The Atlantic The Sound of Silence The quiet in the streets of D.C. today was a fitting end to the noisiest political era many Americans can remember. January 20, 2021 Photos of Vice President Kamala Harris hang outside a restaurant in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day.Todd Heisler / The New York Times / Redux Donald Trump’s presidency concluded not with mutiny in state capitals or an attempted attack on his successor, but with a calm, conventional ceremony in an otherwise quiet city. Walking through Washington, D.C., today, the silence in the streets was the sound of a country not quite ready to exhale. It was a fitting end to the noisiest era of American politics that many Americans can remember.