Every four years on Jan. 20, government officials and several spectators gather on Capitol Hill to witness a peaceful transfer of power. This year, Donald Trump returned to the White House to serve as the 47th United States President.
Here’s what went down this Jan. 20.
The Inauguration typically takes place on the west front of the Capitol, but this year, due to the extreme cold, Trump moved the ceremonies indoors to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda instead. Inauguration Day activities, however, don’t start there. Trump met former President Joe Biden for pre-inaugural tea at the White House, and Biden greeted Trump with the traditional “Welcome home”.
At noon, Trump was sworn into the oval office and formal inaugural ceremonies had begun. In attendance at the inauguration was Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and a Michelle-less Barack Obama. Some of Trump’s pupils and advisers, who also happen to be multi-billionaire CEOs, were sitting ahead of Trump’s cabinet picks. These supporters included Tesla and Space-X CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tik Tok CEO Shou Chew, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Musical guests Carrie Underwood, Christopher Macchio, and Lee Greenwood performed at the event as well. Once the ceremony was over, Trump and his wife Melania saw Biden and Harris off on Marine One. Once he has met for a luncheon with government officials, they will attend a presidential parade at Capital One Arena before heading back to the Oval Office for the traditional executive bill signing ceremony.
Trump signed nearly 100 executive orders at the Oval Office that evening, spanning things like immigration and the border crisis, to climate change and environmental protection agreements. Trump signed a bill revoking birthright citizenship and another that withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement, a treaty on climate change.
Reportedly, attorney general’s from 22 states sued President Trump for the birthright citizenship decision.
Trump has a long list of plans for his second term, including immigration and abortion laws, new tax policies, tariffs and trade regulation, as well as oil drilling and climate crisis reversal. Trump has plans to help the American economy and rising energy prices.
“The inflation was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices,” said Trump. “We drill, baby, drill.”
There is a lot in store for the next four years of Trump’s presidency and the right-wing domination of the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. Whether good or bad, America will see it all.
