Having been moved inside due to cold weather, the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States occurred on Jan. 20th at noon eastern time inside the Capital building. The typical pageantry of the inauguration occurred, but there were ruptures of tradition surrounding the oath of office as well as seating arrangements. It is the 60th presidential inauguration in the history of the U.S. and the second time that Donald Trump has been inaugurated. JD Vance was inaugurated as vice president of the United States as well.
The event began with the swearing in ceremony, where the first controversy of the inauguration took place. Donald trump notably did not put his hand on the bible while taking the oath of office, despite his wife Melania Trump having been handed two separate bibles. Under article VI of the U.S. constitution Donald Trump is not legally required to place his hand on the bible, with the only legal requirement being that he must take the oath. Trump joins John Quincy Adams, Lyndon B. Johnson who used a catholic prayer missal, and Theodore Roosevelt as the only presidents to have not touched a bible while taking the oath.
After taking his oath of office, President Trump gave his inaugural address. Trump outlined his goals for his term, stating that he would: quickly sign executive orders, declare a national emergency on the southern border, deport criminal immigrants, and create an external revenue service. President Trump also discussed how he believed the U.S. would be entering a golden age. He said, “The golden age of America starts now” and later saying, “We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.” Trump concluded the speech by discussing how the U.S. under his leadership will come to be “full of compassion” and “will not be conquered” keeping with his theme of making the U.S. a strong nation. He concluded the speech by saying, “The future is ours, and our golden age has just begun.” The speech was somewhat overshadowed by reactions to the tech moguls sitting in the front row.
Seats close to the president during his inaugural address are typically held by family or honored politicians such as former presidents, although Trump was surrounded by some of the world’s richest tech moguls during his address. Within images of the inaugural address, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX can be seen sitting front row, while politicians like Marco Rubio, Trump’s new secretary of state, look on from the background. AP News noted that the presence of such wealthy figures is a strong contrast for Trump, who has tried to champion representation for the working man.
Trump then attended the signing ceremony where his new photo portrait was made, before attending the inaugural luncheon. In attendance at the luncheon where supreme court justices, senate and house leaders, as well as family and other guests. Trump then attended the pass-in-review where he met his military escort and then traveled in the procession. The traditional closing parade was moved indoors to capital one arena, where it capped off the three-hour ceremony.
