U.S. Inauguration Day in 2009 (Left) and 2017 (Right)

If you were near the Capitol, you were likely dealing with Capitol Hill police. I worked there for seven years and can vouch first-hand, as an extremely anti-cop person, that they were almost always good, helpful, non-power-trippy people. They were on-guard at all times as their only job was guarding the Capitol, so they were used to dealing with all sorts.
- Capitol police training and oversight for the entire nation when
Before I could step away, one of them grabbed my shoulder and screamed “fuck you fake news!” and pushed me.
I know, no use for asking logic or coherent thoughts here. But - why would you be there if you made all up anyway?
- They know it is not fake, they say things like that as a mnemonic aid. Like a Homeric epithet. He's reminding his pals that they all hate the news as he attacks a press person.

Images like this show why it's so important to vote

No, no, no… The orange man has assured me that it was the biggest crowd of all time. Probably more people than had ever been in one place at the same time. And he surely wouldn’t lie to me.

Don’t worry he wasn’t lying to you, he was just presenting alternative facts .
- Literally (news coverage of) day one of his term, and KAC coined a term that defined the entire administration.

Now imagine how big the crowd would be for Harris!

Or don't.

Because until 2017, nobody gave a crap about the size of the crowd. Normal Presidents have had more important things to think about in their first 100 days in office.

I only care because I know it pisses Trump off.
- Know what pisses him off even more? Not mentioning his name.

Voting Vs "My vote doesn't matter anyways." or "They're all the same anyways."

And for those of you who are in a similar situation as me, where your presidential vote for the most part doesn't matter (Trump's going to win by a minimum of 15 points in my state), your votes on down ballot issues do matter.
Local and state elections are where change starts. So get out there and vote, even if it's mostly doing harm reduction.
- The same is true for blue states.
  If your vote is not important because your state is locked in on a presidential candidate, local issues / candidates are worth voting on. They can have a more direct impact on your day to day.
- I'm gonna piggyback on this to make a related point:
  If you take it down from +15 points to +14 points, that's gonna cost the GOP more money next time around. You don't have to win your state to make an impact. If you can make it more expensive to win your state, that takes funds away from their campaigns in other states.
  (And if you make it cheaper for Democrats to win your state, that frees up funds for campaigns in other states.)
- you could also vote for a different president candidate, like "none of the above" while voting for a local candidate you do like.

2021 had very few people because of corona.

2021 had very few people because of corona
Just another day of Biden supporters repeating claims trump supporters used to make.
Biden didn't get elected because people wanted him to be president, he got elected because in the general he was the only option not named trump.
Expecting him to draw a crowd like 08 Obama is just ridiculous
- They actively discouraged people from coming because of corona. That's why it isn't comparable.
- To be fair, in 2008 Obama and Hillary Clinton were viable candidates (despite not being a white Christian rich man) because the US public was really tired of Republican shennanigans, and of the Bush administration specifically. While McCain seemed reasonable Sarah Palin was scary and the McCain campaign took its cues from the ur-Maga Karl Rove / Tea-Party Republican talking points, who were only onto public benefits if no-one else got them.
  Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for simply not being ~~Trump~~ Bush and admitted as much it was rather silly when he promised to work to rise to the level of deserving it.
  Sadly, Obama retained a lot of Bush policies and was more neoliberal than we needed.
  I really thought after Bush, we'd never vote for a Republican president again, nor would we allow one to win by the EC. I was wrong and the US paid for it dearly. So I'm really sore and bitter about the whole affair.
- but whatabout
  Get some new material you shameless hack.
  Don't reply, just downvote you coward

Here's Obama's from SPAAAAAAAACE
https://content.satimagingcorp.com/static/galleryimages/geoeye-1-obama-inauguration-2009.jpg

I've never been there, but I know my way around thanks to division 2
- I went there right after playing Fallout 3. It was eerily familiar. Looks way better in person.
So strange to see gathered humans as piles of ash. What a view.
Wait, there's another satellite at bottom left.

