• Slug: Trump Rally. 1,800 words.
• Photos, captions below.

By Madeline Bates, Matthew DeWees, Emma Paterson and Samuel Travis
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump offered a vision of American renewal as he returns to the White House, along with swift and sweeping changes on immigration, “woke” ideology and the economy.

“The American people have given us their trust and in return we’re going to give them the best first day, the biggest first week and the most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history,” he said.

His inauguration driven indoors by dangerously cold weather, Trump laid out his vision at a victory rally Sunday that previewed the inaugural address he would deliver after taking the oath of office at noon Monday.

“By the time the sun sets” on the first day of his second term “the invasion of our borders will come to a halt,” Trump promised supporters who filled an arena a mile from the White House. “We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history.”

Foul weather stopped the outdoor ceremony but didn’t prevent Trump backers from celebrating.

Under layers of red scarves, red MAGA hats and red, white and blue flags, they braved near-freezing temperatures – waiting for hours to get into a rally at the Capital One Arena as light snow, icy rain and occasional sleet and hail fell.

The line snaked more than a mile as National Guard and local police kept watch.
“It’s important to be out here and show our support for one of the greatest men who’s ever come across this planet,” said David Pautsch as he and his wife waited in the rain with thousands of others to get through security.

“We just need people with sanity enforcing the border,” said Pautsch, a marketing consultant who lives part time in Goodyear, Arizona, and lost a GOP primary for Congress last year in Iowa.

It was 9 a.m. when Fred Fredriksen and his wife lined up – eight hours before Trump was scheduled to speak and four hours before the doors opened. They’d just driven nearly across the country from Gilbert, Arizona.

“I’m really excited about this. This is like major, major history,” he said as they were still a few blocks from the entrance, behind Trump fans who’d gotten an even earlier start.

“We just beat communism without having to go to war with shooting and killing people. That’s what I’m glad about,” he said, referring to Trump’s victory in November over Vice President Kamala Harris and “anyone who is part of the shadow government.”
Trump’s focus on crime linked to illegal immigration resonates with him and many other supporters.

“They’re starting to cause the crime rate to go up all over the place,” Frederickson said – though the FBI’s most recent data showed that murder dropped in the last year to a 20-year low and other violent crimes also dipped. “I just want to see that to go down and get these bad apples out.”

Trump made mass deportations a central promise of his campaign. He vowed Sunday that this policy will be “carried out with historic speed.”

“Our border is an absolute disaster,” said Phoenix resident Anthony Dewitt.

His jacket with the Arizona flag and the name “Kari Lake” reflected his support for the former newscaster who lost races for governor in 2022 and U.S. Senate in November. Trump wants Lake to run the government-owned broadcaster Voice of America.

“The last four years our nation has been through difficult times. A lot of issues. I wanted to be in person to see this transition happen and to see this huge moment,” DeWitt said.

The architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policies during his first term, Stephen Miller, warmed up the rally crowd, promising a new “golden age” for America starting when Trump takes the oath of office for a second time.

“It’s been four long years … of weakness … and embarrassment… and inflation, poverty, incompetence,” he said, adding that America is about to be “proud again,” able to resist foreign bullying and quash a “radical left” agenda that includes the belief there are “435 genders.”

“Accountability is coming. Justice is coming,” he said. “We are about to get our country back and our democracy back. … Donald J. Trump is about to save this country.”

‘Liquid gold’

Around the arena, the slogan “Trump will fix it” rolled across the digital message board.

Brenda Ireton, a delivery driver from Tempe, drove from Arizona and stood in the cold for more than five hours waiting to get through security.

This, she said, is “history in the making and freedom is on its way.”

She has high hopes that Trump’s economic plans will bring down the cost of living
“I actually live out of my vehicle,” she said. “I’ve seen that happen a lot, in Arizona particularly,” Ireton said.

Among the parts of his economic plans he highlighted, Trump reiterated that he will ease restrictions on oil and gas production.

“We are going to unlock the liquid gold that is right under our feet,” he said, drawing enthusiastic cheers.

Charles Jones, a retiree from Phoenix who worked in real estate – the industry that made Trump a billionaire – also made the trek to witness Trump’s return.

“It’s the only president in the whole world that I would want to come and see his inauguration,” Jones said. “Trump rocks. I can’t wait for four more years.”

He shrugged aside concerns that the tariffs Trump threatens to impose on Mexico, Canada, China and other trading partners will drive up U.S. prices. He actually expects higher wages, robust employment and lower prices in the next four years – a combination that rarely coincides.

