Watch party draws student interest
Trevion McFarland didn’t get on the Trump train until late in the primaries, but said he couldn’t take another four years of broken promises and failed policies.
McFarland, along with around 30 other students and faculty, attended the Inauguration watch party in Carter Hall Friday.
“We should all want President Trump to do well, because if he doesn’t do well, then our country doesn’t do well,” he said. “I think we should support him in his efforts and hope he does well for our nation to succeed.”
McFarland said people need to come together and focus on the future.
“I think people have blown it out of proportion,” he said. “I think he is going to do things in the next four years that should have been done in the last twenty, but people were afraid to say it.”
McFarland said he was looking for somebody strong that would stand up to ISIS and violence against police.
“I think the black community especially has shaped this image of Donald Trump in a negative light and I think they will continue to hate Donald Trump no matter what he does,” he said. “I think if you have hated Donald Trump all the way through, you’re going to continue to hate him for the next four or possibly eight years.”
College Republicans President Daniel McMurtry said he enjoyed the ceremony and thought it was “fantastic.”
“He brought up some good talking points, such as radical Islamic terrorism and he was at least able to name the problem so we will see what he does to eliminate it,” he said.
The 16-minute speech covered topics ranging from immigration to building up the military.
“I think as time passes people are going to realize that the President doesn’t have as much power as they think he does,” he said.
McMurtry said he expects to see freer trade and freer markets that will allow businesses to flourish.
He said he has been more convinced with Trump based on his cabinet picks although he said he was disappointed in Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos and Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson.
Nearly 70 House Democrats boycotted the Inauguration ceremony after Trump went to Twitter to criticize Democratic Representative and Civil Rights activist John Lewis after he claimed Trump was an illegitimate president.
“I thought it was kind of childish honestly,” he said. “It’s pretty much the equivalent of throwing a temper-tantrum. I’m pretty confident the outrage will die down in a little bit, but right now I expect plenty of continued rioting.”