“Uniquely American,” “surreal and exciting” and “peaceful transition” were some of the sentiments lawmakers used to sum up Inauguration Day on Friday.
{mosads}Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) chuckled when asked to respond to President Trump’s indictment of the elected officials and former presidents sitting within arm’s distance of the nation’s 45th president.
“He did a good job of it,” the former Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman said in an interview with The Hill’s Molly K. Hooper.
From his vantage point on the risers in a semi-circle around Trump, Flores said he “was watching to see what got applause and what didn’t from the former president [Obama].”
“The first couple of [lines] did, but other than that he sat pretty stoically,” Flores said.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (Texas), one of dozens of House Dems to boycott the ceremony, took issue with Trump’s rhetoric.
“He essentially indicted everyone that was up on that dais, saying that basically they had all failed the American people,” Castro told The Hill, noting that he watched the speech from his Capitol Hill office.
GOP Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), who have criticized Trump in the past, highlighted the positive aspect of the businessman’s Inaugural address.
Lee “liked” how Trump “opened the whole speech by pointing out that we’ve got too much power that’s been concentrated in Washington … he wants to return power back to the middle class where it belongs.”
Graham called part of the speech “really eloquent … we all bleed the same blood, if you open your heart to patriotism there’s not a place for prejudice.”
Watch the video above to hear the lawmakers in their own words.