He also expects Trump to resurrect American pride and ambition.

“We’ve kind of lost our desire to be the best,” he said.

Support from up north

A group of Canadian Trumpers wore bright red hoodie sweatshirts to the rally that read “Maple Syrup MAGA” on the front and “Make Canada Great Again” on the back.

Bev Noel, 66, from Alberta, lost two grown sons to opioid addiction in recent years. She blames President Joe Biden for allowing drugs to flood the continent.

“I truly believe that if that election hadn’t been stolen from Trump, my sons would still be alive,” she said. “Because the things that happen in the United States – they trickle up to Canada.”

Unlike many other Canadians, she’s not offended by Trump’s taunts about turning their nation into the 51st state.

“If I was absorbed by the United States, I really don’t care, because my government has let me down,” Noel said, adding, “I don’t think most Canadians are ready for that. But just wait until they get a little bit hungrier. Maybe then they’ll start thinking twice.”

Crypto dreams

Julian Terrazas from Peoria, Arizona, considers himself an independent but is putting his faith in Trump’s ability to improve the economy. He sees Trump as a boon to cryptocurrency, in particular, and he sees opportunity ahead for investors like himself.

“The last four years for me personally were hard. Everything was so expensive. We were focusing on the wrong priorities. So I really hope and pray that America is back on track,” he said at the rally. “Not perfect, but the best country in the world.”

‘J6 hostages’

Trump drew cheers with a promise that supporters will be “very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages,” signaling that he will pardon or commute the sentences of many of those convicted on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

More than 1,200 of nearly 1,600 defendants charged with storming the Capitol to block certification of Trump’s defeat or related crimes have been convicted. More than 170 of the cases involve attacks on police.

In the crowd at Sunday’s rally, Jamie Crowe, 60, from Hershey, Pennsylvania, wore a yellow cape dedicated to those defendants, with the shorthand “J6” framed by the phrase “Operation Freedom, United We Stand.” It was signed by supporters with such messages as “MAGA warriors” and “Free Ayla!”

“January 6th was not an insurrection,” Crowe said. “It was the United States patriots standing up for their country.”

The Capitol is the “people’s house” and demonstrators had the right to be there to oppose wrongdoing in the 2020 election, she said, adding, “we need justice for all J6 across the country.”

Mixed support

Support for Trump hasn’t necessarily spilled over to his vice president. Ohioan JD Vance served in the Senate for only two years before resigning earlier this month to take up his new job.

“I’ve never heard of him,” said Greg Shepard, a former Arizonan who now lives in New York, expressing concern that Vance lacks the experience to serve as Trump’s understudy. Vance has also put forth “some weird arguments” about government spending and foreign aid, he said.

Very VIP

Tens of thousands of Trump supporters flocked to Washington planning to witness the swearing-in from the steps of the Capitol and the National Mall.

On Friday afternoon, with the forecast calling for a wind chill in the teens, Trump scrapped the outdoor ceremony. But the Capitol Rotunda can only hold a few hundred people. So the rally at the Capital One Arena – home of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards – was as close as most would get.

The inaugural committee booked the same venue for a watch party Monday to accommodate at least some of the supporters who’d come to Washington for the transfer of power.
Among the select few who made the cut for the Rotunda was Tim Savage, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Miami. He and others in his family in Naples, Florida, scored tickets.

“He’s a great leader” and “he’s a businessman, so he runs the country like a business, which at the end of the day it is,” Savage said. “It’s nothing more than connections and who you know, how you conduct yourself.”

Oklahoma GOP chairman Nathan Dahm, waiting at a food stand ahead of Trump’s rally speech, shrugged aside the disappointment of an indoor ceremony that most supporters would have to watch on TV.

“It’s not about pomp and circumstance, it’s not just about inauguration, it’s about getting to work,” he said, adding that he’s eager to turn the page on the Biden era. “I’m seeing the American people realize that things were so much better under Trump.”

Under siege

As he returns to power, Trump’s inner circle projects a sense of victimhood mixed with confidence.

“They tried to bankrupt him, they tried to imprison him” but “our country is back. … America will be feared again,” Trump’s son Eric told the roaring crowd. “The nonsense ends … right now.”

Brother Donald Trump Jr. boasted that their father has learned how to wield power and outmaneuver adversaries and the bureaucracy.

“We can take back our country once and for all,” he said.

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