mr_grission t1_j9ls9ap wrote on February 22, 2023 at 10:05 PM

Been here since 2012. The most I noticed during the Trump administration was that you might hear derisive comments about a couple of places being frequented by White House staff (Blackfinn is one I remember in particular) and you might swipe left on Tinder if someone's job was listed as "White House".

Dem presidents do seem to make more attempts to be part of the city itself, so there's more buzz around like "oh this is that place Biden ordered from". Trump would just eat at his hotel.

Going to GW, the vibe around the 2012 election/2013 inauguration was incredible. I wasn't there in 2016, but obviously things were not the same for Trump.

Similarly after Election Day 2016 the city collectively seemed like it was stuck in a deep depression. People were just sad everywhere you went for like weeks. When the 2020 election was announced for Biden it was basically a parade in the streets of DC.

NPRjunkieDC t1_j9m0aht wrote on February 22, 2023 at 10:57 PM

I remember the parade! Everyone out on the streets celebrating like we had won the World Cup .

BitterGravity t1_j9mcqb4 wrote on February 23, 2023 at 12:25 AM

I found that weird and comforting since it waited until it was called by like CNN/ABC because people didn't want to get their hopes up even though it was clear from the day before at least

whatallison t1_j9n0w4n wrote on February 23, 2023 at 3:23 AM

I was walking in RCP (not far from 16th st) when the 2020 election was officially called and I heard cheering and honking before I even got the phone alert. Everyone I passed on the trail was just so happy. There is something really special about an entire city/region expressing collective joy… I’ve not experienced anything like it.

NPRjunkieDC t1_j9mdijj wrote on February 23, 2023 at 12:30 AM

I don't remember, but at one point, it was mathematically impossible for Trump to win, I think

BitterGravity t1_j9me2c9 wrote on February 23, 2023 at 12:34 AM

They called before that point but the day before it would've required the requiring areas to dramatically break from both nearby areas and historic trends dramatically. The increase in mail voting didn't help since networks didn't know exactly how it'd break down but they didn't really update based on knowledge of how the rest of the state etc was going.

JustHereForCookies17 t1_j9nix6k wrote on February 23, 2023 at 6:09 AM

I was in Bethesda & people were honking their horns & waving to everyone they saw. The sense of community was...dare I say Disney-esque?

I wasn't mad about it, by any means, but it was as if a declaration of peace had been issued after a 4-year long war.

Snow_source t1_j9pxc91 wrote on February 23, 2023 at 7:01 PM

> after Election Day 2016 the city collectively seemed like it was stuck in a deep depression

The depression was palpable that night. I volunteered to help push out live updates for legislative monitoring firm I worked at.

It was like all the air went out of the room when the "firewall" fell.