Trumps end night with cheers from crowds at lackluster balls
The balls have begun as Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, close Inauguration Day with their first twirl on the dance floor as POTUS and FLOTUS to My Way, before waving to their cheering supporters and disappearing into the White House in the early hours.
"Well, we did it," Trump said at the Liberty Ball, as Melania stood next to him in a vanilla crepe off-the-shoulder gown with a red silk ribbon at the waist and a split up the front. The gown was a collaboration "between herself and Hervé Pierre, former creative director of Carolina Herrera," according to the first lady's office.
"We began this journey and they said we didn’t have a chance but I knew we would win. People that weren’t so nice to me were saying we did a really good job today. They hated to do it but they did and I respect that."
Within 20 minutes, the Trumps were on their way to the second ball and then their third, the last of the official inaugural balls.
At that one, the Armed Services Ball, Melania, the Slovenia-born ex-fashion model, 46, spoke a few words in her accented English, saying she was honored to be first lady, thanking service members for their service, and promising that "we will make America great again."
Then the Trumps, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, and the Trump adult children danced their last dance of the night together and with some service members to Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You.
Air Force Master Sgt. Tiffany Bradbury, who danced with Pence, wasn't sure how she was chosen. ""My first thought was, 'Really, me?' I said yes, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity."
At the first one, the Liberty Ball, Trump said it was a "tremendous honor" to have the first dance to My Way with his wife, his "Number One supporter." They were joined by the Pences, and by Trump's adult children in the dance, including elder daughter Ivanka Trump, in a Carolina Herrera gown, dancing with her husband Jared Kushner, who will be a senior adviser to his father-in-law in the White House.
The song they chose for their first dance at the balls was the one written by Paul Anka for the late Frank Sinatra. Anka, who has performed the song for Trump before, had a scheduling conflict so it was performed by a Nashville singer, Erin Boehme, with two other singers from the city, Nickie Conley and Jason Eskridge.
Boehme started her performance at the ball with another appropriate tune for Trump, the immortal Mack the Knife by Kurt Weill from The Threepenny Opera.
"Look out, the Donald is back," she exclaimed at the end of the song.
The Radio City Rockettes of New York danced onto the stage at the Liberty Ball, one of the few big-name acts booked, in sharp contrast to the balls at President Obama's two inaugurations when the likes of Beyoncé and Alicia Keys provided the entertainment.
The Piano Guys gave an interesting performance combining Amazing Grace with The Fight Song by Rachel Platten, one of the theme anthems that played constantly for Democrat Hillary Clinton during her campaign. Platten tweeted soon after that she had not been asked, nor given permission for the song to be played Friday night.
Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance dancers also tapped away on the stage at the Washington Convention Center.
The three official balls for the newly inaugurated 45th president of the United States culminate Inauguration Day, in which ceremonies (the swearing-in, the parade, the congressional luncheon, etc.) are dictated either by the Constitution or by long tradition.
A relatively antique custom, the inaugural balls are opportunities for a president and his supporters to celebrate their victory, show off their finery and party into the wee hours at often packed venues where food and drink are hard to find and the line for the coat check is endless.
It's also where the new first lady started off on one of the most-watched aspects of her unpaid, undefined, high-pressure job — that of being a avatar for fashion, especially American fashion, in her choice of inaugural gown, likely to end up in the Smithsonian's First Ladies Gowns collection at the National Museum of American History.
There was a genuine feeling of celebration for Trump supporters at the balls, but the festivities are significantly muted compared to inaugurations past. There were fewer total balls (three official, down from 10 for President Obama’s first inauguration), and also fewer of the usual peripheral celebrations: At least one state society cancelled their ball due to lack of interest. The Arkansas State Society posted an apology on their website, citing "unforeseen circumstances."
The South Carolina Ball Thursday night, for instance, was sold out but the atmosphere was family-oriented and the reveling ended early.
Plus, some of the alternative balls seemed to be drawing a fair amount, if not more, interest. At the Creative Coalition Ball, the theme was the importance of the arts, and how they'll be needed more in the next four years.
"The arts are always easy to target." Dean Norris told USA TODAY. "It brings us together," added Christina Hendricks.
Gloria Allred, the crusading women's rights lawyer who's suing Trump on behalf of women who claim he sexually harassed them, also was there with an opinion on Trump's inauguration speech. She called it "rude," "dark" and "disappointing."
At the Armed Services Ball, the last of the night, the crowd was packed in tight and raucous, hooting and cheering, according to the pool report. Before dancing, Trump revved them up with another swat at a favorite target, the media penned in just below the stage.
"Let me ask you, should I keep the Twitter going or not?" Trump demanded as the crowd shouted encouragement. "It's a way of bypassing dishonest media."
He also got cheers when he told the military crowd, "I like the fact that you all voted for me."
Army Lt. Col. Chester Hoch and his wife, Amy, were at their first inaugural ball.
"This is very exciting, when you have that peaceful transition, it just says how good and how great we really are," Chester said. "Besides, how often do you get to dress up and go out?”
“It’ll be a great opportunity to share it with our children, who are on both sides of political belief,” added Amy.
As for the protests outside in Washington: “Peaceful protest is fine, who am I to say they’re wrong? We fight so they can have their right to speak freely,” Chester said.
On Thursday night, at the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, some 3,000 guests communed for the Peace Ball to “celebrate the accomplishments and successes" of recent years and continue the push for liberty. Inside, the scene was sweltering and jam-packed but the mood was one of willful joy as Solange Knowles and Esperanza Spalding performed soulful “anthems of liberation.”
“Liberals have lost control of the House, the Senate, the executive (office). The Supreme Court’s dominated by conservatives but the law mirrors culture,” Eddie Huang, who penned the ABC-adapted memoir Fresh Off the Boat, told USA TODAY on the red carpet. “So, I think for (artists), maybe we don’t continually look toward the three branches of government to create change. We create change ourselves and know that we will drag them along.”
Contributing: Jaleesa Jones, Cara Kelly, Kelly Lawler