WASHINGTON — A Port Angeles man who attended President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration said the country’s 45th president is off to a great start in making America great again.
As Joseph Lujan, a Vietnam-era Marine Corps veteran, found his seat at the inauguration, he made it a point to thank each first responder he saw.
“All the way in, every service member, officer, fireman or first responder, I went up to each and every one of them and thanked them personally,” he said Tuesday. “You’ve got to respect the police, firemen. These people are here to help you.”
He estimates he thanked some 300 service members while he was in the nation’s capital.
As he watched Trump speak, Lujan felt the new president was to the point and driven.
Lujan, who sat three rows back from Medal of Honor recipients, said everyone around him was jazzed.
“You could feel it, you could feel the happiness, the relief,” he said.
“It’s like when you’re really really thirsty and you finally get that drink of water.”
Lujan lauded Trump for the work he’s done during his first few days as president.
“He’s done really well, and he will continue to do really well,” Lujan said.
“He’s brought jobs back to the United States. He’s making deals with China, Mexico.”
On Trump’s first day he signed an executive order aimed at scaling back the Affordable Care Act.
He has since signed executive orders expediting environmental reviews for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline.
Trump has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin construction of a 1,900-mile-long wall on the southern border, targeted “sanctuary cities” and called on DHS to hire 10,000 more immigration officers.
Lujan told the Peninsula Daily News on Tuesday, before Trump signed executive orders aimed at illegal immigration, he supported the president’s wall and his stance on immigration.
“They’re bringing in drugs, they’re killing people with immunity because of those sanctuary city policies,” he said, referring to gang members who are in the United States illegally.
“Can we do this? Yes, we can. We can get rid of all these people.”
He said this is likely the biggest issue facing America right now.
During the Women’s March on Washington, Lujan carried with him an “America First” sign to counter the plethora of anti-Trump signs thousands of protesters carried.
“When President Trump says something like ‘America First,’ he means to put America first and all other countries out there we give money to, they are second,” he said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
