The Donald J. Trump Presidency

Jeff wrote:I'm about two blocks west on K Street from the police clashes. I just want some Noodles & Company!

ryan @ Jan 21 2005, on 07:03 PM, said:

It was an incredible experience.

Got back into Chicago this morning at about 8:00. Tired, sore, a bit swampy, but feeling pretty satisfied. I've never experienced anything like the crowd's reaction when the animal's limo rolled on past. We had been out there (such a great turnout) doing what you'd expect with the rallies, speeches, chants, discussions, and wishing they provided port-a-pots in our area like they did in the "special guest," area. Fortunately, all the mink coat mothers, red nosed husbands, and their cherub like offspring were forced to walk RIGHT through the primary counter-inaugural area. I'm willing to bet one of the designers of that layout lost their job the next morning. So there are no bathrooms or food within any reasonable distance of where we're staked out for half a dozen hours in the 25 degree weather and we're being baited and sneered at by these brash Bush supporters trailing through. Needless to say, things came to a head eventually. Basically any law enforcement vehicle, limo, or tour bus emblazoned with the "W" or cowboy hat insignia that passed by us, felt us. They had cops two deep and shoulder to shoulder down the length of the street that had to maintain composure while this crowd leaned over the barrier and berated everything that went by with obscenities. ((I just realized I'm ranting and raving. I'm on no sleep, so please excuse my incoherence.))

Back to where I was going though. When Bush's limo went by things got primal. The dudes on the drums abandoned all rhythm and just started pounding out like machine guns. Everybody pushed forward and was perched on the tips of their toes. You could see and feel the body language of everyone morph from a loose cold weather bob to strained muscles and clenched teeth. Every single sign shot up, along with every middle finger. Then came the noise...holy fucking shit...the noise. I've heard about the "hounds of hell," and I can now nod knowingly when I hear the term.

Fuck, fuck you, fuck you motherfucking father fucking fuckwad, fuck you murderer, I'd kill you if I had the chance, I'll kill you if they let me past, I'll find my way to you one of these days and end your life, murderer, killer, bastard, devil, satan, hitler...

and plenty of other magical phrases emerged from that collective howl. It's amazing what was said that went without a response from the security. The barriers were pushed to their limit and you saw the concern just drop like a shroud over the cops in the streets. The monkey president's limo was pressed firmly against the opposite corner from ours, where the largest demonstration was being held. Luckily (I think...) he came and went fast enough that the crowd lost their target and leaned back enough to save the barriers from going down. If the barriers had went down, every one of us would have been on the streets and I don't even want to think about what would have happened at that point.

The security there was like something from a fucking movie. I have some pictures, but they're on a disposable, so when I get around to it I'll try to toss a few up. They frisked EVERY PERSON (I shouldn't say EVERY, because something tells me plenty of donors and such received complimentary blowjobs before entry) that seeked entrance into the streets surrounding the parade. It was roughly a three hour wait in line to get through the security check point and we actually got there relatively early. Thousands of people were still behind us when we got through, so I question how many actually got in. There were snipers and masked cameramen on top of damn near every building. I understand that intimidation was probably the motive, but this was ridiculous. At one point we organized about 200 people to smile, wave, and shout at one of the roof top posts. In a matter of seconds all five or six figures had ducked down out of sight. Lots of weird shit like that was going on all over the place.

I guess that's one crazy protestor's disjointed point of view from the inaugural celebration. We spent over 30 hours on the bus between Wednesday evening and Friday morning. I met some awesome people on our buses over the short trip, and really got a taste for the eccentric crowd that made up the entire demonstration itself. The experience will never allow me to look at protestors, and quite possibly the government, the same ever again. If you've read this far you're probably fucking nuts.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, said the White House press secretary gave "alternative facts" when he inaccurately described the inauguration crowd as "the largest ever" during his first appearance before the press this weekend.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gathered the press to deliver a five-minute statement Saturday in which he issued multiple falsehoods, declaring erroneously the number of people who used the D.C. metro on Friday, that there was a change in security measures this year and that "this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe."

"These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong," Spicer said Saturday.

However, crowd size experts told the New York Times they estimated Trump's audience at fewer than 200,000 people, and widely distributed side-by-side photographs showed the stark contrast between the comparatively sparse crowd for Trump's inauguration and the record-setting crowd for Obama's first.

Asked on "Meet the Press" why Spicer used his first appearance before the press to dispute a minimal issue like the inauguration crowd size, and why he used falsehoods to do so, Conway pushed back.

"You're saying it's a falsehood and Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that," she told NBC's Chuck Todd.

She then went on to echo Spicer's claim on Saturday that it wasn't possible to count the crowd, despite Trump's team's accompanying insistence that it was the "largest audience."
"I don't think you can prove those numbers one way or another. There's no way to quantify crowd numbers," Conway said.

Conway also suggested that Todd's insistence on asking why Spicer delivered a demonstrably false statement could affect the White House's treatment of the media.

"If we're going to keep referring to the press secretary in those types of terms I think we're going to have to rethink our relationship here," she said

Bruegel wrote:I've not got much love for May