News & Politics

This DC Inauguration Day Event Encourages People to “Take Edibles and Come”

Adam Eidinger (who else?) is an organizer of "The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear 2.0" in Dupont Circle.

Image by Alexander Sanchez via iStock/Getty Images Plus.

From Trump’s victory rally to the People’s March on Washington, a host of demonstrations and protests will take place in DC around Inauguration Day. However, one is not like the rest. The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear 2.0, led by longtime activist Adam Eidinger, will be all about just…letting loose and having fun.

The rally, scheduled from 9 AM to 4:20 PM at Dupont Circle, will feature DJs, spoken word readings, and other entertainment that won’t surprise anyone who knows Eidinger, who led the successful effort to legalize recreational cannabis in DC. The mood will be one of release, he says: attendees might arrive decked out in colorful costumes, or perhaps in their pajamas with their hair still messy and like they just rolled out of bed. Others might be dressed in layers and simply trying to keep warm, though Eidinger notes that dancing is also a good way to build up body heat. “We encourage people to take edibles and come,” Eidinger says.

Image courtesy of Adam Eidinger.

Eidinger hopes the rally will serve as a safe space for those stressed about the upcoming Trump administration. “Come have fun and not be in a mood,” he says. “Don’t scream into your pillow at home alone. Come scream in a pillow in public! That would be better.”

At 11 AM, a small contingent will be sent to go watch the actual inauguration ceremony. Currently, there are less than 100 RSVPs for the rally, though Eidinger predicts more people will show up on the day of as they roll through and see the dancing from the streets.

The event’s name pays homage to comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. If Comedy Central sends a cease-and-desist letter, Eidinger says he has an alternative lined up: “The Sinauguration Part 1.” That name, Eidinger says, reflects his feeling that “America’s committing a sin, picking Trump after everything he’s done.”

This isn’t Eidinger’s first time counterprogramming Trump. DCMJ, a cannabis advocacy group he cofounded, gave away thousands of joints during Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

When asked about any plans for the incoming administration, Eidinger says that he will wait and see. “I’m going to give him 100 days, and then I’ll see what focus we should do as DC residents,” he says.

Lydia Wei
Editorial Fellow