On January 20th at noon Eastern, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated, once again, as our 47th President. After completing a remarkable political comeback not seen in U.S. history by winning both the Electoral College and popular vote in November, Trump returned to the White House and Washington. The past two times Mr. Trump had been in D.C., he was appearing in court for his own criminal trial, and before that, was leaving the White House after the events of January 6th, 2021. Trump did not perform the customary gesture of attending his predecessor’s inauguration, now-former President Biden. Biden however, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the election, and other senior Democrats attended the inauguration. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and former First Ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton were in attendance. Michelle Obama was not present. Trump’s Vice President from his first term, Mike Pence, also attended the proceedings. All nine Supreme Court justices, and former Justice Stephen Bryer, also attended.

What was most unique about Trump’s ceremony was the guest list; sitting in premier seats usually reserved for cabinet nominees were major tech CEOs, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Google’s Sundar Pichai. Also historical was the presence of foreign leaders, like Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. China’s vice president, Han Zheng, was present to represent Xi Jinping, who Trump invited.

After President Biden hosted President Trump at the White House for tea, and Vice President Harris hosted incoming Vice President J.D. Vance at the VP’s residence, all made their way to the U.S. Capitol rotunda together. The inauguration is almost always held outdoors on the Capitol steps but was moved inside just days before due to extremely cold temperatures. After Trump took the oath of office and was sworn in, he gave an impromptu, hour-long speech to Republican supporters in an overflow room. 

Trump then held an indoor parade and festivities at Capitol One Arena, with marching bands and special appearances, including Elon Musk, who controversially displayed a gesture with his arm twice during his speech. Trump, in another first, signed his administration’s first executive orders in front of the stadium crowd and signed dozens of others later that night. He issued several memoranda on the Southern border, immigration, tech/science, the military, and miscellaneous actions like renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”. He also issued two orders that have already faced lawsuits; one that effectively attempts to end birthright citizenship, a part of the 14th Amendment, and one that attempted to halt all federal funding and spending, which was already rescinded. Trump has stated that he will instate tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and potentially China, as soon as today. Most of his cabinet nominees have either been confirmed or are in the confirmation process currently.