The contentiousness of Trump’s campaign rallies rubbed off on the character of some of the day’s celebration. As my colleague Nora Kelly observed, many inauguration attendees were simply there to join in celebration or participate in an important civic ceremony, and many Trump supporters among that crowd merely shrugged at the presence of protesters who mixed in with the crowds and often obstructed movement. But there was an edge to the zeal, and the few minor disturbances I saw that morning came when Trump supporters were determined to break through protester lines. Before the inauguration activities on Friday, at the Judiciary Square checkpoint, I witnessed a group of Trump supporters face off against protesters who’d linked arms to prevent them from entering. Groups like Bikers for Trump made a show of their readiness to defend Trump supporters from violence by protesters, which in my 12 hours of reporting across the city never came. Refrains of “We won!” rang out in the mixed crowd watching the swearing-in outside of the Gordon Biersch restaurant in Gallery Place, but those refrains carried as much defensiveness as they did jubilation.

Trump’s own inaugural address echoed that defensiveness, and was the clearest sign that his famed rally-centered style would not dissipate simply because he had now actually attained the office. He continued his campaign staple of painting a picture of a dystopia of “American carnage” in “inner cities,” only this time with the brush of authority wielded by the office. He continued to harness resentment. He continued his attacks against the inner-circle of D.C. politics, even as its members sat directly behind him. “For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost,” Trump told the crowd, without a hint of irony.

Still, given their importance in welding together a coherent coalition and in binding a working-class to a candidate who is fundamentally unlike them, it’s no surprise that the more boisterous elements of Trump rallies remained in full effect throughout inauguration. Trump needs a foil, and the major success of his campaign derived from its ability to divert attention away from a thin policy platform and towards a parade of caricatured images of threats and rivals, with Clinton chief among them. His promises to “never ignore” the elements of his base that feel left behind in a globalizing—and diversifying—landscape always land. People voted for Trump the pugilist, and his image has never deviated—despite the pivots journalists kept expecting him to eventually make.

But in his appeals to the American security apparatus, his “America First” prescription of patriotism as panacea, and his insistence that the “bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America,” the clearest view of the next few years emerged. In the purest sense of the word, Trump has always presented an authoritarian message, and has always campaigned as a person who would restore domestic and global submission to American authority. In order to do so while in office, he has to be a perpetual convener of rallies and must always minimize even the appearance of opposition. His interest in military parades fits the bill, and provides a roadmap. For his promises to work, the legitimacy of consensus is paramount.