ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
With the inauguration indoors, President Trump moved his parade and viewing to a new venue too. While the swearing in and inaugural address took place at the U.S. Capitol, supporters gathered at Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., not far from the National Mall. NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben is there. Hi, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Hey there.
SHAPIRO: You spent all day at the arena and, this afternoon, an event that replaced the traditional parade from the Capitol to the White House, culminating in a speech from President Trump. He then signed some executive actions. What did he do exactly?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, he signed a stack of actions, nine of them, including one order withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, another freezing federal hiring, another freezing federal regulations. Now, these are fresh. It's going to take some time to understand what some of these will do and how they'll be put into practice. One, for example, is about, quote, "restoring freedom of speech and ending government censorship." It accuses the Biden administration of censoring speech online. The action's language says the Trump administration will, quote, "identify and take appropriate action to correct" instances where freedom of speech was abridged. But we don't know exactly what that means. We're going to be dissecting them in the coming days.
But zooming out here, this was an all-day event. People entered the arena this morning. They watched a livestream of the swearing in. They hung around for some speeches, the parade and until this evening, when Trump finally got here. It has been a long day.
SHAPIRO: And I know it's winding down now, but earlier today, what did the people you spoke with say? What is the mood among Trump supporters?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, happy as you would guess. Now, as with any Trump rally, people waited a long time to get in. Here's one who I spoke to in line for coffee this morning in the arena. His name is Wade Lamberson. He's 24, and he's from Arkansas.
WADE LAMBERSON: So I got here at 12:30 a.m., and I have not slept. That's why I'm in the line for coffee (laughter).
KURTZLEBEN: Now, he also told me this thing I've heard from several supporters, which is that Trump's win this time means even more than in 2016. The idea is that this win wasn't just about winning votes, but about defeating what supporters perceive as powerful anti-Trump forces.
LAMBERSON: It's more about that. Not about, like, just having an opponent and beating them fair and square, but, like, against the odds, right? Things are kind of - we believe things are set up against him.
KURTZLEBEN: The overwhelming feeling among Wade and also among other supporters is what you can describe as that Trumpian (ph) anger, defiance, but with a heavy layer of joy over it. There's this idea that they're the underdogs. They're embattled, but they won anyway.
SHAPIRO: You watched his inaugural address there with his supporters in the arena. What stood out to the crowd? What lines did they especially cheer at?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, especially anything about immigration. There was a point where Trump said he'd declare an emergency at the border. That got big cheers. Definitely one of the biggest cheers came on a point he made about there being only two genders. Now, that reflects Trump rallies I've been to because any mention at any rally of there being two genders or mention of who should be able to play girls' or women's sports, those always got huge cheers at rallies.
And one of my biggest takeaways from sitting through this whole day here, though, is that this is just no longer the conservative party that many of us used to know. It's a party that promotes tariffs, not free trade. It's also a party with a lack of continuity. Now, early in the day, the crowd watched the livestream as people arrived to the inauguration. And former Vice President Mike Pence got booed, former President George W. Bush got booed. What this really means is that this party is firmly Trump's GOP now.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Thank you so much.
KURTZLEBEN: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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