It’s been two full weeks since President Trump was inaugurated. A look back on that day.
The world came to a stand-still on Monday, January 20th to witness the second inauguration of the former 45th President Of The United States turned President-Elect, Donald J. Trump, be sworn in as the new 47th President and leader of the free world.
The second inauguration was far different in so many ways from the first one, which was on January 20th2017.
For instance, the first inauguration which was on a Friday, was open to the public and held outside on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Crowds gathered at the Washington Mall to witness the historical inauguration of a brash businessman-turned politician be sworn in as The 45th President Of The United States and Commander-In-Chief.
In contrast, the second Trump inauguration was held on Monday indoors, inside the Rotunda. This was a tightly-controlled environment, inside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
Because of bad weather and the cold icy blast that day, the event was held indoors thus making it a second in terms of historical precedence.
The first such presidential inauguration, that is, to be held indoors, was 40 years ago in 1985 when then incumbent President, Ronald Reagan, had his second inauguration moved indoors just like Trump’s and also because of bad weather.
Another second historical precedence. Unlike the first inauguration which marked the beginning of his first term as President, this particular inauguration marked the beginning of Trump’s second and final non-consecutive term, a rarity on its own. However, his isn’t the first such.
The first ever, second non-consecutive term was over 130 years ago with the second inauguration of Grover Cleveland in 1893. Like Trump who was the 45th and now the 47th President, that is, in 2017 and 2025 respectively, Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th United States President in 1884 and 1892, respectively.
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Another similarity between the two Presidents is that, like Trump, Cleveland lost re-election bid after his first term ended in 1888 and had to leave office. He ran again and won re-election in 1892. He was inaugurated in 1893, thus making his second and final term in office a ‘non-consecutive’ historical first.
Trump also set another historical precedence. This second inauguration happened to be on a third Monday in January, which also happened to be the same day as the Martin Luther King holiday.
The event which was attended by foreign leaders and dignitaries included the swearing in of the President and Vice President, J.D. Vance. This was followed by the newly sworn-in 47th President delivering an inaugural address whereby he aptly dubbed his second term as, ushering in ‘The Golden Age’ of the United States.
There was also the signing in ceremony, an inaugural luncheon, a military parade commonly referred to as the ‘First Honours’ Ceremony and finally, the procession.
Foreign dignitaries who have never been a staple in U.S. Presidential inaugural ceremonies, notably made an unprecedented showing. These leaders are predominantly conservative, populist and more patriotic in their political affinity and were from Argentina, Italy, Spain and Portugal just to name a few.
Among special foreign guests and attendees were Argentinian President, Javier Milei; Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Melon; Britain’s populist and anti-EU politician, Nigel Farage; Belgium’s Tom Van Grieken; Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña; France’s own firebrand, Éric Zemmour and former Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.
The Chinese representative was Vice President Han Zheng who stood in for Xi Jinping.
Trump, of course, isn’t one for traditions. By inviting foreign heads of state to his inauguration, he was breaking away from the American political tradition and thumbing his nose to the status quo. What better way to do so than invite the “Who’s Who” of the western world’s growing list of perceived controversial, agitative, right-leaning, conservative and nationalist leaders?
Trump’s second inauguration is the 60th U.S. Presidential inauguration since the inception of the ceremony.
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