Washington DC residents flee ahead of Trump inauguration: 'I can't be here'

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Source: The Guardian

Fri 17 Jan 2025 14.00 EST
Last modified on Fri 17 Jan 2025 14.03 EST


Alejandra Whitney-Smith has plans for president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week: spend a week in a cabin without technology. “It [inauguration weekend] coincides with my birthday weekend, which I usually do spend in DC, but when the election happened, I told myself, ‘Oh, no, I can’t be here,’” said Whitney-Smith, whose mother was working at the Library of Congress during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021. “I just remember that feeling of fear for her and then also just concern for me being in the city.

I just knew for me – I didn’t want to be around that sort of hostile negative energy.” The DC resident said she will hunker down in a cabin with four friends during inauguration weekend and do some vision boarding, reflection and reconnection. As for the re-election of Trump, she says it, “represents the ugly side of America that people don’t want to acknowledge”. “I guess I maybe mistakenly had a lot of faith that people saw what happened during the first administration and I figured we as a country wouldn’t regress,” said Whitney-Smith, who works as an attorney. “But I also know the reality of living in this country as a Black woman.

As much as I wanted Harris to win, there was something in me that still told me that America is not ready for their first Black woman president. Not only that, she was running against Donald Trump who has an almost cult-like following that is so powerful.” While Whitney-Smith and some DC residents continue to process a second Trump presidency and prefer to be away from the city, many conservatives and Republican supporters are excited about the upcoming inauguration. Hotels in the city were 70% booked as of Wednesday and fetching between $900 to $1,500 a night.

Despite holding the highest office in the nation, Trump has consistently distanced himself from Washington DC both physically and ideologically. He was beaten by former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley in the District of Columbia’s Republican primary election and polled only 6.6% against Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in the general election.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/17/trump-inauguration-washington-dc-residents-leave