President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Washington Saturday to kick off days of pageantry heralding his second inauguration as president, 4 years after he departed the town underneath the shadow of an assault by his supporters on the Capitol.
His airplane landed at Dulles Airport within the night earlier than he headed to Trump Sterling Golf Club for deliberate night celebrations and fireworks. Trump bought off the airplane round 7:20 p.m., he didn’t take questions, reporters mentioned, however stopped briefly to wave on the press and pumped his fist twice within the air.
Earlier, Trump, Melania and their son Barron boarded the airplane at 5:13 p.m. Eastern Time and departed Palm Beach International Airport, Florida, close to Mar-a-Lago, where his team has spent his transition since he received the election. The three of them circled on the prime of the steps, and Trump waved earlier than heading contained in the airplane.
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The ritualistic altering of energy will get underway as Washington’s solemn pomp is paired with Trump’s model of social gathering: a fireworks showcase at considered one of his luxurious golf properties, friends together with tech business titans, pals from the enterprise world and conservative media stars, and 1000’s of his supporters streaming in from across the nation.
With a blast of Arctic air anticipated to go away the nation’s capital facing frigid temperatures on Inauguration Day organizers had been additionally scrambling to maneuver inside most of Monday’s out of doors occasions, together with the swearing-in ceremony.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I do not wish to see folks harm, or injured, in any manner…Therefore, I’ve ordered the Inauguration Address, along with prayers and different speeches, to be delivered within the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was utilized by Ronald Reagan in 1985, additionally due to very chilly climate.”
Country music stars Carrie Underwood, Billy Ray Cyrus and Jason Aldean, disco band the Village People, rapper Nelly and musician Kid Rock are all scheduled to carry out at inauguration-related ceremonies and occasions. Actor Jon Voight and wrestler Hulk Hogan are additionally anticipated to make appearances, as are a crew of Trump-embracing enterprise executives: Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
The solely public occasion on Trump’s schedule is a night reception and fireworks present at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, outdoors the town.
While Trump holds courtroom at his membership, Vice President-elect JD Vance will attend a reception for Cabinet members and host a dinner in Washington.
On Sunday, the eve of his inauguration, Trump is scheduled to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery earlier than heading to a rally at Capital One Arena in Washington. The rally can be adopted by a non-public dinner.
On Inauguration Day, Trump will begin with the normal prayer service at St. John’s Episcopal Church earlier than heading to the White House for a customary tea with the outgoing president and first woman.
Trump then heads to the Capitol, the place his ceremony has been moved indoors as temperatures are set to plummet and make it the coldest Inauguration Day in 40 years. It’s not fairly clear how the ceremony can be tailored to the Capitol Rotunda, which holds solely 600 folks. More than 250,000 friends had been ticketed to view the inauguration from across the Capitol grounds.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is liable for planning the occasion, mentioned in a press release that “the overwhelming majority of ticketed friends won’t be able to attend the ceremonies in particular person.”
Eight years in the past, Trump’s critics had been wrestling with whether or not to attend his inauguration, considering whether or not to buck long-standing observe and ship a sign to the divisive new president. This yr, a lot outspoken resistance to Trump has light away, although there can be two notable absences: former first lady Michelle Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Neither gave a proof as to why she was skipping the ceremony.
After Trump takes the oath of workplace and delivers his inaugural deal with, there can be a ceremonial farewell to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. As the brand new Republican authorities takes energy, Trump will head to a signing ceremony on the Capitol to approve a few of his first official acts, adopted by a congressional luncheon and overview of U.S. troops.
The deliberate conventional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue has morphed into an indoor occasion due to the chilly, with Trump once more planning to talk to his gathered supporters earlier than he heads to the White House for a signing ceremony within the Oval Office. A trio of glitzy balls will observe within the night, punctuated by musical performances.
Trump’s arrival in Washington will as soon as once more be accompanied by protests and vigils on points similar to abortion, immigration rights and, this time, the Israel-Hamas conflict, however the really feel and the pressure of these demonstrations had been completely different from the outset of his first time period.
The Women’s March, spurred by women outraged over Trump’s win in 2017, drew greater than 500,000 folks to Washington and tens of millions extra in cities across the nation, marking one of many largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. historical past.
The march returned Saturday, rebranded because the People’s March, with organizers saying their focus can be much less on Trump and extra on broader targets round girls’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, local weather and democracy. It drew far fewer than eight years in the past.
Kathryn Watson and
contributed to this report.
