Columbus area residents turn Trump inauguration into a road trip

For some, Friday’s journey to Washington to attend the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump is a road trip. For others, it is a Republican reunion and the unfinished business of the national convention last summer.

A handful of Chattahoochee Valley residents will be making the journey, but few will be making it like Matt Law and four of his buddies. Law, Phil Douglass, Matt Horne, Matt Saylor and Michael Belew have rented an RV and are turning an election night idea into an adventure.

“We were all at the Bradley Park Chick-fil-A for a birthday party election night,” Law said. “We were all looking at our phones as the results started coming in.”

With a Trump victory a possibility, one of them blurted out, “If he wins, we ought to go to the inauguration.”

As the night wore on and Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton became apparent, the five friends, all in their early 30s, decided a trip to Washington was in order.

“Throughout the night, it was almost like we were in disbelief,” said Law, a youth pastor at Golden Acres Baptist Church in Phenix City.

Through a group text, the road trip was solidified in the days following the election.

For Alton Russell, a longtime Columbus Republican operative, this weekend offers a chance to enjoy the spoils of political victory. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.

“I am really excited about this,” said Russell, 78, who will be attending his first inauguration. “I was there when it started in July and this will be a chance to see it come full circle.”

Like Russell, Joseph Brannan has been active in the local Republican Party. He, too, will be attending his first inauguration and was in Cleveland for the convention. Brannan’s tickets to the inauguration came from an unlikely source. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Columbus Democrat, helped secure tickets for Brannen, one his constituents.

“He was very helpful,” said Brannan, the GOP chairman of the prominently Democratic 2nd Congressional District.

That’s his job, Bishop said.

“Each congressman gets 191 tickets and after the election I had more requests than I had tickets,” Bishop said. “We asked other members if they would share and they did.”

Bishop left Wednesday and will return to the district on Friday after the noon ceremony. Calling it a business trip, he does not plan to take part in any of the pageantry that goes with the inauguration.

“I won’t do the parade or any of the balls,” Bishop said. “I won’t be celebrating.”

Russell, Brannan and his wife, Emily, plan to enjoy the moment. They have tickets to two balls — the Georgia Society Ball at the National Museum for Women in the Arts on Thursday and the sanctioned Freedom Presidential Ball on Friday.

It will be Emily Brannan’s second inauguration. She attended the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001 with her family. She was a high school junior at the time. Today, she is a teacher at St. Luke in Columbus.

“It really is different being there than watching it on TV,” she said.

While excited, she is also a little nervous because the world is a much different place than it was in the days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I will admit I am a little nervous this time,” Emily Brannan said. “In 2001, you really didn’t think about safety or security. The thought of terrorist attacks didn’t even enter your mind. But after the Boston Marathon bombings, I am concerned about the parade.”

While it is fun and historical for many, it is work for Bishop. As the number of lawmakers boycotting Trump’s inauguration rises, Bishop said he would attend.

“Boycotting was not a consideration,” said Bishop. “The inauguration is technically a joint session of Congress. While I am not a Trump supporter, I respect the office of the president and it is my duty to attend.”

More than 50 Congressional Democrats have said they will not attend the inauguration in protest. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, was the leader of the movement, saying he would not attend and going as far as calling the Trump presidency illegitimate.

Bishop and Lewis are close friends and Bishop said he has received no pressure from Lewis to boycott.

“I know that in my position, I stand on his shoulders and luminaries of the civil rights movement,” Bishop said. “I have a great deal of admiration and respect for what he has done. ... There are roughly 735,000 people in every Congressional district, and every district is different.”

Bishop pointed out that 45 percent of his constituents voted for Trump in the November General Election.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Columbus area residents turn Trump inauguration into a road trip."