Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration took place on Monday, January 20, 2025 inside the Capitol, eight years after his first one. Although the inauguration was meant to be held outside, cold weather made it the first one to be moved inside since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985. While flags were previously kept at half-staff following the death of former President Jimmy Carter on December 29, they were raised back up for the inauguration. The event took place on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Even with the smaller audience, there were still many notable attendees, like former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who took photos with their Republican counterparts and spouses at the White House before the ceremony. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama were there, in addition to former First Ladies Hillary Clinton (Trump’s 2016 opponent) and Barbara Bush, former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle and Mike Pence, the justices of the Supreme Court, and other prominent government officials.
Many foreign countries sent representatives to attend the ceremony, with conservative Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in attendance. Many prominent tech leaders were in attendance as well, such as Elon Musk of Tesla & SpaceX, Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sundar Pichai (Google), Tim Cook (Apple), and Shou Chew (TikTok). (Chew was there after Trump helped delay the scheduled ban of TikTok in the United States). In addition to Musk, other Trump allies at the inauguration included his family and Cabinet nominees. Many Senators and Representatives — especially those who are Republican — were present at the inauguration. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) led the ceremonies of the inauguration.
Eventually, at noontime on January 20, Donald Trump and former Ohio Senator JD Vance took the oaths of office to become the 47th President and 50th Vice President of the United States. By extension, Melania Trump and Usha Vance became the First and Second Ladies of the United States, respectively. Trump is the oldest President to be inaugurated (passing Biden’s record by a few months), while Vance is the second youngest Vice President to hold the office.
Trump then gave his inaugural address. Wearing a purple tie, he declared that America would enter a new “golden era” under his presidency. He emphasized various parts of his agenda for the next four years, including increasing tariffs on foreign goods, deporting many illegal immigrants living in the United States, increasing American energy production and oil extraction, protecting free speech, and attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. He also discussed renaming Denali in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico to “Mount McKinley” and the “Gulf of America,” taking back control of the Panama Canal (which was returned to Panama in 1999), and putting astronauts on Mars.
During his speech, Trump leaned into the belief that he was politically persecuted, saying that his political comeback was proof that nothing is impossible. The extent to which he can fulfill all of his promises remains to be seen, but he has already taken various actions to achieve parts of his agenda.
After the inauguration ended, Trump and various Republicans continued with other events, including Trump signing some of his first executive orders. After issuing a flurry of pardons as his last acts before the inauguration, Joe Biden left D.C. for the last time as a government official; after spending 48 of the last 52 years as a Senator (36), Vice President (8), and President (4), he has finally entered retirement. Even the first few days of Trump’s presidency have been eventful; time will tell what the next four years will bring.
Additional Reading: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_inauguration_of_Donald_Trump
