Cold, crowds, and last-minute changes

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 21st of January.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today! Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

First up on The World and Everything in It: Watching history in Washington.

Wind chills nearing single digits forced the Inauguration indoors to the Capitol Rotunda. Here’s President Trump on Tuesday.

TRUMP: I looked, I said, oh, look at this beautiful. sunny day. And we blew it. we blew it. And then I went outside and we were freezing, you would have been very unhappy. The sun was very deceptive. I will tell you it is cold out.

BROWN: Secret Service set up security screening stations outside the Capital One Arena downtown to livestream the ceremony.

The number of people originally promised Inauguration tickets was more than ten times as many as the Arena could hold.

MAST: That left the majority of visitors out in the cold, looking for a place to watch President Trump take the oath of office for the second time.

Reporters from WORLD’s Washington Bureau spoke with several of those people, and Carolina Lumetta has the story.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Visitors to Washington D.C. this weekend thought they came prepared, but the weather still surprised them.

JOSH: Cold. Way colder. We're not used to this in Florida at all. This is very new to us, but we dressed plenty warm, I think.

LAUREN: Double jackets seem illegal in Florida, but you have to do it here.

Josh and Lauren Nable flew in from Tallahassee on Friday. They had been promised tickets to the inauguration from their congressman, Neal Dunn, and were looking forward to watching from the Capitol Grounds. Until plans changed.

LAUREN: I was at the airport and then I got a call from Neal Dunn's office. He just let us know that, hey, we're so sorry, but the inauguration got moved inside and We don't have access to get you guys inside the Capitol, so we're like, "Ah, okay, well, we're just gonna go find a pub now and with a bunch of TVs and go celebrate with a bunch of other supporters."

I met the Nables walking around the nearby H Street Corridor, looking for a restaurant or anywhere that would live stream the ceremonies.

JOSH: I get it. And also safety concerns as well. We understand, we'd rather him be safe than be selfish and be like, "Oh, we wanna see him." And we could go see him at the Capital One arena, but that only fits 20,000 people and it's gonna be packed. -

LAUREN: There's 250,000 of us.

Ted Uroskie was one of those, trying to get a seat in the downtown arena.

TED UROSKIE: I got up at 3:30 trying to get in line

Uroskie and his family came from Norfolk, Virginia to watch the livestream of Trump’s address.

UROSKIE: Was not able to because I didn't have a ticket or a pass Only to find out that after we went back into line That it would they were just letting people have tickets when they got in through so.

Those who couldn’t get into the arena or a watch party pulled out their smartphones to watch Donald Trump take the oath of office.

KARIUKI: John Roberts is going to do it.

ATHERTON: So it’s gotta be the Chief Justice? Is that by law?

DUSNEY: I’d imagine.

ROBERTS: Repeat after me. I Donald John Trump do solemnly swear,

Luke Dusney from Georgia joined Jim Atherton and Laban Kariuki from Delawareto watch the speech on a street corner near the Capitol.

ROBERTS: That I will faithfully execute.

TRUMP: That I will faithfully execute,

ROBERTS: The office of the president of the United States [cannon shot].

DUSNEY: Must’ve already happened. Woohoo! This must be delayed.

KARIUKI: Yeah, the 21 gun salute. It's done!

President Trump styled his inaugural address much like a campaign rally or a state of the union. With former President Joe Biden sitting directly behind him, he said the country faces severe challenges.

TRUMP: I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success… But first we must be honest about the challenges we face. As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.

Trump listed several day one promises: to declare national emergencies over energy and the border, to create an external revenue service, and to declare that the official position of the United States is that there are only two genders. He said his reelection launches America’s golden age.

TRUMP: With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense. First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border [applause] All illegal entry will immediately be halted.

Supporters were excited to hear Trump’s promise to send troops to the southern border, designate drug cartels as foreign terrorists, and deport immigrants who commit crimes. Here’s Laban Kuriuki, a naturalized citizen from Kenya.

KARIUKI: And he's not talking about let's kick everyone out but the murderers and the rapists and how can you defend that. Kick them out!

Josh Nable says Trump is carrying out the will of the voters who put him back in office.

NABLE: I mean we gave him a mandate to lead and I think a lot of the stuff that he's gonna do we're gonna agree with and if we don't agree with them we'll call them out on it but we're excited for a lot of things he's gonna be doing.

Within hours of the transition of power, the Customs and Border Patrol app used to schedule asylum appointments at the southern border shut down. And a pro-abortion webpage on the Health and Human Services website no longer loads.

President Trump has promised to sign as many as 200 executive orders over the next few days.

TRUMP: Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback, but as you see today, here I am, the American people have spoken… In America, the impossible is what we do best.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington, D.C. 

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