nice- ICE on the stoop. The parade didn’t start for another hour. Called dh at home, uhm, they’re still having lunch. It started raining.  I persevered another hour, my goal by now was to hang in there until the Trump car passed by.  It was worth it, the crowd all around me went wild.  I knew I was too far from the point the Trumps got out and walked.  Having seen the top of my new President’s car pass by, I was like, okay, I did it !  Back to the hotel to catch the rest of the parade on my amazing 60″ hotel HD screen. Warm and dry.

Escape from DC:  Checked out the next morning to head to Union Station and home. Had a 5 hour wait from checkout to train launch. OMGERD. Ended up in the belly of the beast Women’s March. Perched for awhile watching them “flow” in from Baltimore and Philly. (I’m sure those were Hilly cities?)  The March wasn’t that well planned, many of my new friends never left the station that day, so they were waiting for the local trains to go back home.  Seems their Sista Uglies made it to the streets?

My most memorable new friend last Sat?  Betty from Baltimore. She was 60-ish and in town for the Women’s March, but was so disgusted at the whole thing. Yet not disgusted enough to tell me Rachel Maddow was the only news she watches and I should stop watching Fox News, they lie.  I smiled and nodded, told her I was a deplorable and hugged her. Then noticed  RealKatie Couric was seated across from us.  We bonded 😉 Because Katie dissed us both.

Now, I’m home for a week, getting over a “cold”, yay , not the flu or ebola since I was sneezed and coughed on in eleventy different languages.  Life is good.