Presidential inaugurations are the American equivalent of the UK’s coronation and State Opening of Parliament combined.
The only constitutional significance is that the newly elected president takes the oath of office solemnly swearing to “support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies”.
He (so far all 45 presidents have been men) then goes straight to the White House and starts governing.
Unless a sitting president has been re-elected, inaugurations usually mark a fresh start for the United States with a new head of state. Not this time.
Donald Trump is only the second president to be elected for a second time, having lost an election in between, making him both the 45th and 47th POTUS (President Of The United States).
The last two inaugurations, of Trump in January 2017 and of Joe Biden in 2021, were of more than constitutional significance. They both broke with the usual ceremonial niceties in ways which foretold and exemplified the extraordinary disruptions which have struck the US over the past decade. I reported on both of them from Washington DC for ECN News.
Trump’s first inauguration is remembered for two things. The aggressive rhetoric of his speech and the refusal of the new president and his staff to accept the truth of their own eyes.
In their first address to the nation as president, the new man usually tries to be inspirational while humbly acknowledging the challenge of leading the greatest country in the world.
Not Donald Trump. He had campaigned on the promise to make America great again, and he tore into the state of the nation he was taking over as “American carnage”.
He complained: “We’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry… subsidised the armies of other countries… America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay… millions and millions of workers left behind.”
Instead, he promised “from this moment on it’s going to be ‘America First’… America will start winning, winning like never before”.
