Excited, scared and surprised: Americans react to Trump’s first week

Kyle Plessa, 39, an independent who voted for Trump: “I watch myself like WWE, professional wrestling. Just hype, showmanship, not playing for the cameras. You can tell that entertainment is a big part of Donald Trump’s credo, whether you’re Barack Obama or Joe Biden. He was inaugurated.”

Greg Bruno, 67, a Republican who voted for Trump: “I think Trump proved he’s a man of the people by throwing those pens into the audience after signing executive orders in front of 20,000 people. It just showed who he’s really working for.”

Richard Weil, 74, an independent who voted for Kamala Harris: “(His inaugural speech) wasn’t as dark as his first speech (in 2017), but it was certainly bitter. There was nothing in it that said good things about America.”

Angela Ramos, 37, an independent who voted for Harris: “I found a lot of Trump’s speech disingenuous because he mentioned specific things like fairness, honor, integrity, trustworthiness, but those are not qualities that I think are reflected in his policies or behavior… I watched it from the sidelines. it is a sense of civic duty”.