Trump supporter: ‘No more apologies’

Pastor Artie Kassimis at the Word Alive Bible Church on Wednesday January 11 2017, in Norwalk Conn. will attend the inauguration of Donald Trump with an evangelical group on January 20, 2017 in Washington D.C. Pastor Artie Kassimis at the Word Alive Bible Church on Wednesday January 11 2017, in Norwalk Conn. will attend the inauguration of Donald Trump with an evangelical group on January 20, 2017 in Washington D.C. Photo: Alex Von Kleydorff / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Alex Von Kleydorff / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Trump supporter: ‘No more apologies’ 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — Against his better judgment, Andrew Krill is driving down to Washington, D.C. from Stamford for the inauguration instead of taking Amtrak.

“But then again, they don’t let you smoke cigars,” Krill, a Republican Town Committee member, said of Amtrak.

Krill, 57, who works in sales, will join hundreds of thousands of spectators for the Jan. 20 swearing-in of President-elect Donald Trump in the nation’s capital. A first timer at a presidential inauguration, he said he’s unfazed by the specter of protests targeting Trump.

“I believe in freedom of speech,” Krill said.

Trump’s inaugural flock will be a study in contrasts, from the pious to the populist. Renegades. Opportunists. Alt-right. Wall Street. Main Street. They will all be brought together by an unlikely shepherd, whose upset of Hillary Clinton has deepened political fault lines and sparked nationwide protests.

Connecticut didn’t go for Trump, but that hasn’t suppressed the demand for tickets to his swearing-in on the west front of the U.S. Capitol and ensuing inaugural parade. Even the most ardent Trump supporters were left waiting until last week to find out if they made the cut for tickets, which are free and distributed by members of Congress.

“I’m not really a big Washington person,” said Michael Mason, a Greenwich Republican and chairman of the town’s finance board. “This is all new to me.”

Mason, 54, is friends with Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and manages the Westchester County Airport location of Million Air. The aptly-named aviation company hosted a rally for Trump in October at its Sanford, Fla., hangar that drew 7,000 supporters in the battleground state won by Trump.

When Trump held his election night rally at the New York Hilton, Mason was in the crowd for the marathon vote-counting. He was also a delegate to last summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“Yes, it’s surreal,” said Mason, who was invited by Trump’s sons to be their guest at the inauguration. “It was a movement.”

Mason said he is optimistic about what the next four years of a Trump presidency holds for the nation.

“It certainly is going to be a different style of government from a communication and a priority point of view,” said Mason, who is bringing his daughter to the inauguration.

Smaller crowd

Despite the fervor of the Trump faithful, crowd projections for Friday’s ceremony are dramatically down from President Barack Obama’s first inaugural in 2009 that drew 1.8 million spectators to the Capitol. Some estimates have set the threshold of 800,000 for Trump’s inaugural, which has been boycotted by numerous entertainers.

Artie Kassimis is quick to acknowledge the paradox: a reverend invited to attend the inauguration of a president who has been called irreverent.

But like scores of evangelical leaders from across the nation — an influential bloc that helped swing the November election — the Norwalk pastor will flock to D.C. for the Friday ceremony.

This is the first inaugural for Kassimis, 54, a school board member who is active in Republican politics and ran for the Legislature in 2010. He’s torn over Trump, trying to reconcile the lewd videotape banter about grabbing women by the genitals with the president-elect’s openness to a faith-based agenda.

“We all have salvation that we have to work out,” Kassimis said. “We are all human and say stupid things. (But) his bold statements that we’re going to say, ‘Merry Christmas,’ that kind of won people over. That’s what evangelicals wanted to hear. We believe that our faith has been attacked.”

Westport’s Jim Campbell said Republicans who backed Trump can now hold their heads high without worrying about being maligned.

This is the second inaugural for 55-year-old Campbell, a former Greenwich resident who was one of the first local GOP leaders to endorse Trump last year.

“It has felt difficult in many parts of the country to be a Trump supporter,” Campbell said. “Now that the election is over and the inauguration is here, the feeling is we can all come together. There’s almost a catharsis to it. No more apologies.”

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy