ONE Nation’s Hunter Senator Brian Burston has taken selfies in Washington only hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president, and after an eventful flight that included a diversion for a medical emergency.
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Mr Burston and wife Rosalyn spent more than three hours at Memphis airport in Tennessee after a passenger on the Los Angeles to Washington leg needed what Mr Burston described as “aggressive resuscitation attempts”.
“I think one of the passengers actually died,” he said after arriving in Washington shortly before midnight on Wednesday, US time, to attend the inauguration after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson declined an invitation because of other commitments.
The Hunter man and longtime One Nation member, who surprised even himself when he became a Senator in the 2016 election, has tickets to witness the inauguration from several hundred metres in front of Washington’s Capitol Hill.
“We’re a little bit back in the standing area but everyone’s got a good view. We have a direct line of sight and the areas right in front are seated,” Mr Burston said.
“The metro opens at 4.30am and we’ve done a trial of that so we can get here in time. Security’s very tight and there’s a lot of closed areas. You can’t bring drinks. You can’t even bring an oversized handbag, but there’s 45,000 bloody portaloos.”
The weather was brilliant at 4pm on the afternoon before the inauguration, he said.
“It’s about 12 degrees and sunny and there’s a great atmosphere. A military band is practising the national anthem, there’s a choir performing, and a few thousand people are strolling around like us.
“The atmosphere’s electric. It’s beautiful. It’s wonderful.”
Mr Burston said he overheard a woman telling her partner that it was “all wonderful”.
Her husband responded: “It’s wonderful now we’ve got America back again.”
Asked what the man meant, Mr Burston said “They think Obama wasn’t really supporting American ideals.”
Asked what those ideals were, Mr Burston said Americans who supported Trump believed Barack Obama weakened America economically and militarily.
“I think what people are saying is that they don’t want America to be a pushover anymore,” he said.
Mr Burston was impressed by the American style of patriotism.
A man with a car elaborately decorated to champion Donald Trump had ridden it around America throughout the bruising presidential campaign, and was in Washington for the inauguration.
“I had a bit of a chat with him. That’s the kind of passion people have here for their country. They’re massively patriotic. They just stick their chests out when they talk about America,” Mr Burston said.
Asked what he expected of Trump at the inauguration and in the first weeks of his presidency, Mr Burston said: “He comes from a very low base in terms of people’s expectations, so whatever he does is going to be above that.”
He will also be in Washington with wife Rosalyn on Saturday, the day after the inauguration, for a women’s protest march that is expected to attract more than 250,000 people.
