Donald Trump and JD Vance will be sworn in to office inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday, rather than outside, as Washington, D.C. braces for dangerously cold temperatures, the president-elect announced on Truth Social.
The entire inauguration ceremony, including prayers and speeches, will be held indoors. The last time cold weather canceled an outdoor inauguration ceremony was in 1985, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term. Due to a snowstorm, James Monroe’s second inauguration took place inside the Capitol, in the House chamber.
The National Weather Service predicts sunny skies at the National Mall on Monday, with a high of around 23 degrees.
In the post, Trump claimed that a “Arctic blast” would bring “dangerous conditions” and “severe record lows” to his supporters as well as the tens of thousands of law enforcement, first responders, and others who were expected to attend the event.
“This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!” Trump said.
Trump said he would open the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington on Monday for a live viewing of the event and the presidential parade. He stated that he will join the crowd in the arena following the ceremony.
The weather will be much colder than it has been for recent inauguration ceremonies, and even colder than it was in March 1841, when William Henry Harrison spoke for two hours in the cold rain. Harrison’s inaugural address remains the longest ever — and led to the shortest stint in the White House, as he contracted a cold that turned into pneumonia and died a month later.
Without the president taking the oath and speaking from the Capitol’s West Front, the crowd on the National Mall, which often spans several blocks, is likely to be smaller — and perhaps less of a fixation for Trump himself.
His term began eight years ago with his first press secretary, Sean Spicer, berating reporters in the briefing room for pointing out that Trump’s inauguration crowd did not cover as much of the Mall as Barack Obama’s in 2009.
The ceremony will also serve as an ironic historical coda, four years after Trump’s supporters broke through police barricades and stormed the Capitol, ransacking offices, removing property, and forcing lawmakers to shelter in place.
Inaugurating Trump in the same space where his supporters illegally entered will bring into sharper focus a political rehabilitation that, four years ago, seemed almost impossible.
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