Who Counts and Whose Count Counts

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A lot has been made in the news about just how big a crowd came out to see The Exalted Orange One ascend to the American "throne." The Trump Administration insists there was a crowd of one to one-and-a-half million in attendance on the National Mall. Everyone else who was there, the press, the National Park Service, bloggers, citizens, just about anyone who isn't a die-hard Trumpanista, says the crowd numbered between 250,000 to 400,000. This second number is very much lower than either of Obama's inauguration crowds; a fact that TEOO's ego cannot handle. I don't understand why anyone is surprised the crowd was lower. Let's take an honest look at the reasons why TEOO's crowds were less than Obama's. The answer lies in the population of the District of Columbia. 46% of the people who live in the District are African-American. Chances are very few, if any, that those folks came out for Trump's inauguration, but they would have come out in huge numbers to see Obama inaugurated. Another statistic to look at is how the people in the District voted. Registered voters in the District are overwhelmingly Democrats. 91% of the people casting votes in DC in this last election voted for Hillary. Only 4% voted for Trump. Again, most of those Not-Trump voters probably weren't going to go out on a rainy day to see a man they despise inaugurated. No one I've heard has pointed out these seemingly, to me anyway, obvious reasons as to why the crowds at Obama's inaugurations far outnumbered those at Trump's. The right wing is coming up with various laughable conspiracy theories involving trick photography, the Secret Service, the Metro, and the Park Service. The left wing simply accuses Trump and his spokespeople of simply lying about the numbers. I guess neither side wants to look at what the real reasons for the difference might be. If you watched the inauguration, did you think the crowds seemed thin on the ground for Trump's inauguration?