Photo courtesy of Andrew Green, Central College

Many Iowans made the trek east to Washington D.C. to watch Donald Trump become the 45th president of the United States.

One of those in attendance was Central College Political Science Professor Andrew Green, who was in town for an educational program with two Central students.

Green tells KNIA/KRLS News he gained a much better understanding of why Trump won the presidency by observing the president’s supporters in attendance.

“After seeing the diversity of folks who were wearing Donald Trump memorabilia–the ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, the shirts, I have a much better sense and really understand why Trump won because his coalition was far more diverse than I think most of us realized during the election,” he says.

Green says the speech was more focused on Trump’s goals than how he specifically plans to accomplish them, and President Trump made a call for unity at the end of his address.

“There was an attempt I thought at the end to try and develop unity, he made reference to having solidarity, particularly regardless of whether you’re ‘black or brown or white,'” Green says. “He said we succeed when we have solidarity, so I think that was probably his attempt to help bring some unity to the country and to fight the divisions that are very evident amongst the American people.”

Green is interested to see how the rest of the country responds to Trump’s address. During the event, Green noticed positive reactions to 43rd President George W. Bush and to Trump as he made his way to the podium.