Excited Trump fans throw inaugural parties in Russia and Melania Trump's Slovenia

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 20 January 2017

The main inaugural event is in Washington, D.C., but President-elect Donald Trump's supporters are partying in Eastern Europe, too.

Festivities are underway in incoming first lady Melania Trump's childhood town of Sevnica, Slovenia, a village of about 5,000 people. Sevnica Mayor Srecko Ocvirk has organized a celebration of local industry and products, as well as free tours of the town and its ancient castle.

Meanwhile, some in Russia are reportedly in the grip of "Trumpomania," with craftsmen creating commemorative trinkets including coins and nesting dolls to celebrate Trump's new position. The most enthusiastic are hosting all-night parties to watch the president-elect be sworn into office. "Trump's election has generated enormous enthusiasm in Russia because [of] his warm words about Russia," said Sergei Markov, a pro-Putin former lawmaker, adding, "We don't know for sure if there will be an improvement [in U.S.-Russian relations] or not. But we Russians are optimists."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.