Donald Trump’s supporters returned to the nation’s capital after four years of exile emboldened, celebratory, and expecting revenge — just like the incoming president himself.
It’s a sign of how everything and nothing has changed in the last four years that extremist Proud Boys were on the march again and January 6 protesters returned to the Capitol.
It was a day of absolution for Trump and everyone in his orbit.
Virjilio Burciaga, a 48-year-old electrician from Anaheim, California, who took part in the protest that ended in the Capitol attack, was returning to the Capitol for the first time since he joined the protests there on January 6, 2021.
“At one point they were seeing us as insurrectionists,” he told The Independent as he braced against a bitter wind in front of the Capitol building. “Now it’s changed to we’re all going to get pardoned. That label has been lifted.”
He and his wife Clara were back and, like Trump, redeemed.
“All these real criminals are being pardoned by this administration and what happened to our J6ers?” Clara asked.
Across town, Proud Boys spewed conspiracy theories about the attack and waved flags with the words “The Proud Boys did nothing wrong.” Hours later the group’s leader, Enrique Tarrio, who received one of the harshest sentences for the Capitol attack after being convicted of seditious conspiracy, was in the process of being released.
The last time this many red MAGA hats descended on Washington DC, American democracy faced a mortal threat. Four years have passed, and the same may be true again.
Many of those who braved the winter storm to celebrate Trump’s return shared the same view, even if it wasn’t their primary concern.
“I think that the people there on January 6, even though they couldn’t know it, they got the feeling there was fraud,” said Reagan Smelkinson, 24.
“And you’ve never seen punishment for a protest like that ever. They touched the hand of the king and they didn’t like that so much so they brought the hammer down.”
Trump’s unlikely political comeback from that day is due in no small part to a reimagining of his attack on democracy and of his chaotic first term — a case of history being written by the winners.
His second inauguration on Monday was proof that his gambit had worked.
Trump’s first arrival in DC was greeted by mass protests, this time around, the nation’s capital seemed to give itself completely to him.
A brutal winter chill emptied the streets of its residents, giving the MAGA faithful the run of the city. Red hats streamed down the city’s wide avenues and packed the bars and restaurants to crowd around televisions showing ceremonies across the city. Trump’s face was everywhere, his familiar droning voice, too. They cheered his lines in between nachos.
Stalls selling all manner of Trump schmatta were dotted along every sidewalk. Flags, pins, badges, hats — all apparently designed with the singular intention of making liberals angry. One of the most popular t-shirts on sale contained only the words: “I’m back, bitches.”
Corporations were eager to pay homage, too. Crypto billboards appeared to have been strategically placed around the arena where Trump spoke; Amazon, run by the incoming president’s new friend, Jeff Bezos, purchased every other billboard in the city.
Black SUVs carrying VIPs sped past on empty streets from one gilded hall to another. The billionaires and establishment figures who had stayed away the first time were back and in the front row.
Power is intoxicating, and the city seemed drunk on it.
Many of Trump’s supporters were there to celebrate in any way they could. Trump’s team canceled the outdoor ceremony due to the frigid temperatures, leaving many to wander around somewhat aimlessly.
The entire downtown area was turned into a maze of checkpoints, only adding to the confusion. National Guard soldiers from across the country were scattered around at intersections fielding questions.
Thousands lined up for hours to get into the Capitol One Arena, where an indoor parade was to replace the outdoor one. Many queued all day in the freezing cold only to be turned away. A big pile of handbags and backpacks lay outside of the main security gate to the arena, left there by rallygoers who were told they could not bring them inside the arena.
A few dozen hung around in view of the Capitol rubbing their hands and staring towards to house of American democracy.
Jeff Gehbauer, 64, sat in what appeared to be some kind of thermal camouflage outfit, taking it all in.
“I’m here just to celebrate this man being elected president again, really against some pretty long odds to say the least,” he said.
“I’ve been very fed up in the last four years and our country has been diminished. So we got principled leadership back in the Oval Office,” he added.
There were none of the same demonstrations that welcomed Trump to DC the first time around. A sole protester held up his sign outside the Capitol.
“Someone’s got to do it,” said Eddy Seger, 74-year-old retired teacher and Air Force veteran. “I’m here to tell the truth and to give a warning. There needs to be a warning label on this inauguration and on this presidency because we know what we’re getting. We’re getting a felon. We’re getting a criminal.”
“People have been fooled or they have sold out, so people of character have to stand up and make their voices heard,” he added.
“What about Hillary Clinton?!” a nearby Trump supporter shouted, sparking an argument that quickly devolved into allegations of pedophilia against the Democratic Party.
Outnumbered and surrounded, the lone protester was asked to leave by police, and Trump’s supporters had the run of the Capitol, and the capital, once more.
