Young voters brave fierce cold to celebrate, protest Trump inauguration

By Andrew Kerley and Sarah Hagen, VCU Capital News Service

Thousands traveled to the nation’s capital on Monday to celebrate or protest President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, despite inclement weather and below-freezing temperatures that pushed the event inside.

Some young voters near the Capitol celebrated the 47th president as the shepherd of the “golden age of America,” while protesters across the city called for Trump’s downfall, carrying a massive puppet of him adorned in devil horns and a forked tongue.

Trump supporters dressed in flashy apparel filled most downtown streets. Some had hats resembling the one worn by the QAnon Shaman who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and others waved Trump ‘24 flags.

Ryan Melillo, a 22-year-old business student at Shorter University in Georgia, stood outside of a barricade that pushed the public away from the Capitol. Over 200,000 tickets were printed before the inauguration was moved to the Capitol Rotunda, with only special guests allowed. Everyone else had to vie for one of the 20,000 seats inside the Capital One Arena located a mile away.

Melillo voted for Trump because he “stands with the Constitution” and believes in God, which is very important to him.

“There’s a lot of young men in college that are going for Trump now,” Melillo said. “Everybody tries to tell us we’re wrong for supporting Trump.”

Melillo is part of the young, white male demographic that helped elect Trump by a 28-point margin, according to research from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Melillo loves to see Elon Musk in Trump’s administration. He hopes the world’s richest man will take humans to Mars, and give Trump pointers on the economy and environment.

“He’s the Tony Stark of our life,” Melillo said.

Just a few hours later, Musk went viral for making a straight-arm hand gesture twice while tapping his heart during a speech at the Capital One Arena. His gesture has been criticized as a Nazi salute and also defended as entirely harmless.

Julianne Mangano, a 24-year-old who works in real estate development in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was taking photos among the crowd outside the Capitol. She is a member of the Young Republicans organization and voted for Trump so she could build her career in a good economy.

Mangano never received a vaccine, and said she shares the same view as her mother who has a “holistic approach” to health. They both believe in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“I think he [Trump] represents hope,” Mangano said. “I think he represents, like he said today, the golden age.”

While Trump supporters paraded through the National Mall, a protest to “defeat Trump’s billionaire agenda” took place at a park known as Malcolm X Park in the northwest end of the city. It was one of many protests held across the country on Inauguration Day, including at Monroe Park in Richmond.

Demonstrators pushed a tall, mock-guillotine with “come get sum” painted on its base. People also advocated for womens’ and LGBTQ+ rights, the protection of undocumented immigrants and the rejection of facism.

Various organizations handed out free food, water, hand warmers and pamphlets on topics such as practicing mutual aid before the crowd of hundreds marched toward the White House.

Makayla Heiser is the 24-year-old campaign manager for CodePink, an anti-war nonprofit working for better health care, education and green jobs — environmentally friendly or conservationist jobs.

Heiser told the crowd that many Trump supporters are not a true enemy, because most of them are also a part of the working class, unlike the technology billionaires who attended the inauguration.

“If you sit with them and you ask them ‘well what do you want?’ They’re gonna say they wanna be able to provide for their families,” Heiser said in an interview after her speech. “A lot of them think that things were cheaper under Trump, so that's why they voted for Trump.”

Heiser, who comes from a small town in Montana, said working class people gravitate to Trump because of “anti-woke, anti-leftist” rhetoric. The gap could possibly be bridged by letting down their barriers, egos and having real conversations, Heiser said.

“People do not come from a place of hate, they come from a place of not understanding and not having exposure,” Heiser said.

Trump said at his inaugural address that he “was saved by God to make America great again” and called Jan. 20, 2025 “liberation day.” He then got to work penning scores of executive orders to help fulfill his campaign promises, though many have already been challenged.