The China Mail - 'Daddy's home': Trump diehards celebrate in icy Washington

"Daddy's home," one woman on the snow-covered National Mall shouted in jubilation, referring to the Republican Party's controversial and utterly dominant leader.

Traditionally, the vast Mall fills with crowds watching the inauguration on the steps of the Capitol. However, Trump announced Friday that bad weather meant his swearing-in would have to be inside the building's ornate Rotunda.

Some 220,000 people were originally invited to the outdoor event. Instead, only family, major political leaders and an unprecedented collection of Trump-friendly billionaires got Rotunda seats.

For the rest, the choices were the chilly, empty Mall and a 20,000-capacity Capital One arena, where at least they got to see Trump in person after the inauguration.

"USA! USA!" chanted the hardy few on the Mall as they watched cellphone footage of the proceedings in the Capitol.

Giant video screens previously erected for the crowd had been taken away, but the original inauguration stage was still there -- empty.

"I knew it was going to be inside, (but) I just wanted to get as close as possible because of all the sacrifices he made for us," Robert, Manley, a 71-year-old retired supporter from Georgia, told AFP.

"I feel on cloud 10," said Gregg Donovan, 65, who had come from California and was dressed up in a top hat with a photo of Trump tucked in the brim, a red coat and a giant faux gold chain with another Trump photo.

In the arena, things were at least more comfortable, although thousands had to queue up before dawn to make sure of getting in.

Loud applause, scattered standing ovations and more chants of "USA!" punctuated Trump's inaugural address as it was relayed on big screens.

"I am here because I love Donald J. Trump, and he loves America," 32-year-old Alexx Rouse from Texas told AFP.

- 'We're celebrating' -

Trump has always been highly sensitive about crowd sizes.

He likes to boast that his rallies draw record crowds, often making up wildly inaccurate numbers.

At his first inauguration in 2017 he even claimed he had secured the "largest audience" ever despite clear photographic evidence that his turnout was considerably smaller than that for Barack Obama at his own first inauguration in 2009.

Certainly Trump's army of devoted Make America Great Again, or MAGA, supporters were not overly worried by the unusual circumstances.

"We're celebrating, all the MAGA fans, the American people, with our very favorite president, Donald Trump," said Ellie Hymes, 69, near the Washington Monument on the Mall.

Lorri Williams, 60, ticked off all the things the pair were celebrating with Trump back in power -- from "family values" to "being able to say what you feel without someone wanting to cancel you."

The true diehards were out even earlier.

The Fairchild family, visiting from Michigan, were wearing red beanies and wrapped in Trump blankets as they stood before the famed monument to Abraham Lincoln while the dawn rose over the silent Mall.

"Ecstatic," grandmother Barb told AFP when asked how they were feeling.

As they left, the matriarch turned back to look up at Lincoln's marble visage, exclaiming gleefully: "Aren't you so proud?"

The celebrations also had a darker edge, as the hard-right militant group the Proud Boys marched through Washington.

Dozens of their members have been arrested and jailed for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Trump had infamously told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during a debate with Biden that year. He has vowed to pardon all those convicted of January 6 offences.

Clad in black and yellow, the Proud Boys marched several blocks from the Capital One arena.

"Free our boys," the group could be heard chanting minutes after Trump was sworn in.

T.Wu--ThChM