Here we are. Monday 20st January It is planned in the United States the inauguration day which will officially start the new era branded Donald Trump. As per tradition, in fact, it is on that date that at the Campidoglio, the same place that was held on January 6, 2021 assaulted by the tycoon's supporters, the ceremony that will mark the end of Joe Biden's presidential mandate and the beginning of Trump's will be held will be officially sworn in as the 47th president of the United States of America and will become the second president, after Grover Cleveland, to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. He will also become the first convicted president in history.
Trump Inauguration: What It Is and What Happens on Inauguration Day
Inauguration day is nothing more than the formal ceremony which ends the term of a president and marks the beginning of the administration of his successor. Although the transition of power began in November, January 20 will therefore be held the official handover between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
It is an event that is repeated (almost) always the same every four years, characterized by very precise rules and rites. This year it will begin with a religious service at St John's Episcopal Church in Washington. Then Donald and Melania Trump will go to the White House for tea with Joe and Jill Biden.
The program calls for members of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the special committee established for inaugural ceremonies, to escort the president-elect, the vice president-elect and their wives to the White House, where a formal ceremony will take place. the meeting with the outgoing president.
Once the meeting is over, a parade attended by Joe Biden, Donald Trump and his vice president JD Vance, with their respective wives, which will conclude at the Capitol.
However, due to the exceptional cold, inauguration ceremony, including the swearing-in and parade, will exceptionally take place indoors, instead of the traditional staircase of the West Front of the Congress. He has Trump himself decidedTo find a precedent of this kind we have to go back to 1985, with Ronald Reagan taking office, also then, in a very cold Washington.
“I don’t want to see people get sick or injured, these are dangerous weather conditions for the tens of thousands of law enforcement, first responders, and even horses, and the hundreds of thousands of supporters who will be out for many hours on January 20th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The inauguration ceremony and the oath
Once inside the Capitol, the inauguration ceremony will officially begin, attended by former presidents, entrepreneurs, VIPs and politicians from all over the world. There will also be a musical performance: country singer Carrie Underwood will perform. In 2021, it was Lady Gaga's turn.
The ceremony will be opened by the newly elected Vice President JD Vance, at 11am local time (17pm in Italy, who will take his oath:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will enter upon this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or intention of evasion; and that I will manfully and faithfully discharge the duties of the office I am about to enter upon: so help me God.”
Then it will be the turn of Trump, who will take the stage around noon (18 pm Italian time) and will swear in as the 47th president of the United States of America, pronouncing the ritual formula with one hand on the Bible. Very important: the formula must be recited clearly and precisely, otherwise you risk incurring "the accident that happened to Barack Obama, who in 2009 went out of sequence and had to repeat the oath the next day. This is the formula:
“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The ritual has been repeated the same way since 1884, when the last version was established.
Trump's inaugural address
Once the oaths are pronounced, Trump will deliver his inaugural address. None of his predecessors in the history of the United States has ever failed to observe this ritual, although in this case, it is not a legal obligation. The length of the speech varies and no one knows what the tycoon will say. And on the content Betting agencies accept bets. More than $500 have been bet, for example, on the possibility that Trump would utter the words “bitcoin” and “crypto.”
The parade on Pennsylvania Avenue and the entrance to the White House
The inaugural speech concluded, Trump to enter President's Room again for the ritual photo and the signing of the transition documents.
Then, as per tradition, we will move on to the inaugural lunch at the National Statuary Hall. Later, Trump and his vice president Vance will return outside the Capitol to salute the military and the parade on Pennsylvania AvenueThe tour will end at the White House, where staff will welcome the new residents.
How much does the induction ceremony cost?
The inauguration ceremony of US presidents is historically very expensive, but this year Trump has outdone himself. For Inauguration Day, in fact, $170 million raised, more than double the $62 million raised in 2021 for Biden's inauguration, $63 million more than the $107 million spent on the 2017 ceremony, when the tycoon was sworn in for his first term.
Contributing to this stratospheric figure were the significant donations from some tech industry magnates, from Apple CEO Tim Cool to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, through Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Donations were also made by Google, Boeing, General Motors, Ford Motor, Microsoft. Even the auto sector has decided to do its part. Stellantis, owner of Chrysler, the US division of Hyundai Motor and Delta Air Lines have in fact announced that they have donated one million dollars each to the fund for the inauguration of the US president-elect, with John Elkann (president of Stellantis), who will be among the company managers who will participate in the ceremony.
Who's at Trump's Inauguration Day: The Guests
And speaking of guests. There will be around 200 guests who will attend the ceremony, including at least 10 heads of state – an unprecedented choice according to the Associated Press – and heads of government, some traditionally unpresentable in the United States.
Let's start with former presidents: in addition to Jill and Joe Biden, who have decided to respect tradition despite the Trumps having given them the same treatment in 2021, Hillary and Bill Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush will be present. Barack Obama will also be there, but he will not be accompanied by his wife Michelle, who has already announced that she will not participate: officially due to "previous commitments", unofficially, say the US media, "to avoid giving false smiles". The outgoing vice president was also present Kamala Harris, defeated by Trump in the November elections, together with her husband Doug Emhoff.
The massive presence of the confirmed Silicon Valley and star-spangled magnates. There will be Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sam Altman (Open Ai), Tim Cook (Apple), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet). TikTok CEO also present, Chew Shou Zi, despite the dispute with the American government, who will even sit on the stage of honor, traditionally reserved for former presidents, family members and other important guests. And then of course there will also be Elon Musk, number one at Tesla, X and Space X, but also the new secretary of the department for government efficiency.
Finally foreign leaders: it will be the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the only prime minister arriving from Europe. The presence of Argentine President Milei has been confirmed, while former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in doubt (his passport was confiscated as part of the investigation into the attempted coup in 2022). For the China, the state agency Xinhua reported, there will be “the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice President Han Zheng”. According to international sources, the presence of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya has also been confirmed. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa will also be present.
The Hungarian Prime Minister should also be there Viktor Orbán. However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will not be there. An absence that makes noise considering that Trump invited the leader of the Reform Party Nigel Farage. The anti-immigration politician confirmed his presence from France Eric Zemmour, while for Germany, Trump also invited the leader of the far-right German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Alice Weidel, who however declined due to electoral commitments in view of the vote on February 23. In Washington there will therefore be the party's co-leader, Tino Chrupalla. The presence of the Polish has been confirmed Mateusz Morawiecki, just elected leader of the ECR conservatives.
In the European context, one stands out invitation: the one never sent to the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Last Updated January 20th at 9,20am
Welcome back Mr Donald Trump🇺🇲