{"id":18667,"date":"2017-01-24T15:20:31","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T20:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=18667"},"modified":"2020-03-26T03:45:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:45:02","slug":"a-canadian-observes-the-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2017\/01\/24\/a-canadian-observes-the-inauguration\/","title":{"rendered":"A Canadian observes the inauguration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Surreal<\/a>

Donald Trump arriving at the\u00a0inauguration ceremony. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

On Inauguration Day, I was an outsider observing from within. Like many Canadians, I was enjoying some Florida sunshine when Donald Trump officially became President of the United States. Presidential inaugurations don\u2019t happen in Canada. Our Prime Ministers are sworn in at fairly reserved ceremonies where the Governor-General presides as the representative of the Queen. Hundreds–not thousands of people may<\/em> gather outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa. There are no parades, no musical performances, and no glitzy parties.<\/p>\n

In the days leading up to the inauguration, I had overheard conversations and chatted with people in Florida about the upcoming event. \u00a0I never raised the issue on purpose. \u00a0I just kept my eyes and ears open as a “fly on the wall.”.<\/p>\n

While waiting for a table at a busy restaurant, I overheard a a woman ask another woman\u00a0if she planned to watch the inauguration on TV. \u201cI\u2019ll tune in and out, but I don\u2019t want to see people acting like a**holes and shooting each other,\u201d she said. The woman added, \u201cI read on Facebook that hoping Trump fails as President is like hoping a plane crashes and we\u2019re all on it.\u201d She told her friend that Mr. Trump is not hostile towards women and gay people like many believe.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

On the day before the inauguration, I was at the visitor center of a nature preserve where I went to see some alligators and unique bird life up close. A grandmotherly volunteer behind the desk asked, \u201cDid you come down here to laugh at our new President?\u201d I said no, and that I was trying to avoid discussing him with Americans because I didn\u2019t want to get into arguments with anyone. I was there for a vacation. \u201cI like your Prime Minister,\u201d the woman said about Justin Trudeau. I noted that he is facing controversies of his own. \u201cWell, he just seems like he tries to get along with everyone,\u201d she responded.<\/p>\n

On the big day itself, I watched events unfold on TV while staying with a good friend at his parents\u2019 condo. He\u2019s an aficionado of all things political and was keenly watching the ceremony assemble in Washington. \u201cThis is very surreal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Major events usually have that feeling, whether they are political ones or otherwise. Later that day though, the inauguration seemed far from the minds of people I saw. Nobody was talking about it in the line at an Orlando-area buffet. Parents who looked like they had spent a long day at Disney World with the kids looked more concerned about taking tired tykes back to motel rooms than about what was going on in Washington. I was tired too. I had a flight to catch early the next morning. A few hours of sleep seemed easier to obtain\u00a0than an accurate opinion of Americans about their new President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Inauguration Day, I was an outsider observing from within. Like many Canadians, I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[880,20,15816],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18667"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22019,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18667\/revisions\/22019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}