The Trump era has begun!  That’s what the news media are telling us.  The Trump era actually began over a year and a half ago when Donald J. Trump, a not so ordinary American citizen, rode down an escalator and announced his candidacy for President of the United States of America from his Trump Tower.  His victory is extraordinary, but if you ask people like me, people like those in the mid west, people from the Deep South, people from every state in the union that volunteered and voted for him – we all knew that he would win. We knew that he had to win, otherwise the America we love would be lost.  So many of us are women, people of color, people who own small businesses, people who work for a living, people with children and grand children who were in DC for the very first time just to  witness this historic moment.

While all of the Trump supporters gathered in DC and around the country for their inauguration parties and deplorable balls, women and girls wearing pink knitted caps with pointed corners that resembled devilish horns, gathered around the country too to defend the America that they value carrying placards with slogans, many fairly profane and vile, but almost all fervently against Donald J. Trump.

Euphoria was so palpable in front of the Capitol and through the streets of political DC for the few days leading up to the inauguration.  Friendly people from all over the country excited about the balls, the sightings of Trump’s motorcade, the welcome concert on the mall in front of the Lincoln monument, the parade.  Most of the people we spoke to had never done anything like this before.  But they all had worked hard or voted for Trump and the  prospect of his slogan being made real – to make America great again!  Police officers and barricades multiplied by the day leading up to the inauguration.

On Inauguration Day, in our seating area, up close to the balcony, as Senator Hillary Clinton’s arrival was introduced, one person shouted out “lock her up”. As Senator Charles Schumer spoke, you could hear the roaring of boos, rolling and rolling like thunder from the back of the mall forward.  As President elect Trump took his oath of office, you could hear one lone voice shouting and then silenced.  There was no rain until the oath was finished. We all put on our ponchos as the light sprinkles began like a baptism, as Trump shed the term “elect” and became the 45th President.

The cheers were deafening as the Trump supporters applauded and shouted “Drain the Swamp”.  Smiles were so large, it was hard to imagine that anyone could be disappointed with our new President.

The inaugural balls were highly anticipated, but the lines to get in were frightening as protestors joined hand in hand blocking the streets and entrances and spitting upon the men in their tuxedos.  Police lined the streets outside the Freedom and Liberty Balls at the convention center.

The day after the inauguration  we went to the train station for  New York City and were blocked in our Uber by protestors gathering in DC.  In New York, we witnessed the pink capped protestors who dropped all their paper placards and littered  the streets around Trump Tower in piles and in the gutters to be cleaned up.

There will still be some that whisper of their Trump support and others who will cheer vocally, as others plot his downfall every day for the next four years.  It’s an amazing country that we live in and I expect that it will continue to be resilient and I truly believe that Donald J. Trump will make America greater than ever before.