All the Bizarre Things That Happened Sitting With Trump Supporters at the Inauguration

By Lisette Mejia

A man sat next to me counting the number of Facebook "likes" he had gotten on the Facebook photo he posted from Donald Trump's inauguration.

"Fifteen," he told the woman next to him. "But I don't have many Facebook friends — only about 115. And I'll probably lose at least 25 of them today. I don't care, though." He works for the federal government and didn't want to give his name, but said he liked Trump because he wanted a businessman in the White House. And besides, he always roots for the underdogs like Trump.

Speaking of dogs, when a picture of Melania Trump flashed on the screen as she made her way to the ceremony, several men said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Melania," "look at that!" and "now, that's beautiful." The perfect way to treat a first lady — or any lady, really.

Those weren't the only on-the-ground moments you missed from the inauguration; check out some more.

  1. Boos and "lock her up" chants when Hillary Clinton came out. A Trump supporter laughed when he said, "My son said, 'I think I saw her make a play for the podium.'"
  1. Shouts of "drain the swamp" when former President Barack Obama came out.
  2. Comments like "Can't wait to see some class back in the White House" and "Bye, bye" when Michelle Obama arrived.
  3. Trump looking mad when he walked to the ceremony. "He's probably like, 'What am I getting myself into?'" joked a supporter.
  1. More boos when Bernie Sanders appeared.
  2. Pins like this one, worn by Steve Mitchell, who lives in the DC area. He said he liked Trump's "overall message about getting the country back to where it should be." When asked what specifically about Trump's message appealed to him, he said, "Foreign relations — I like how he's willing to talk to people. I don't want to go to war with Russia."
  1. Shouts of "go to hell" when protesters broke out during Trump's swearing-in.

Cheers of course erupted during Trump's speech, which was recycled from his campaign talks when he painted the US as a dark place riddled with crime and gangsters and drugs and terrorism that only he could fix. By this point, many people were wearing ponchos; the rain had started the second Trump was sworn in. After his address, a rabbi took the stage and said that in many cultures, rain is considered a good sign.

But a black man dressed in a suit and leather newsboy cap nearby had a different feeling about the rain: "Those are God's tears," he said.

— Additional reporting by Irina Dvalidze