In free-spirited Takoma Park, Md., a "nuclear-free zone" since 1983, a left-wing resistance movement is taking shape. Nadine Bloch, an activist and artist, is running pre-inaugural training on nonviolent protest — complete with mock police officers wielding rolled up newspapers as batons.

And here in the District of Columbia, where 91 percent of voters cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton, "full-scale panic" is setting in, said John Feehery, a Republican strategist and Trump enthusiast. Leslie Harris, a liberal Democratic lawyer, uses war imagery: "I feel like my city is about to be invaded."
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"We don't know exactly what to expect from Trump, except that he's combative," said Robert Dallek, a presidential biographer, who has lived here for 20 years. And furthermore, Mr. Dallek complained, "It's offensive to be called a swamp."

... like the rest of America, Washington is also a real place, with real people, who have lived here for decades. The permanent occupants of "the swamp" see presidents come, and see them go. And no matter what their politics, people agree with Mr. Feehery that this transition "feels different" from any in recent memory.
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The unease runs especially deep among those General Hayden calls "Republican internationalists," who advocate engagement with other nations but possess a hawkish suspicion of Russian and Chinese intentions. Having described Mr. Trump as Russia's "useful fool" on the opinion page of The Washington Post, the general, 71, would never be offered a job.

But with Mr. Trump openly questioning the "high confidence judgment" by the C.I.A. about Russian hacking, he has been entertaining a steady stream of visitors wary of joining the new administration.

"I say, 'Yeah, by all means, if the president-elect asks you to serve, consider it seriously,' '' he said. "But don't think of it as a lifetime commitment; you remain a free agent.''

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