I made the mistake of trying to get closer to Trump’s inaugural activities which began around noon on Friday. Once I crossed the parade route, I was told I could not go back to the side I came from, and became stuck on the pro-Trump side of the barrier for hours. At the height of the event, the crowd was no more than about three people deep, (except in the handful of stands which were available). After the motorcade came through the crowd cleared out to almost no one. What proceeded was a pop-up ghost town, comprised of a scattering of frustrated left-overs like myself trying to get back to the we’re-not-with-Trump side. Any of the larger patches of people you saw in the aerial photos were likely the anti-Trump protesters on the other side who were packed in by the hundreds in the areas they chose to populate.
While we were waiting, we were lead to believe by the police that returning to the other side would take no more than a half hour. Unfortunately, that lead to an hour, and then another hour, and then another as dozens upon dozens of marching bands and soldiers garbed in outfits from every war imaginable and helicopters were dragged on flatbed trucks. I wasn’t back to my bike on the other side until about 6PM.
Take a look at the video and you will see what I mean…
Part 2