For weeks, dispirited Democrats have tried to will Donald Trump into being something resembling a normal Republican president. He was greeted warmly at Jimmy Carter’s funeral by Barack Obama, welcomed into the White House on his inauguration morning by Joe Biden, while Democrats who boycotted his swearing-in eight years ago dutifully announced their intention to sit through this one. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democratic senator and co-chair of the inaugural committee, even introduced Trump by pointedly referring to the fact that so many previous presidents had come to the ceremony–the one Trump skipped out on four years ago–was a testament to “our enduring democracy.”
But from the second sentence out of Trump’s mouth it was clear that those efforts had failed. Instead Trump returned to the presidency by unleashing a grievance-fueled tirade directed mostly at Joe Biden, who sat feet away, staring at the floor.
“We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” Trump said in the opening moments of his address. “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced.”
Trump went on to accuse Biden of weaponizing the Department of Justice to bring him down—something for which no evidence exists—of abandoning American citizens suffering from natural disasters in order to devote resources to undocumented immigrants, and even suggested that there was a conspiracy behind the assaination attempt on him in Pennsylvania in July–also something for which no evidence exists.
“For American citizens, January 20th, 2025 is Liberation Day,” Trump proclaimed.
Trump’s second inauguration, and the nation’s 60th, was otherwise like none that had come before. It was held in the Capitol rotunda, the place where four years earlier rioters inspired by Trump had ransacked in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory. The ostensible reason was to protect the Trump faithful from dangerous colds, but the weather in Washington D.C. today is in the mid-20’s — cold, but hardly dangerously so. In lieu of the dignitaries and political leaders who usually join a new president on the dais, Trump was joined by tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. Much of downtown Washington is shut down with police and armed military personnel parked in intersections, shutting down large swathes of downtown, and erecting metal barriers in parts of the city.
Still, it was not enough to dampen the ebullient mood among the Trump faithful, tens of thousands of whom travelled from across the country to witness the inauguration. On the streets of Washington on Sunday night spontaneous dance parties broke out, the music provided by cars parked on the streets. Revelers wore Trump wigs, and the now iconic red hats, only this time the “Make America Great Again” logo was replaced by more pointed messages. “Own The Libs,” said one. “Trump Was Right About Everything,” said another. The Chamber of Commerce Republicans and evangelical faithful who typically can be counted on to populate an inauguration crowd make up a scarcer presence in Washington this weekend, replaced by something more populist but also rawer, and angrier. At a bar near the White House, two friends from Oklahoma reminisced about the last time they had come to Washington, on January 6th, 2021, where they were in the audience for Trump’s speech before the Capitol riot. “And now we are back!” one said, declining to give his name. “Can you believe it!”
Those who were able watched Trump’s second inauguration speech from Capitol One arena, where they cheered loudly at some of the laundry list of proposals that Trump mentioned, including that “it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female” and booed the appearance on the screen of Democratic politicians and even Republicans thought to be insufficiently loyal to Trump. The president moved the traditional inaugural parade to inside that same arena, and a makeshift desk has been set up there, presumably so that Trump can, with his fans watching, can put his signature on some of the blizzard of executive orders that he has pledged to sign in his first hours in office, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border and ordering American troops there, in addition to scrapping the Biden administration’s electric vehicle rules and setting up an “External Revenue Service” to collect money from the tariffs of foreign countries and companies that Trump has vowed to enact.
The same arena was the site of a Trump rally just the day before, one that was keynoted by the Village People performing “Y.M.C.A.” Trump’s inauguration speech sounded not very different from the rambling address he gave to the crowd of hard-core supporters in that arena the day before. It had the same anger and vague threats of retribution, and in the Capitol rotunda Trump even repeated how he swept all seven swing states and won a popular vote victory — both of which he noted prominently in his inaugural address in the Capitol rotunda.
“Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” Trump said. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.”
No 1970’s era disco group came out in the marbled halls of the Capitol after Trump finished. But if they had, it would scarcely have been a surprise.
More on the Inauguration
- The Most Bizarre Trump Inauguration Attendees
- Trump Begins Blitz of January 6 Pardons, Executive Orders
- Michelle Obama Isn’t Sick — She Just Hates Trump
