Donald Trump supporters who attended the president’s inauguration parade at Capital One Arena in downtown D.C. on Monday shared their experiences braving the cold in the nation’s capital.
Trump supporters told Fox News Digital they arrived as early as 4:30 a.m. Monday and stood for hours in the cold weather to secure a seat at the arena for the inaugural parade, noting that the line to get in had already formed by the time they arrived bright and early. Reports indicated that supporters had begun lining up as early as the night before. The parade got moved indoors amid concerns about the cold weather, but one supporter noted that it wasn’t as cold as she had expected.
‘This morning we got up at 4. We got on the train at 5 [in the morning] and got here, and already the line was forming,’ a supporter who traveled from Texas said. ‘We stayed in the cold weather for five hours.’
‘We got here [Sunday] night, but we stayed closer to the airport just to not fight traffic,’ added Kaitlin Rogers, who traveled from Delaware. ‘Ubered in, got here at what? 6:30 [in the morning]? Stood in line for four and a half hours.’
Gina Raper, a Trump fan from North Carolina, said she arrived as early as Friday to attend Trump’s Sunday rally ahead of the formal swearing-in ceremony and ‘stood out all day in the rain’ to secure a seat there as well.
‘We were there 5 o’clock yesterday morning and stood out all day in the rain. We got in, it was awesome,’ said Raper. ‘Then we were there at, like, 4:30 or 5 this morning, all day.’
When asked if their experience was worth braving the cold, the answer was a resounding yes.
‘We’re so thankful,’ Raper said after gaining entrance to Capital One Arena on Saturday.
‘It wasn’t as cold as we thought it was going to be. It was definitely worth the wait,’ added Andrea Rogers, who was traveling with Kaitlin from Delaware. ‘We are so happy to be here.’
When asked what they hope to see out of the new Trump administration, the supporters who spoke to Fox News Digital highlighted Trump’s plans to secure the border and ‘rebuild’ the military. One supporter said he was hoping to see the new Trump administration challenge the pharmaceutical and food industries, which are priorities of Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
‘Good leaders train good leaders, and he’s got the best team I have ever – well, everybody would agree, everybody in America – this is the best team,’ said Raper.
‘Trump will fix it!’ one supporter said.