After two terms in the Oval Office, President Barack Obama will hand the keys to the White House over to President-elect Donald J. Trump, who will take his oath and be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States this Friday, January 20.
With the inauguration ceremony rapidly approaching, some residents of Franklin County expressed their views on the incoming Commander-in-Chief.
As one might expect in a county and state that overwhelmingly carried the Republican nominee, the view towards the incoming administration was mostly positive and optimistic.
“I’m glad that we’ve got a change,” said Jimmy Landers of Russellville, who expressed his desire to see Trump fulfill his campaign promise of deporting all illegal immigrants. “We don’t need any more of what we’ve had the last eight years.”
Charles Holcomb, another resident of Russellville, likes Trump’s “straight-shooter” attitude and says he is a good man for the job.
“I’m looking forward to [Trump] being in office, and I think he’ll be a plus for the country,” said Holcomb. “I believe the man will do what he says he will.”
Holcomb, who has worked everywhere from a farm to a sawmill to a factory, is a fan of the president-elect’s ideas on job creation and trade.
“One thing I’m impressed with is [that] he says he’s going to put jobs in this country and take them out of Mexico and put them up here where they belong,” he said. “I’d like to see that, because we’ve been buying foreign goods and they ought to be manufactured in this country.”
Holcomb added that he believes tariffs would also help create competition and bring jobs to the United States and Franklin County.
“I think if [Trump] puts more import taxes on stuff shipped into this country, it would create more jobs here because they could do it with a minimal tax,” he said. “If they tax all the other countries shipping goods here and make it more competitive with the prices we have in this country right now, you’d create local jobs.”
While Landers and Holcomb praised Trump, others approached the 70-year-old billionaire businessman with more skepticism.
“I’m very apprehensive,” said Eddie Britton, the Democratic Party chair of Franklin County. “I personally believe he’s promised things to the American people that he can’t deliver.”
Mario Andres, a U.S. immigrant from Mexico, hopes Trump can bring jobs to the United States but is critical of the president-elect’s immigration policy, especially relating to the plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“What I don’t agree with him on is when he says he wants to build the wall,” said Andres, who gained U.S. citizenship in 2014. “A small, a long, a big wall–if there are people that want to cross, they will. No wall can stop that. He needs to find a better way to work with those people.”
Trump’s perceived inability to take the job and focus on it seriously was another concern. Elizabeth Hyde, a student at Northwest-Shoals Community College in Phil Campbell, said Trump should stop picking fights and limit his use on social media.
“I think he was a good candidate, but he’s a little too out there sometimes,” she said. “I think he takes to Twitter way too much. He should hold back, because people know he is going to respond when he shouldn’t respond.”
Irean Meade, who said her biggest worry was the threat of war or terrorist attacks, echoed those concerns and said Trump needs to realize the gravity of his role as president.
“He needs to take his position seriously–very seriously,” she said. “He’s got a lot of our lives in his hands. I think if he takes it seriously, works with our armed forces and takes the recommendation [of his advisors], he’ll be alright.”
While not enthralled and admittedly disappointed with the outcome of the election, Britton said Trump still deserves a chance to lead the country.
“I’ll give him a shot,” he said. “I’ve been wrong before, and I hope I’m wrong again. I mean this–I genuinely hope that Trump is a good president, because the United States needs him to be a strong president.”
The inauguration ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning. Opening remarks will start at 11:30 a.m. before Trump is sworn into office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. at approximately noon.
