On Jan. 20, tens of thousands of people flooded Washington, D.C. to watch the pomp and circumstance of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Local law enforcement agencies estimated that more than 200,000 people had tickets to the inauguration. This turnout follows an election where Trump made notable inroads with many demographics, including Gen Z voters. 

In a last-minute change due to dangerously cold temperatures, the ceremony was moved indoors to the United States Capitol Rotunda for the first time since 1985. The rest of the crowd was directed to D.C.’s Capital One Arena for a live broadcast of the inaugural ceremonies followed by the presidential parade, which featured an appearance from Trump himself. Though there is no official attendance tally, the Capital One Arena has a maximum capacity of just over 20,000, which means many of these attendees began the day knowing they would be unable to attend any of the officially scheduled events. 

100 Days in Appalachia spent the day with the crowd to get a glimpse of the Americans that were motivated to turn out in subzero temperatures to celebrate what they view as an inauguration of a new era. As revealed in these interviews, they are not just observing an election, this is something more personal, even biblical to some. 
As Trump moves to enact an unprecedented numberofsweepingexecutiveorders within these first few days of his presidency, we will cover the impacts of this administration and the reverberation it will have within Appalachian communities going forward. Here is Day One.

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