Supporters of Donald Trump massed in the nation’s capital this weekend to welcome back the president-elect – enduring lengthy drives, hours-long lines and punishing winter weather for a chance to share in Trump’s second win. 

Fox News Digital spoke to dozens of Trump backers who massed in and around the Capital One arena in Washington, D.C., to attend the ‘Make America Great Again’ rally hosted by the president-elect Sunday night. 

The free event was a victory lap, both for the president and for his longtime fans. Rally-goers descended into Washington in droves – among the dozens of attendees interviewed, few were from the D.C.-area – but saw their endurance tested by the sheets of rain, sleet and snow that came in waves as temperatures plummeted, prompting D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to activate a city-wide hypothermia alert.

Lines to get in the door wrapped around city blocks and weaved through miles of 10-foot fencing designed to block off roads and bolster security. Wait times were upward of three hours, according to some attendees. 

One Indiana man who drove from the Hoosier State to D.C. for the rally said he camped out at 10 p.m. Saturday before the rally Sunday afternoon. In an interview with Fox News, he said he had no regrets about his decision – gesturing to the plum post he had secured, right next to the stage. 

He also wasn’t alone. Some 100 others had also opted to camp out, he estimated in the interview – a sense of camaraderie and commitment that was starkly on display in the Sunday rally. 

Though the event itself was held inside, the lines were massive, stretching as far as the eye could see, and subjecting all but a few donors and VIPs to hours of winding lines in the bitter winter cold.

Not one of the supporters interviewed expressed any regrets about the cold they endured – even the people who had waited upward of nine hours to get in the door. 

‘I’m just happy to be here,’ one woman said alongside her partner, one of the last groups admitted into the rally, nearly six hours after doors opened to the public. 

The speech was Trump’s first in D.C. since Jan. 6, 2021. It saw a hodgepodge of performers with little in common: Two women who dubbed themselves ‘Girls Gone Bible’ led the audience in a lengthy prayer for Trump, before Kid Rock jumped onstage for a raucous musical performance. 

Other speakers included Stephen Miller, who offered policy-focused remarks, UFC President and CEO Dana White, whose fiery remarks riled up the group, and Donald Trump Jr., whose children led the rally-goers in the Pledge of Allegiance before Trump took the stage.

But if crowd size is to be measured as a sign of success, as Trump so often appears to see it, then his second term is poised to be met with sweeping approval from his base.

‘I’d do it again,’ one Florida woman told Fox News Digital of the lines, crowds and stamina required for the duration of the hours-long rally. ‘I have no regrets.’

Soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump was donning a dark navy coat, dark navy hat with a white stripe, dark navy heels and black gloves as she and her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, left St. John’s Episcopal Church after a prayer service ahead of the inauguration.

Melania’s outfit is fitting for the cold weather currently in Washington, D.C., which has moved the inauguration indoors to the Capitol Rotunda for the first time in 40 years.

The couple has been welcomed by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, where they will share tea and coffee at the White House.

‘Welcome home,’ Biden said to Trump after the president-elect stepped out of the car.

While tea is a presidential transition tradition, it is a stark departure from four years ago, when Trump refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory or attend his inauguration.

Melania, a Slovenian American former model, attracted attention during the first Trump administration for her striking style sense. French designer Hervé Pierre created her 2017 inaugural ball gown that is now on display at the National Museum of American History, according to the Smithsonian. 

Pierre has served as a stylist for first ladies in the White House since the 1990s, the South China Morning Post reports.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pope Francis shared his prayers and extended ‘cordial greetings’ to President-elect Trump ahead of his inaugural ceremony Monday morning.

‘I ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples,’ Pope Francis said in a message addressed to the president-elect.

‘On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-seventh President of the United States of America, I offer cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength, and protection in the exercise of your high duties,’ his message read.

‘Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion.’

Pope Francis continued on to ‘ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples’ amid ‘numerous challenges’ and ‘the scourge of war.’

‘With these sentiments,’ Pope Francis continued, ‘I invoke upon you, your family, and the beloved American people an abundance of divine blessings.’

Pope Francis criticized Trump’s deportation policy just one day prior, saying Sunday on an evening television program, ‘If true, this will be a disgrace.’

‘This won’t do. This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved,’ the pope said of Trump’s planned deportations.

Trump’s incoming administration is said to be eyeing immigration arrests of illegal immigrants across the country as soon as day one, as top officials say they are ready to ‘take the handcuffs off’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The pope also recently cited ‘fake news’ as the root cause of Trump’s assassination attempts last year. 

During the pontiff’s annual ‘state of the world’ address earlier this month, Francis pointed to ‘fake news’ as the root of division and distrust in society that ultimately led to two attempts on Trump’s life in 2024. 

‘This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hate, undermines people’s sense of security, and compromises civil coexistence and the stability of entire nations. Tragic examples of this are the attacks on the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic and the president-elect of the United States of America,’ he said.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw, Gabriel Hays and the Associated Press contributed to this report.