Four score, well, more like exactly four years ago on Jan. 20, Joseph Robinette Biden was sworn in as 46th president of the United States on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. In the billowing shadow of the Jan. 6 attack, the nation was still feeling the emotional and political whiplash of such a devastating and chaotic challenge to the democratic process.
Inaugurations are an emblem of democracy in action, a visible sign of the peaceful transfer of power. And they do not come around every year, so when all of Washington, D.C. shows out for this symbolic ‘passing the torch’ moment, the world takes notice.
Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20 will be the 59th presidential inauguration [cq] in U.S. history, but only 45 men have served as president.
Trump is the second person in U.S. presidential history to serve two non-consecutive terms. The first was Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, inaugurated first in 1885 and then again in 1893. [cq]
Michael Kazin, a history professor at Georgetown University, noted that the only similarity between Trump and Cleveland is that both served two non-consecutive terms.
“I can’t think of a president who is less similar to Trump,” Kazin said. “Cleveland campaigned against high tariffs, he was not fond of public speaking, he let Congress initiate most legislation, and he was scrupulously honest.”
Scott Hibbard, associate professor and chair of DePaul’s political science department, said Trump being elected again after being defeated only four years ago reflects collective amnesia and, perhaps, collective denial promoted by widespread disinformation.
“Social media has been utilized to really spread disinformation, whether it’s Twitter or Facebook or whatever, along with the right wing media sphere,” Hibbard said.
Hibbard also noted trends in elections around the world, suggesting that people in the U.S., Europe and South America opted to vote out the establishment.
Thus, an inauguration, a transfer of power, another four years.
The peaceful transfer of power between presidents has never been prevented — though the Jan. 6 insurrection was an attempt to prevent Biden’s victory from being certified — but that does not mean that some saltiness between new and outgoing commanders in chief has not affected inauguration proceedings.
In 2020, it was widely reported that outgoing president Trump purposely skipped the swearing-in of incoming president Biden. This snub turned heads, but is not completely unique in presidential history.
The White House Historical Association reports that John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Johnson and most recently Donald Trump — all one term presidents — did not attend their successors’ inaugurations.
Woodrow Wilson missed Warren G. Harding’s inauguration because he was allegedly signing legislation, while Richard Nixon resigned and returned home to California before Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in.
Biden has said he will attend Trump’s inauguration, while this list of democratic congresspeople are boycotting the event.
While it is generally expected that congresspeople, senators and supreme court justices attend inaugurations, it is not commonplace for foreign leaders to be invited.
Nevertheless, for his second swearing-in Trump has opted to invite a swath of far-right world leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Salvadoran President Nyib Bukele, Argentinian President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
This is without precedent in inauguration history.
Maddie Yee, a junior studying international relations at the College of William and Mary, said Trump’s decision to invite far-right politicians from foreign nations gives a glimpse into what U.S. foreign policy will look like in the next four years.
“The fact that he has those people there is to show the American people that maybe this is a sneak peek of what’s to come,” Yee said. “It’s scary, to be honest.”
John Donoghue, history professor at Loyola University Chicago, called Trump an “unbridled narcissist” and predicted that Trump’s invitation to Jinping in particular is all about power.
“He wants to demonstrate his power to Xi in relation to China’s ambition to supplant the US as the dominant world power,” Donoghue said.
Despite hoping to have foreign leaders in attendance at the Capitol, Trumps’ inaugural speech will likely speak to nationalistic themes
“No president can capture the spirit of a nation that has always been divided,” Kazin said.
Nevertheless, he said speeches like Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural address had an “uplifting and soothing impact” on a troubled population.
Trump’s first inauguration noticeably struck a different tone, one of pessimism about the America he was elected to lead, one that spoke of “American carnage.” [cq]
“For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military; We’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own;” the speech read. “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”
Donoghue predicts dishonesty and hyperbole will dominate Trump’s address.
“Trump will lie by claiming a massive popular mandate to enact his white Christian nationalist agenda,” Donoghue said. “He will claim he’s uniting the nation as he continues to divide it.”
Donoghue recalled President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address in 1864, just months before the end of the Civil War and his assassination.
“In the midst of the Civil War, (Lincoln’s speech) defined the meaning of the war as a mission of abolition to make the promise of the Declaration of Independence real for all Americans,” Donoghue said. “It’s unrivaled among inaugural addresses for its transformative vision of American democracy.”
Though he does not know what Trump’s speech will proclaim, Donoghue sees Trump’s overall victory as a step away from Lincoln’s promise of America.
“In a terrible irony, Donald Trump’s white nationalism has moved the nation away from Lincoln’s vision of interracial democracy.”
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