Two buses with very different groups of passengers are traveling overnight from Syracuse to Washington DC for Friday’s inauguration of Donald Trump. Both supporters and protesters want to make a statement. Randy potter admits, even as the CNY for Trump director, he had occasional doubts about whether he’d be witnessing his candidate take the oath of office.
"I did kind of have a feeling about this," Potter said. "I had a good feeling. The gleam was there, the hope was there."
Potter was on a bus of about 43 other supporters going to DC
"It's important to show our support for President Trump. The left is not going to give him a pass on anything," Potter said. "It's going to be a very contentious and acrimonious four years. "
But some feel Trump is to blame for creating that hostility. Sandy Porter is co-captain of a bus taking 40 protesters to the nation's capitol.
"Trump got, if you want to say he got elected, it was based on a campaign of hate, division, lies, half truths tearing Americans apart to get votes."
Ed Trudeau is a native Syracusan who isn’t going to Washington, but supported trump from the beginning.
"I think a lot of people like me recognize he's not a smooth politician," Trudeau said. "He might say the wrong thing, but he's always speaking from his heart."
Trudeau, whose birthday is Friday, is quick to dismiss those who feel the need to protest the inauguration.
"I'm 80 years old. I have never seen this happen before. Never to this degree," Trudeau said. "It's nuts. Come on, folks. It's over. What they're doing is not creating anything good. It's just opposition. I won't use the word bull****.
But Porter says they have to stand up for gender equality, the environment, and economic equality.
"The whole point of protest is because you're not where you want to be, whether that's in the beginning of the process, or anytime along on in the process.”
Also among the protesters will be Rosa Mejias with the Worker’s Center, representing mainly low-wage Hispanic farm workers who fear deportation under a Trump administration.
"Mostly they're afraid because they're going to lose their jobs, and [going] back to the country and not have so much money over there."
She and other Hispanics want to warn Trump and his supporters of the consequences of mass deportation.
"Without us, this country is nothing. The food, the milk, the dairy, all the food people eat on their table mostly [comes from] us that work here.”
Be sure to join WAER for live inauguration coverage from NPR starting Friday morning at 11:00.
