MY INAUGURATION "FEEL GOOD STORY OF THE DAY"

After helping deliver Trump victory, the prize comes at a high price    The Washington Post Stephanie McCrummen

  

Ralph Case sits for a portrait at Anderson, the bus company contracted to take his group to inauguration. (Andrew Spear/For The Washington Post)

Ralph Case was a single father of two with a high school education who’d never been involved in politics before he saw Donald Trump descending the gilded…

CANTON, Ohio — He had opened a Trump campaign office in an old tanning salon, waved Trump signs and knocked on doors right up until Election Day, and now Ralph Case, a home contractor in paint-splattered jeans, went to his mailbox and pulled out a thick envelope with a Washington, D.C., return address.“Holy cow,” he said, walking back into his kitchen, where he and his friend Jim Murphy were organizing a bus trip to the inauguration of the 45th president, Donald Trump, whom they often referred to as “The Man.”
“You know what that is,” said Murphy. “Brian got one.”
Ralph tore it open and pulled out an ivory card embossed with a gold seal.
“Mr. Ralph Case . . .” he read out loud, his hands shaking. “The President-elect requests the honor of your presence at the inaugural ball.”
He looked at Murphy.
“I’m in!” said Ralph.
In so many ways, it was true.

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