By Maya Liquigan

January 19, 2025

The last time Jay Shald was in Washington, D.C., he was just a kid, and now he was headed back on the Amtrak train from California, traveling the country by rail to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

Shald boarded the Floridian Amtrak train in Chicago on Saturday, Jan. 18, for the second leg of the trip. He was excited to be present for this “magnificent” moment for Americans, he said. 

“There’s not been a lot of presidents where they’ve been elected, lost the election and then won the next election,” Shald said. “So, it’s gonna be a different presidency and I’m excited to see the start of it.” 

Shald was joined by around 40 passengers who boarded at Union Station in Chicago at 7 p.m. for the 18-hour ride. 

 

The inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump will take place inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday, Jan. 20, the first time the ceremonies have been moved inside since 1985 for the swearing-in of President Ronald Reagan’s second term.

Families and individuals dragged their luggage after an hour delay, bundled in layers of coats and in preparation for the freezing D.C. temperatures, which are expected to be about 20°, with winds. In Chicago the same day, where a protest is planned downtown at 11 a.m., temperatures are expected to be in the single digits, with wind chills below zero. 

More than 220,000 people were issued tickets to watch the swearing-in from the U.S. Capitol grounds. The areas on the West Front of the Capitol will now be closed. A similar number without tickets were expected to stand on the National Mall for the outdoor ceremony. 

Instead, the ceremony will be live-streamed at the Capital One Arena, a sporting venue that holds 20,000 people. 

Many of the Trump supporters on the train from Chicago said they didn’t have tickets and planned to go to the arena to watch the ceremonies. Nickolas Giovan from Wisconsin said that he is excited to attend the live stream and presidential parade at the arena and is looking forward to finding other celebrations around the city. 

“I’m not really in the know of things like that but we’re gonna see if there’s any interesting events or venues we can get into,” he said. 

There was excitement on the train about Trump’s second term, even as Chicago braced for a showdown with the administration over planned raids and arrests in the city to deport people without documents. 

As the train left Chicago, Shald chatted with passengers in the dining car. 

“This cabinet that he’s picked, they’re really focusing on protecting American liberties, protecting American rights, protecting the Constitution,” Shald said. “Protecting things that America was built on, and trying to build back and support the community in a way that I’m hopeful about.” 

 

Around 9 p.m., travelers filled the dining cart as the train raced through Illinois and Indiana. Throughout the train, some people were quickly settled in with travel neck pillows and blankets, while others passed the time stuck in a book or laptop. 

Trump won the presidency in November, picking up votes in both red and blue states to beat his Democratic challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Although Harris carried Illinois, Trump received 22% of the vote in Chicago, expanding his support from 12.4% in 2016 and 15.5% in 2020, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. 

Trump was the first Republican candidate to get more than 20% in Chicago since George H.W. Bush won 29.8 of the city’s vote in 1988.

After leaving Chicago, the Floridian train, which originates in Miami, travels through the red states of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, a swing state that Trump won with 50.4% of the vote. 

The last stations before D.C. travel are in West Virginia, which went to Trump, and Maryland, which went to Harris. 

Trump won 312 electoral college votes, but his victory was not a landslide. The country is still deeply divided as Trump, the first convicted felon to be in the White House, prepares to return for his second term.

“We have to come together as a nation, listen to people who we may disagree with, hear their perspective on things because there’s a lot to learn from people with different points of view,” Shald said. 

He said that there is a lot to be learned by “talking to people from different walks of life and learning from them and their experiences.” 

A few spots behind Shald, Giovan stood with his best friend Nate Schmitz, who are both from Wisconsin, to head to Trump’s inauguration together. Schmitz said it was his first time on the Amtrak, but he has attended multiple pro-Trump rallies. 

He said that inauguration is a “once in a lifetime opportunity” and he’s excited to experience a bigger celebration of Trump where the crowd is “always supportive.”

“It’s exciting…The rally I went to was a lot of, not necessarily propaganda, but it gets you up and going and gets you excited. So that’s what I’m expecting, to get real hyped in a sense,” Schmitz said. 

The most intense part of the rallies for Schmitz was seeing the counter-protests and “being a Trump supporter walking through Democrats and getting cussed at.” He said he’s expecting the inauguration to be bigger than any of the rallies he’s attended.

Giovan said he is meeting his father at the inauguration, who is a “big fan” of Trump. He said he was excited to see how this change in the government will look for Trump’s second term. 

“The government’s kind of moving in a direction where things are more transparent with the Department of Government efficiency,” he said. “I think that’s super interesting, seeing how that’s gonna work and exposing where taxpayer dollars really go.” 

Schmitz and Giovan held onto the cart walls as the train continued, steadying themselves from the constant sways and shakes of the Amtrak. As working class, they both said that they were looking forward to how Trump’s second-term will impact them. 

“I work in construction and I need that no tax on overtime,” Schmitz said, referring to Trump’s proposal not to take overtime pay. “Working over 60 hours is pointless for me because it’s straight back to taxes. I’m looking forward to lowering taxes in general, lowering the cost of food, gas, everything.” 

Giovan said he is hoping to go back to college and is looking forward for Trump’s administration to make higher education “a little bit more of an option for people who aren’t so financially affluent.” 

Although he is not a big Trump supporter, he said he was excited to see how this new transfer of power will impact the political climate. 

“I really want to see just different viewpoints and people who are there to support and are part of that crowd, and the people who are also protesting and against it,” he said. “I’m definitely somebody who enjoys hearing all points of views. I enjoy all types of people, so I really like being in the know on both sides… Something like this is just such a politically interesting climate to be around.”

The Amtrak continued on through the dark of night, passing through Ohio and Pennsylvania. Giovan said it was his first time heading to Washington, D.C. and he was looking forward to the different inaugural traditions. 

Shald has never been to the inauguration ceremonies, and said he was excited to experience all for the first time in this historical moment. 

“It’s going to be a lot of pomp and spectacle, but also tradition,” he said. “I just want to be there to see our nation’s capitol at this time of celebration, at this time where there’s ceremony. It’s time to be proud as Americans.” 

Copy edited by Manuel Nocera