Surprised at how ugly the area is.

It's prettier in the spring and summer
- Why not have election in spring then?
Yeah, it's definitely no Paris or Rome. But it's a little better in the spring and summer.

harris's will be more packed than obama's

I mean, I watched bush's inauguration as a kid, and was stoked for Obama's having voted in my first presidential election.
Purely based on "middle aged white guy=mid numbers" and "first black president=large numbers" I feel that "first Woman, and second POC" will mean bigly numbers.
If it's not, I'll be amazed.

I was pretty sure it was gonna be a shit show as soon as the election results came in, but the fact the dumbass lied so obviously and pathetically only hours into his term really ironed in how fucked the next four years were gonna be.

I was one of those idiots going back and watching old Trump interviews and thinking, “Well, see, this dude can’t be the total idiot he’s putting on display today. Maybe he’s playing some crazy game and he won’t be as bad as he looks like he’s going to be.”
That lie made it clear to me that my stupid theory was no good. He won, there was no point in playing a character.
He got fame and attention for being exactly what he is. He doesn’t need to be anything else.

There were more protesters at Trump's event than supporters

Some of those people are still facing legal trouble too. Look out for your comrades.
There were also massive numbers of protesters at other events. Too bad it wasn't a general strike.

I was at George W.'s inauguration with a school group, and it wasn't as packed as Obama's but it blew Trump's out of the water, and it was cold and windy AF.

I was at George W.'s inauguration
Washington? Wow.
- must has been the second one
  **

Reminds me of Spicy’s first presser…. His tone and attitude had me immediately realize the next 4 years would be rough…

Spicey, the man who got fired because SNL mocked him. Melissa McCarthy with that motorized podium was amazing. It was almost too good, because it killed the golden calf that would have given them a ton of material.

OP sjmarf, I tried to feel you out a bit, hard to get a read on your age based on your comment history. But I gather you live in the UK. Idk if you've always lived there, or immigrated.

I was a younger American at the time of 2009 Inauguration, but I can tell you the general feeling in the air that day: fucking excitement. It was truly electric; whether you were for or against Obama, you're just kind of forced to take a few steps back & go... Wow. America has officially elected a black President. It was unprecedented, it was almost kind of strange because you've got people always screaming about how racist America can be. But there we were. Obama was handsome. Charismatic. Hell, if I were in town, I probably would have been there, too. Just for the sheer spectacle of it all & witnessing history unfold.

Going from that to another white (/orange) man taking the office, kinda old hat, kinda business as usual. I'm telling you, there's simply no honest way to compare the two events.

I also want to take a moment & say thank you for your content creation & possibly upkeep on the Lemmy platform. I had to filter out your posts, there's so much material you've contributed. Thanks. 👍🏻

Electing the first Oompa Loompa should be an event too.
- He keeps the chocolate in his diaper.

Was that photo taken at the very peak of impeached ex-president’s crowd?

Course, even if it was, we’re still comparing apples…

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to oranges

Sean Spicer needing to defend Trump's absurd claim about attendance to keep his job was delightful TV.

The lies started on day one and kept on going. My grandmother was a narcissist and a pathological liar. Trump reminds me of her quite a bit....

Obviously, all the people on the right wearing camouflage. That's why we can't see them. /s

The biggest crowds, the best crowds 🤌

When people get into large, really really large, crowds, I can't help but see them as a horde of bugs.

The trees are being generous in the second photo

I suspect Capitol Hill is just not where Trump voters live, so they did not have the opportunity to go there easily. Also he is not a great speaker and he is just another old white male president, no one assumed it would be an opportunity to attend to a historical event.

They had no problem showing up en mass on Jan 6 😉
- Hey! They saved up their own welfare money and descended from the Appalachian hills without any damn govmint handouts those damn libs want to give to all the illegal immigrants who vote multiple times via mail in votes.
  You /sheep are insane.
- Good point ! 😆