Inauguration Moved Indoors Amid Freezing Temperatures - Trump's Unusual Presidential Inauguration
Donald Trump and JD Vance will be sworn in to office inside the Capitol Rotunda on Monday — instead of outside the Capitol — as Washington, D.C., braces for dangerously cold temperatures, the president-elect posted on Truth Social. The entire inauguration ceremony, including prayers and speeches, will move indoors. The last time cold weather scuttled the outdoor inauguration ceremony was in 1985 when Ronald Reagan was sworn into his second term. James Monroe’s second inauguration was also held inside the Capitol, in the House chamber, because of a snowstorm.
Unprecedented Move Due to Extreme Weather
The National Weather Service is projecting sunny weather at the National Mall on Monday, with a high of around 23 degrees. Trump, in the post, said an “Arctic blast” threatened “dangerous conditions” and “severe record lows” for his supporters and 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.
Historical Precedents and Significance
Trump said that he would open Capital One arena in downtown Washington Monday for a live viewing of the event, and for the presidential parade. He said he will join the crowd at the arena following the ceremony. The weather will, in fact, be far colder than it’s been for recent inauguration ceremonies — far colder even than it was in March 1841 when William Henry Harrison spoke for two hours in the cold rain. Harrison’s inaugural address still holds the record for longest ever — and led to the shortest stint in the White House, after he caught a cold that turned into pneumonia, and died a month later.
Implications of Indoor Ceremony
Without the president taking the oath and speaking from the Capitol’s West front, the crowd gathered on the National Mall, often stretching for several blocks, is likely to be somewhat smaller — and perhaps less of a fixation for Trump himself. Eight years ago, his term began 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 did in 2009.
Symbolism and Historical Irony
Holding the ceremony inside the Capitol will also offer an ironic historical coda coming four years after Trump’s supporters broke through police barricades and stormed the building, ransacking offices, removing property and forcing lawmakers to shelter in place. Inaugurating Trump in the very space that his supporters entered illegally will render in ever sharper relief a political rehabilitation that, on that shocking day four years earlier, seemed almost unfathomable.
