‘We’ve Got A Steep Road Ahead’: Americans Focus On The Future

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President Biden delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 46th president.

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«I’m happy if he can do his agenda,» Kay, a 57-year-old Trump supporter told KCUR reporter Frank Morris. «I mean, he seems like he’s a level-headed guy, and I hope that’s the truth. I hope that that’s what he follows. Cause then America would be better, but I’m worried that it’s gonna swing too far left.»

Kay, who lives in the suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., and declined to share her last name, said she hoped that the Biden administration would reunite Americans.

«That’s all I want. I want America first,» she said. «I just want our country back to normal.»

Sherry Webster, a 71-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., told Morris she thought the United States had turned a corner, but there was still a lot of work needed to bring the country together.

«We’ve got a steep road ahead, [a] really steep road ahead, but I think Biden through all his tragedy in his life, has gained a lot of wisdom,» Webster said. «I think he’s somebody that can reach out to both sides and it really speaks to people. So I think we’re headed in a good direction.»

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Kelsey Nix watches a television airing the Inauguration Day ceremony at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta.

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«We just want to be left alone in this country,» Smith told NPR’s Kirk Siegler. «Trump was our president, and for most of us, he still is our president. We still follow him.»

Outside the state Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pa., one Trump supporter seemed ready to let go of the false claims of election fraud.

«It’s over. There is nothing they can do about it. It is what it is. I accept that,» Ryan Stevenson of Carlisle, Pa., told WITF’s Sam Dunklau. «I am not interested in finding out what the facts were, the truth was. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s over.»

For Matt Conberry, a Biden supporter from Wallingford, Pa., moving on sounds like a good idea.

«It’s a very simple message. A lot of this country thinks the election might have been stolen. Or that democracy doesn’t work,» he said. «You know, it’s the best we got. You know what I mean? If you don’t trust the results of the election, I don’t know what else we will do as a country.»

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