'Our moment has arrived': Connecticut Republicans cheer Trump inauguration
Hartford — As Donald Trump stepped toward the podium, there was a definite feeling of victory inside the fourth-story office.
On one wall, a calendar had only one event on it for the month of January: On Jan. 20 the letters "MAGA," an acronym for Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again," was written in bold red letters and circled.
One man moved closer to the television screen, which was displaying Fox News' inauguration coverage, to snap a picture of the new president with his phone. A woman pumped both her arms in the air.
With eyes glued to the TV, Nicholas Stone, 33, finance director for the Connecticut Republican Party, said aloud, "Our moment has arrived. Hallelujah."
That was the tone inside the state GOP headquarters Friday as about 20 people gathered to watch Trump be sworn in as the 45th president.
For Stone of East Hartford, Friday couldn't have come fast enough. "A lot of us have been waiting around with baited breath," he said.
Stone was hopeful Trump would pursue a pro-growth agenda, a lower and simpler tax system, and soften regulations on businesses. He called Connecticut a "bull's eye" for an anti-growth and anti-business environment.
"Nobody knows as badly as Connecticut knows how Democrats need to come out of power," he said.
Mary Ann Turner, longtime committee woman for the Enfield Republican Town Committee, erupted in "yesss" after Trump said that the day was about "transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people."
Before the inauguration began, Turner — who, when asked her age, replied "old enough" — said she wants Trump to tackle the economy, specifically tax issues, and immigration.
As for the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have vowed to repeal as their first order of business in the new Congress, Turner said she didn't think the law would be repealed, but would be tweaked instead.
It was Trump's remark that the U.S. has spent "trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay" that riled those standing near David Lewis by the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in the Capitol.
Lewis, a former member of District 4 of the Waterford Representative Town Meeting, said he hopes Trump will get more people working again.
"I know of a few in the banking industry who have found it tough in the last year to find jobs," he said.
Lewis, who said he works for a major bank in New York, now lives in Fairfield during the week and spends time in Waterford on the weekends and summers. Trump's inauguration was the first he's attended. He went with current Waterford Representative Town Meeting member and friend Francisco Ribas, he said.
Kevin Brown, the Mohegan Tribal Council chairman, and his brother Mark, a former tribal chairman and current council member, attended the inauguration, as did Chuck Bunnell, the tribe's chief of staff.
Bunnell said the tribal contingent, including their guests, had "excellent" seats for the event, courtesy of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat.
Asked to describe the atmosphere, Bunnell said he found it "hopeful."
"As Kevin said, it was a historic event," Bunnell said. "To see a nation transition peacefully says a lot about who we are as a people and what our democracy is all about. As someone who spent his career in the military, Kevin can tell you that's not always the way power transitions."
The Mohegan contingent had joined tribal leaders from across the country Thursday at a meeting with a half-dozen members of the Trump transition team. Bunnell said preserving tribal sovereignty and tribal rights dominated the discussion.
"It was very encouraging that they would meet with us 24 hours before taking office," Bunnell said.
The Brown brothers "and their significant others" were to attend an inaugural ball Friday night at the National Museum of the American Indian, according to Bunnell.
Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons said he was not planning to attend any of the balls or parties, but did travel to the capital for the inauguration.
Despite "pockets of demonstration," Simmons said the larger audience consisted of "middle-class families, middle-age families with children, older people, veterans, folks like that who are really here to support what is as close as America comes to a revolution, a change in power, similar to (John) Kennedy in the '60s and (Ronald) Regan in the '80s."
Simmons, who didn't make it to his seat and said he preferred to "mix and mingle with the crowd," watched the inauguration with a crowd of people just off of Massachusetts Avenue.
Given Trump's business background, he should have "the knowledge, the ability, the skill and the connections to begin to move our economy in the right direction, to begin to keep jobs here as opposed to exporting them aboard," Simmons said.
He also hopes Trump will secure the Mexican border "so that people have some confidence that their jobs will not be taken away by somebody who's undercutting them economically and may not even be here legally."
Back at GOP headquarters in Hartford, Harold Harris, 70, was wearing a red hat and buttons with the words "Donald Trump" and "my president" on them, which, he said, he got made in response to the "not my president" chants by protesters following the election.
A small-business owner from Glastonbury, Harris said that while he doesn't agree with Trump on everything, he thinks the new president will be better for the economy. And when the economy is good, everything else falls into place, he said.
Day Staff Writer Brian Hallenbeck contributed to this report.
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