The President-elect was talking history last night at a dinner honoring his running mate, Mike Pence.
“There hasn’t been anything like this since Andrew Jackson,” Trump quoted his admirers saying. “Andrew Jackson? What year was Andrew Jackson? That was a long time ago.”
Trump actually did know the year – 1828 – and it’s a comparison not just being made by his supporters. Famed journalist Bill Moyers made the observation shortly after the election while in NY1’s Green Room. Of course, Jackson was made famous by his role in the War of 1812 and not a reality TV show so perhaps there are limits to this comparison. I’ll re-read Arthur Schlesinger’s great book on “The Age of Jackson” and get back to you.
But one thing from Jackson’s era that we’ve recently been reminded of is his inauguration in 1829, where hundreds of bearded frontiersman trashed the White House while celebrating the election of one of their own, while saying so long – in the parlance of our times – to “low-energy” John Quincy Adams. SAD!
It’s doubtful that Bikers for Trump will get free rein while in the nation’s capital. Instead, it looks like a lot of ordinary Americans have hit Washington D.C. to celebrate Trump while plenty of ordinary Americans are also there to protest him.
NY1 is there now with Josh Robin and Grace Rauh filing reports today that will be supplemented by Geoff Bennett and Alberto Pimienta in our Washington D.C. Bureau. Meanwhile, we’ll be covering the protests both here in New York City and there in Washington over the next few days.
We’ll have full coverage leading into tomorrow’s inauguration with a special with Roma Torre and Errol Louis starting at 10:30 a.m. -- and then a special edition of “The Road to City Hall” at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Andrew Jackson never got this much attention, Mr. President-elect.
Bob Hardt