Pauly Denetclaw
ICT
WASHINGTON — It was a frigid, rainy Sunday in Washington, D.C. The weather would eventually turn into hail, then sleet. The line to attend Donald J. Trump’s victory rally on Jan. 19 wrapped around several blocks in the Penn Quarter neighborhood around the Capital One Arena.
The area was heavily patrolled by local police, Secret Service and the National Guard. Cement barricades and tall, black, temporary fences restricted movement.
Under a rainbow umbrella, Michelle Martin, Navajo, was braving the winter weather with her two friends Shealyn Galindo and Frances Mariano, both Navajo. The trio had driven more than 2,000 miles and 30 hours from Bloomfield, New Mexico, in a motorhome to attend the inauguration and watch Trump take his oath of office.
“It is awesome to see people of all colors, all walks of life, here and coming here to support Donald Trump,” Martin said.
Indigenous Trump supporters offered a number of reasons why they championed the 47th president of the United States, from the economy, supporting troops, to restricting women’s bodily autonomy. Their hopes for the upcoming administration is to strengthen the economy, build infrastructure, support tribal sovereignty, funding for Indian Health Service and address illegal immigration.
Martin wore a red knit headband. Trump was written in all caps across the front and underneath it said, “Make America Great Again.” She wore silver cluster earrings with light pink stones.
“Hopefully he’ll hear us when it comes to healthcare. Indian Health Service across the nation getting the funding, and for him to have a working relationship with the new, incoming IHS director — across the cabinet, all of the people that come to represent the Indian nations across the United States,” Martin said.
Martin, Galindo and Mariano are all women of faith. They hope that Trump brings God and faith back to America.
“We are going to pray for our president, because that’s what they tell us in the Bible, pray for your leaders,” she said. “We are loved by God, and we don’t need separation in politics, in any place, even in the workplace.”
Martin does hope that Trump gives people who have immigrated here legally and contribute to this country a chance.
“There are people that were here for a long time, and they work hard. They work and (don’t) just deport them because they come from a different country,” she said.
Later Sunday evening, in a warmer setting, the Navajo Nation Washington Office hosted an inauguration reception to welcome President Donald J. Trump and the 119th Congress. For three hours, Indigenous attendees and allies from across the country gathered on the 9th floor of the American Psychology Association building next to Union Station.
The atmosphere was light and jovial. August Remedy, a Navajo gospel band, played music in the background.
New faces and some familiar like Arizona Rep. Eli Crane, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren Navajo Nation Speaker of the House Crystalyne Curley, former Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer, acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Mercier, and Heather Dawn Thompson, former director of the office of tribal relations at the USDA, walked amongst the crowd.
Quinton Kyle Kine is a Navajo medicine man from the small, rural community of Steamboat, Arizona.
He supported Trump because of unclarified “problems” that exist today that didn’t exist four years ago.
“I voted for President Trump because I do believe that our country deserves a better way of life. There are a lot of problems now,” Kine said. “I’m not going to go into detail, but the problems that we have now are far beyond the problems we had four years ago.”
Kine hopes that Trump supports tribal sovereignty. Trump has a mixed record on supporting tribal sovereignty.
“I would love President Trump to address sovereignty. I believe that sovereignty is on thin ice,” he said.
Mike Woestehoff, Navajo, was helping to campaign for Trump on the Navajo Nation. He said that two of the major issues were the economy and access to abortion care.
“The affordability factor during the Biden administration was really kind of stretching our wallet,” Woestehoff said. “We’re also hearing some of the social issues, Navajo people are pretty respectful of life in the womb.”
Michael Stopp, Cherokee, hopes the Trump administration reduces the regulatory burden on tribal nations.
“We want to see that regulation go away. We want to see some of it streamlined. We want to see efficiency in Indian programs,” Stopp said. “One of my personal hopes — and I’ve talked to everyone who’s working on Indian policy in the Trump administration — has to do with the (Department of Governmental Efficiency) concept. In Indian Country, you have so many Native or tribal programs that are over every agency, no one can tell you what they all are. No one’s tracking all of them, and no one can tell you if they’re efficient, if we’re doing duplication.”
Stopp will be one of a handful of Indigenous people who will be attending the exclusive Liberty Ball on Monday night. It is one of only three official inaugural balls, and tickets are given by the Presidential Inaugural Committee in consultation with the President-elect. The Liberty Ball is for Trump’s supporters and he will be giving an address.
Jeremiah Cota, San Carlos Apache, was part of a small group that wore Trump merchandise. He came to the nation’s capital all the way from Phoenix, Arizona.
“I’m here to support President Trump,” Cota said. “I was onboard early with his agenda, ‘Making America Great Again.’ As a tribal member, I want to make sure that our voices are heard in the upcoming administration.”
Cota didn’t attend Trump’s first inauguration in 2017. He was excited to be in the city for this year’s festivities.
He hopes that Trump’s administration will address economic development and increasing opportunities in tribal communities as well as building infrastructure.
“(Trump) has done things like economic opportunity zones,” Cota said. “If we can do things like that on tribal communities, that would be amazing to see.”
In 2017, Trump rolled out tax incentives to encourage private investments in low-income communities. The goal was to drive economic growth in these areas. It was a bipartisan legislation that has since been critiqued for not accomplishing its intended goal, and instead lining the pockets of wealthy investors whose housing projects would have been built regardless, according to PBS News.
Cota was excited to be attending the inauguration and received a ticket to stand on the Capitol lawn. Unfortunately, the last-minute change to indoors meant he lost his spot. On Sunday night Cota said he planned to head to the Capital One Arena for the public viewing of the inauguration.
On a colder Monday morning, the streets around the arena were packed with police, National Guard troops, Secret Service members, spectators and vendors. The scene was overwhelming and loud — organized chaos really.
Weaving through the crowd was Darnell Cooper, Navajo, who is a District local. Cooper is a Navy veteran who served around a decade before she was honorably discharged.
“I always think it’s important for my kids to get to experience what DC has to offer while we’re out here,” Martin said as she maneuvered around vendors and other spectators.
She is a mother of five and a home educator. Following close behind Martin was her 17-year-old son.
As part of her at-home curriculum, Martin took her son to attend the public viewing of the inauguration.
“I try to get my kids out as much as I can for educational purposes. I homeschool, so I make sure that they are able to attend as many of the historical events that are out here,” she said.
This wasn’t Martin or her son’s first inauguration. They’ve attended multiple ones, as far back as Barack Obama.
“I am a veteran, and I support the president, whoever it is,” Martin said before she rejoined the line that would wrap around another two blocks.
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