The U.S. Capitol on Jan. 17, 2025, after President-elect Donald Trump announced that his inauguration three days later would be moved indoors due to the arctic chill headed for Washington. (Photo by Cronkite News)
editor’s note: Story updated after cancellation of the outdoor Inaugural Parade due to arctic cold forecast for Washington.
WASHINGTON – The Inaugural Parade, canceled three days before President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in – would have featured a couple of dozen “Navajos for Trump,” activists who campaigned for Trump in Arizona and other states.
“We were slugging it out door-knocking … everywhere we could get on the reservation,” said Mike Woestehoff, a consultant in D.C. and a Native American advocate who grew up on the reservation in Ganado, Arizona. “It will be a nice little reunion.”
Forecasters expect a frigid afternoon Monday for them and roughly 7,500 other parade participants from 23 states, announced by the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee. Wind chill will be in the teens, making this the coldest inauguration since Ronald Reagan’s in 1985.
On Friday, Trump announced that the inauguration would be moved indoors at the Capitol. All outdoor events, including the parade, were scrapped to protect the safety of VIPs, tens of thousands of supporters who planned to attend the ceremony on the National Mall, and the many police and National Guard who would have spent much of the day in the dangerous conditions. The inaugural committee scrambled over the weekend to arrange a viewing party inside the Capital One Arena that would included some of the groups invited to take part in the parade.
Native Americans have historically favored Democrats, but Trump has made significant gains. Nationally, he drew 39% of the Native American vote in November, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution.
“As Navajos, we would get some recognition that we are a Native group and that there are Native groups that are conservative and do support Trump,” said Ina Noggle, a Trump supporter from Sanders, Arizona.
In Apache County, which includes Sanders and much of the Navajo reservation and where the electorate is overwhelmingly Native American, President Joe Biden outpolled Trump 65-32 in 2020, according to Arizona Secretary of State’s Office records.
In November, Trump cut the Democrats’ edge significantly, trailing Vice President Kamala Harris 59-40 in Apache County.
On Thursday, Navajo President Buu Ngygren – who endorsed Harris – sought to mend fences. He praised Trump’s efforts to improve public safety in Indian Country during his first term, including a crackdown on narcotics and to shift control of natural resources to tribal governments.
“As President Trump returns to the White House, I am hopeful that his administration will build upon the groundwork laid during his previous term,” Nygren wrote.
“People were afraid to come out and use their voice of how they feel, and the MAGA movement really gave something for these people to latch on and have a voice, as well as not to be afraid to speak out about how they feel,” said Pablo Sigfredo Martinez, Republican chairman in McKinley County, New Mexico, which includes Gallup. He is part Navajo.
Trump’s first inaugural parade eight years ago included a number of Code Talkers, Navajos who served during World War II and transmitted coded messages in the Pacific theater.
Navajos for Trump is not an official group, but Trump enjoyed widespread support on and off the reservation, according to Kelly Rael, the campaign’s Native outreach coordinator in Arizona.
Martinez sold Trump signs and other merchandise at the Gallup Flea Market, using the booth to pitch Trump to customers.
“To have people engage, jump on board, and participate on the level they did this past election was historical, it was truly historical,” he said.