Our dynamic duo arrived in Washington for Inauguration Day with little traffic and found a desolate city. In their fourth day on the road, WNYC's Arun Venugopal and Matt Katz went to two college campuses to watch President Donald Trump's speech.
"Things seemed empty and somber," Katz told host Jami Floyd. "I hung out with two students who told me that, in fact, many students left for the weekend rather than experience this historic moment."
To end our trip to the inaugural, @arunNYC & I sat on George Washington's lap. Hear all our #WNYCtoDC stories here: https://t.co/nKgmGHZ0o5 pic.twitter.com/uK0hBUFyTr
— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) January 20, 2017
Katz watched the inauguration with some students at George Washington University, who said that despite the hateful rhetoric leading to the election and all the false information floating around online, facts still matter and they wished Trump a successful presidency.
Venugopal headed to Howard University hoping to find some students for a watch party, but found it desolate. He did come accross some prospective students. Their chaperone, Joseph Haynes, told Arun he had no interest in watching the ceremony.
"I don’t feel like the person who’ll be taking office... has my interests in mind, or people who look like me, or for communities that are disadvantaged," Haynes said. "So why even entertain that concept?"
Picked up hard-copy of The Washington Post for this arresting image from @OBEYGIANT to mark the Trump era. #WNYCtoDC pic.twitter.com/CdYvv9Fm1Q
— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) January 20, 2017
Venugopal said others echoed that feeling of being ignored or left out. At a local barbershop he spoke to a man who goes by Pop, who told him president Trump had to be the people's president.
"And that means everybody," Pop said. "Red, white, pink, blue, brown, black."