President-elect Donald Trump is moving his inauguration ceremonies indoors to the Capitol Rotunda because of the threat of an “Arctic blast” — extreme cold and winds — forecast for Monday in Washington paring down the traditional spectacle of hundreds of thousands of people.
He announced on Truth Social on Friday afternoon that the swearing-in ceremony with his inaugural address, other speeches, and prayers will be held in the rotunda under the dome of the Capitol building which contains the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.
He said, “The various Dignitaries and Guests will be brought into the Capitol. This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!”
The swearing-in is scheduled to take place at noon local time (10:30 pm IST) and will be videocast on several networks and internet channels.
Starting a new tradition for US presidential inaugurations, Trump invited foreign leaders to attend his swearing-in.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be representing India at the inauguration.
Among those attending will be China’s Vice President Han Zheng in place of President Xi Jinping, whom Trump had invited, and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
While sidelining European leaders, Trump has invited his ideological peers like Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, France’s Reconquete party president Eric Zemmour, Belgium’s nationalist Vlaams Belang party boss Tom Van Grieken, and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Trump who now supports Tik Tok waded into controversy by inviting its CEO Shou Chew to the inauguration that will be held three days after the Supreme Court upheld a law ordering the Chinese short video platform to be sold or shut down because of national that will be security threats.
Twitter owner and Tesla founder Elon Musk, who has emerged as a top adviser to Trump, and tech CEOs Sundar Pichai of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Tim Cook of Apple are among the special invitees.
At the swearing-in, by tradition, Trump’s wife Melania will hold the bibles on which he will place his left hand and raise his right hand to take the oath of office administered by Chief Justice John Roberts.
In 2017, Trump stacked his personal bible and, in a nod to history, the one used by President Abraham Lincoln to take the oath of office in 1861.
JD Vance will take the oath of office administered by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Rotunda has an area of only 706 sq metres where the VIPs, from abroad and from within the US, will have to be accommodated.
Trump said that he was doing it only because he did not “want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way” from the weather that “could take temperatures into severe record lows”.
The weather forecasts are for a high of -4 degrees Celsius and a low of -13 degrees with wind gusts of up to 50 kmph, which together could make the real feel temperature several degrees colder, between -11 and -16., after snow on Sunday.
Trump pointed to a precedent for the indoor swearing-in, the 1985 inauguration of President Ronald Reagan on a very chilly day.
He invited people to view a live telecast of the swearing-in at the Captial One Arena, a sports stadium with a 20,000-capacity, and said he will join them there.
Instead of the traditional march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, the marching bands will play at the arena.
The other inauguration events like the balls and parties will take place as scheduled, he said.
The day’s events will start with a religious service at the St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House.
It will be followed by the traditional tea at the White House hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill before they head to the Capitol.
The swearing-in ceremony will be replete with religious symbolism.
A Catholic cardinal and an evangelical pastor will give the invocation and a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic bishop, a Christian pastor, and a Muslim imam will give the blessing.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be given a ceremonial send-off.
Trump will go to a luncheon at the Capitol hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee organising the inauguration.
The schedule calls for a review of military contingents in front of the Capitol before going to the arena.
This year’s inauguration was expected to be outdoors in front of the Capitol like his first in 2017 and Trump sent out email and text message blasts to his supporters asking them to turn up for the event.
He warned that the conditions would be “dangerous” and said, “In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly”!
The arctic chill sweeping parts of the US will be damper for Trump who loves grand spectacles and huge crowds.
At his first inauguration in 2017, he got into a row with the media asserting that there were “a million and a half people” and media had undercounted them.
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