Cameron Swartz ‘28 is pursuing a Government and Economics major. He is a member of the Club Golf team and Jefferson Pre-Law Society. Contact him at cmswartz@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
Hours before the 2025 presidential inauguration was moved inside, I made the impulsive decision to buy train and bus tickets to and from Washington, D.C. Donald Trump is now our 47th President. Here, I will detail what I saw there.
After arriving in Williamsburg the night before, I asked three of my friends if they had any questions about the inauguration I could answer by being there. One, who was enthusiastic about Trump’s win, said he wanted to know if Trump would address his status as a controversial public figure in his inaugural address. Another friend of mine, who was unhappy and worried about Trump’s win, said she had no more questions to ask — they had all been answered. The last friend I asked was indifferent to the election, saying she felt disillusioned with politics, and wanted to know if there would be political violence. I sought to spend some time in D.C. to answer these questions, however simple the retort might be. The answers to both my friends’ questions were an emphatic no.
It is apparent to me that inauguration day is a day of tradition, however close to or far from it the country has come. The election happened months ago; January 20 is just the constitutionally-designated day our government recognizes the already-altered concentration of political power. The changes we’ve seen in the execution of the inauguration are emblematic of the changes we’ve seen in politics over the past ten years. The break — and subsequent reattachment — to tradition we’ve seen from tea time to morning church sessions is similar to the change in the tradition of how the public feels about their elected officials. In 2020, the American people voted for a return to tradition, the days of old: when presidents were career politicians, and they spent their entire lives in politics. Across the world in 2024, people voted against incumbents: shifting away from the political establishment and grasping towards right-wing populist leaders. In the United States, 2024 was the third cycle in a row where the incumbent candidate lost. Kind of like how inaugural committees have decided yes, no and then yes again on having tea with the outgoing administration. Is this a causal relationship? No. Is it interesting? Yes. I’m thinking of these similarities in a ‘does art imitate life or does life imitate art?’ sort of way, which is captivating nonetheless.
This next part contradicts my analysis of the specific people I interacted with in D.C., because taking in the atmosphere as a whole, it felt like a strange place to be.
I didn’t think there would be such an ominous feeling in the air due to my feelings about the inauguration, but there very much was. Because of the plans to move the inauguration inside, the supporters who traveled cross-country to witness the swearing-in had nowhere to go. After stepping off the train, I followed a number of red-hat masses who were trying to find a way to get into the Capital One Arena for about an hour and a half.
The process of getting there, the process of exiting and the process of determining who had the right to enter the 20,000-seat stadium out of the 240,000 ticketed spectators was all unclear. This should have been, and was, expected due to the last-minute changes to the day’s schedule, but it was still my experience nonetheless.
Traveling to D.C. clarified something for me: I don’t believe the country is as divided as I thought it might be. That’s why this article isn’t a partisan piece about who I did or didn’t vote for, or who you should or shouldn’t have voted for. Instead, I wanted to write about the value in finding commonality with people you don’t necessarily agree with. From when I got off the train to when I left the city on an Arlington FlixBus, I counted fourteen people who shouted, “Go Pack Go!” after seeing my Green Bay Packers beanie. Yes, it’s true that us Packers fans travel well and show out for the most underrated team in the NFL — but if something as irrelevant as a sports team can start a conversation, I know it doesn’t take much more thought to find a common interest with someone you don’t know.
There were people selling Trump-Vance merch on every corner of every city block in D.C. when I was there. They didn’t watch or listen to the inauguration ceremony. I have a newfound respect for the t-shirt salesmen now — they aren’t evil or radical — they’re entrepreneurs, ready to capitalize on wealthy Trump supporters’ most passionate emotions for monetary gain. A true ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game’ scenario.
From my experience in D.C. to my experience canvassing in Williamsburg, to my experience growing up in ever-controversial Palm Beach County, Florida, I’m finally starting to learn that most people in America want the same thing. The average American wants the economy to do well so they can make money for a good living. They want personal autonomy to be able to speak, move and act freely. They want their family to be safe and healthy. That’s about it. But the way our system is outlined, politics are the topics that invoke people’s deepest emotions. 24-hour news networks and social media sites capitalize on making you feel something and in order to get the most views covering the news, fear sells better than happiness.
That said, I don’t feel less apathetic than before I left for D.C. Maybe that’s part of why I made this trip subconsciously: I don’t think it’s rare to feel disassociated from showing a passion for politics. Politicians’ job is to promise you the world, and it’s easy to attach yourself to an idea or selling point if they succeed. I’ve witnessed this at home as my county and the greater state of Florida have gone through a large cultural and political shift in my lifetime. I’ve witnessed this at school in the small microcosm of asking three of my friends who coincidentally also came back from winter break early. And I’ve seen this now in D.C. on inauguration day — making small talk with people there who believed in different things for different reasons made evident how similar everyone really is. We’re not divided and bifurcated like our sources of information lead you to believe.
If there’s any takeaway to these complex and contradictory feelings, I’d say it’s this: don’t feel doomed. When people feel alienated and can’t find commonality with the other side, we’re divided. Keep talking, discussing and deliberating, especially with people you don’t know or agree with, because that’s the only thing that keeps democracy together.